Jair Bortoleto

Jair Bor­to­leto is a Brazil­ian surfer/photographer who is adept at cap­tur­ing that elu­sive moment. He is well known for his tal­ent and believes that every­day is an oppor­tu­nity for him to become a bet­ter per­son. We caught up with Jair to find out more about his life.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I grow up in a sub­urb of São Paulo, far away from the ocean. My dad was a met­al­lur­gic worker and we had a sim­ple life, but a very good one. My fam­ily used to go to the beach for vaca­tion, but when I was lit­tle I hated the feel­ing of sand in my feet. Only after some years did I dis­cover the plea­sure of feel­ing sand between my toes.

When did you get your first surf­board?
On a fam­ily vaca­tion to North Coast, my dad bought me a 5’8” thruster and I started to surf. I was around 9 or 10 years old. When I was lit­tle, those sty­ro­foam boards were very pop­u­lar around the area we used to spend vaca­tions, and I used to belly surf with those things. It was so much fun. I only felt that again when I belly surfed with an alaia and fins.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
I can’t really remem­ber the first wave, but I remem­ber get­ting so happy when I went down the line. I can still feel the same rush in my heart every time I remem­ber it.

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
I grow up as a Jehovah’s Wit­ness. So my role model is Jesus and his father, Jeho­vah. They are my mod­els to try to be a good man… even with all my faults.

How did you get involved in pho­tog­ra­phy?
I always loved art class in ele­men­tary school, but never had an idea that I would really get involved with art. I start to travel the world when I was 18, and always brought a “point and shoot” cam­era with me to doc­u­ment every­thing. After my first trip to Hawaii, I showed some pho­tos to some friends and all of them used to say that I was a pretty good pho­tog­ra­pher. I went to Boston to learn about jazz, art, real life. And I met some pho­tog­ra­phers and artists. One of them, a pho­tog­ra­phy stu­dent named Tiffany Knight, gave me a black and white roll of film. I shot with it and after I saw the results, every­thing changed. I started to see the world com­pletely in black and white! I looked at every­thing in black and white… even if col­ors are there. I decided to use more and more rolls.

What is your process for cre­at­ing your art?
I’m not the kind of pho­tog­ra­pher that brings the cam­era always with me. I just don’t work like that. Actu­ally, I wish I could, but I sim­ply don’t work like that. I’ll see some­thing and come back later to pho­to­graph it. Or I have some­thing in my mind and then I bring the cam­era and shoot. I always like to think that each frame is a paint­ing, and if I can get many paint­ings in one roll, then it’s all good.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
I would say many places, but I just love Hawaii. Every­thing in that place makes me feel so good. After I came back last time, it makes me feel so much yearn­ing. It’s a word in Por­tuguese that peo­ple say that you can’t really trans­late. The word is “saudade”. Saudade is that feel­ing when you miss some­thing so bad that it really hurts you. You can feel real pain in your heart. I feel saudade from Hawaii, and just like Rick Kane in the North Shore movie: “One day I will came back to the North Shore”. That’s what makes me feel good—the mem­o­ries and the chance to come back one day.

Who or what inspires you?
In pho­tog­ra­phy, I would say Cartier-Bresson. He was the best and, to me, still the best pho­tog­ra­pher ever. Also, surf pho­tog­ra­phers like Leroy Gran­nis, Andrew Kid­man, Kyle Light­ner, Thomas Camp­bell, Joe Cur­ren. Most of the 60’s and 70’s photography.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Try my best to be hum­ble. We are sur­rounded by so many egos that we always need to look into our­selves and try to be hum­ble. Also to love. The world is such a crazy place right now, that most peo­ple for­get to love. I for­get to love some­times. And I’m sorry to all that I made feel bad or unloved.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
Oh, yeah… many regrets and I wish I could go back in time and change it all.

What are you most proud of?
My rela­tion­ship with God. Also, I should say my book, Alma San­tista (pub­lished in 2007 to cre­ate and curate the San­tos Sur­fArt exhibitions—especially the sec­ond one). Show­ing my work in Japan for the Green­room Fes­ti­val 2009.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
Surf­ing was a dream when I was a child. I was away from the ocean, and it was all about vaca­tion time, mag­a­zines and some stuff on TV. So, hav­ing a chance to make images related to surf­ing is like liv­ing a dream. The act of surf­ing is some­thing hard to describe. Most peo­ple call it an ath­letic thing and stuff, but surf­ing is more like being in touch with nature. It’s like being on another dimen­sion, that all that mat­ters is a wave, the board and you. Of course, friends around, sun… but the feel­ing of surf alone on a wave is unique and can def­i­nitely change someone’s life forever.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
A smile. Most of my time, I was a wor­ried per­son. But today, I try to smile more, and don’t close any door that it can’t be opened again. We should all smile non– stop. (Laughs)

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Richard Ken­vin with the Hydro­dy­nam­ica thing. It’s so old and so new at the same time. All this new/old move­ment is so good for surf­ing and opens so many paths in life that are nice to see. It is nice to see the new era of surf­ing on tour. I would lie if I say no. That kid Gabriel Med­ina is incred­i­ble and for sure is one of the top sci­en­tists on surf.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I have my boards that are spe­cial. I have my new sig­na­ture model, shaped by Felipe Siebert. It’s a 5’8” hol­low wood keel fish. I love surf­ing close to home— walk all the way to the beach, surf, and come back home. It gives me so much pleasure.

What’s your favorite meal?
Brazil­ian food. I love bar­be­cue with friends. Beer. Chocolate.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
I’m lis­ten­ing a lot of Bon Iver, William Fitzsim­mons, Neil Hal­stead, The Matt­son 2, Ray Bar­bee. Also, old stuff like Bob Mar­ley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pink Floyd. I love jazz – every­thing… like John Coltrane, Chet Baker, Monk, Miles Davis.

What causes or orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
Any­thing related to surf­ing. I’m one of the Jehovah’s Wit­nesses, so we try to keep busy on talk­ing to peo­ple about God’s Kingdom.

What are you most grate­ful for?
Life. To be able to see a new day. Wak­ing up to see the sun shin­ing. To see birds fly­ing above the ocean from my window.

What’s next for Jair Bor­to­leto?
My main goal is always to be a bet­ter man—make less mis­takes and choose the right paths in life. I want to keep tak­ing pho­tos. I’m not that active any­more, but con­tinue tak­ing pho­tos with my eyes and soon will be on film. And Hawaii always will be in my future. I really want to go back.

Find out more about Jair Bor­to­leto at his blog here. The Bor­to­leto Keel Fish shaped by Felipe Siebert can be seen here.