Nolan Hall

Nolan Hall is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer/photographer who cap­tures today’s con­tem­po­rary surf scene with such nota­bles as Alex Knost, Rob­bie Kegel, and Andy Davis. He is also a com­mis­sioned pho­tog­ra­pher for Vans and RVCA. We spoke with Nolan to learn more.

What was life like grow­ing up?
I grew in Capis­trano Beach. I started surf­ing when I was about 8, I think. My dad would take me down to Doheny and San O. I would pretty much hang there all day. I met a bunch of kids the same age as me—Robbie Kegel, Tyler War­ren, Alex Knost, Bobby Blanken­ship, Jeremy King, Cody Fair­cloth. We would just surf all day. It was awesome

Who did you look up to and admire when you were young?
My mom for sure. She is a plein air painter. She has always encour­aged me to be cre­ative and fol­low my dreams, but on the beach it was Jeremy King, Cody Simkins, Thomas Camp­bell, Joel and Andy Davis. Me and Alex used to drive down to Andy’s house on the week­ends. We’d surf and paint and make art with him. At the time, I was freak­ing out. I had FREE ads on my binder at school, and I was kick­ing it with Andy. He was such an inspi­ra­tion to me grow­ing up. Thomas has been amaz­ing too—helping me with my pho­tog­ra­phy. When The Seedling came out, it was like our bible. It was our own secret club.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
When my dad first took me out, I hated it. I might have been too young. I didn’t like the cold water and waves crash­ing on me. But as soon as I was able to turn and surf com­fort­ably, it just clicked for me. And mak­ing friends that I surfed with all day was great.

Where did your inter­est in pho­tog­ra­phy come from?
I think just from being around such cre­ative peo­ple. I wasn’t ever very good at draw­ing or paint­ing, but loved shoot­ing pho­tos. Pick­ing up pho­tos from the lab was the best feel­ing – I was always so excited.

What do you look for in cap­tur­ing a good image?
Well-balanced com­po­si­tion, emo­tion and an over­all feeling.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
Japan and Aus­tralia are amaz­ing and I always love going there. There always seems to be so much good energy there. Japan, in gen­eral, is just a really inter­est­ing place, and Oz is such a beau­ti­ful coun­try. I recently went on a U.S. tour when Japan­ese Motors toured with Mod­est Mouse Trav­el­ing through the U.S. was pretty cool. Inner Amer­ica, and the Bible Belt, was a really neat experience.

Who/what inspires you?
I get inspired when peo­ple jump out­side the norm, peo­ple like Josh Laz­cano, Barry McGee, Ham­burger Eyes, Ed Tem­ple­ton, Aaron Rose, Mega­words, ANP Quar­terly, Jim Gold­berg, Bruce Gilden and some of the Mag­num pho­tog­ra­phers. THIS Los Ange­les just started up—a super amaz­ing gallery.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
I’m not sure I’ve learned it yet.

What are you most proud of?
I guess my pho­tos. Even­tu­ally, I’d like to put out a book with all my favorite shots.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I think it makes me see things dif­fer­ently … and it’s such a pos­i­tive outlet.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Being with my friends, doing fun things and get­ting good photos.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
The ones that go against the grain. Alex (Knost) is so fun to surf with; he has so much energy and it’s always so much fun. Dane Reynolds too. I’m over in Aus­tralia right now, and watch­ing him surf is really inter­est­ing. The lines he draws are so dif­fer­ent and creative.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surf spot?
I don’t really have a favorite board. I’ve had the same two boards for like five years. I just got a 7’4″ Tudor mid-length. It’s super fun, but needs a shoulder-high point break. Favorite spot could be Scor­pion; its just a flaw­less wave.

What’s your favorite meal?
Any­thing home-cooked.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Atlas Sound, BRMC, Christ­mas Island, Black Lips, The Strange Boys, Brian Jon­estown, Julian Casablan­cas, The Dark­side, Ariel Pink, Girls, King Tuff, Loop, Space­men 3, Sonic Youth, Deer­hunter, Moon Duo, Sui­cide, Croc­o­diles, Spir­i­tu­al­ized, Wire.

What causes/ projects/ orga­ni­za­tions do you sup­port?
Noth­ing right now. I’m just try­ing to sup­port myself at the moment … and barely scrap­ing by.

What are you most grate­ful for?
My fam­ily and friends. I owe a lot to Alex. I don’t think I would be where I am today with­out him.

What’s next for Nolan Hall?
Right now, I’m in Aus­tralia shoot­ing pho­tos for Vans. We’re on the Gold Coast right now. Then we’re going to West Oz, then Torquay. I’m stoked to see my friend Ryan Hey­wood! Haven’t seen him for awhile. but on a greater scale I really have no idea what I’m doing. Some­times I feel like a jellyfish—just float­ing through life, going wher­ever the water takes me.

Find out more about Nolan Hall at his blog here.