Jean Paul Van Swae

JP Van Swae is a Cal­i­for­nia surfer/photographer who is the assis­tant photo edi­tor at Surfer Mag­a­zine. The grand­son of leg­endary Whitey Har­ri­son and for­mer appren­tice to mas­ter pho­tog­ra­pher Art Brewer, JP car­ries surfing’s legacy to the next gen­er­a­tion. We spoke with JP to learn more.

What was your child­hood like?
Holes in my shoes and bell bot­tom pants hand-me-downs from my brother, which came from my cousins prior to that. But for all that we didn’t have, there was an end­less sup­ply of fun and love for what was all around us. Lots of days at the beach, and a lot of great fam­ily and friends around. There was never a dull moment.

When did you get your first surf­board?
The first board that was actu­ally all mine? I think I was around eight. It was a 6’8” Quad short­board made by Max Surf­boards that my dad had bought me. It was a bit too thick and big for some­one my size, but it rode well enough to ride and have fun.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood on a surf­board?
My first mem­o­ries and expe­ri­ences of surf­ing were not by choice and quite a bit of resis­tance was involved. My brother and sis­ters would play along the shore at San O, jump­ing over waves, just being kids hav­ing fun as mom, dad, grand­fa­ther and whichever other fam­ily mem­bers that were with us would be out surf­ing. And at any moment, either my dad or grand­fa­ther would just snatch you off the beach and take you into the surf. The waves were prob­a­bly only waist high, but as a child they seemed enor­mous and scary. So, as they would take off, they would have to pry you fin­gers from the board and stand you up. But once you were there, you were hooked!

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young man?
It all ways seemed to be fam­ily. My grand­fa­ther was great at any­thing to do with the sea. Surf­ing, pad­dle board­ing, fish­ing, div­ing, sail­ing and more. And my mom and dad were into all kind of things as well as surf­ing. As far as surf­ing tal­ent, I always admired Mark Richards’ awk­ward style.

What inspired you to begin shoot­ing images?
My dad had shot for Surfer mag when I was young, so I decided to take a class in high school. It didn’t work out to well and I ended up despis­ing pho­tog­ra­phy. I returned to it after run­ning into Art Brewer, a good fam­ily friend, and found myself lov­ing every­thing I could find out about it.

What do you look for in a pho­to­graph?
Com­po­si­tion and the fore­thought that you had inten­tions of cre­at­ing a per­fect image—not that it just hap­pened to be in front of your lens. Take time and visu­al­ize what you want and go get it. And be proud of it.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out? And why?
Any third world coun­try away from the city always stands out. You see so many peo­ple get­ting along with so lit­tle and are so happy. It’s humbling.

Who or what inspires you?
See­ing some­one with STOKE. Those who do instead of talk and peo­ple who look at things a lit­tle differently.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Keep doing what you love to do. Look both ways before cross­ing the street. A good bot­tom turn makes your surf­ing that much bet­ter. Keep your other eye open when shoot­ing and with­out friends and fam­ily, it’s hard to get by.

Do you have any regrets or wish you had done some­thing dif­fer­ently?
Yeah. I shouldn’t have eaten all of those hot dogs in Tijuana.

What are you most proud of?
Being a dad, enjoy­ing life to the fullest and being able to involve oth­ers in your fun.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
I don’t know any­thing dif­fer­ent; I have always lived close to the ocean and have been sur­rounded by surf cul­ture. So, it hasn’t changed my life at all. It is my life. With­out surf­ing and the ocean lifestyle, I couldn’t imag­ine who and where I would be.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
My beau­ti­ful three year old daugh­ter, Abby Lynn Van Swae.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
It’s a pretty broad path these days, so we’re all involved some­how, but you can’t ignore the up-and-coming youth like the Kalohe Andi­nos and the revival of style within long­board­ing like the Alex Knosts. The back­yard shapers and inven­tors are really what dri­ves us forward.

What is your favorite board? Your favorite surfspot?
My 6’8” Pat­ter­son before I broke it at Blacks. Favorite spot is Lower Trestles.

What’s your favorite meal?
Abalone ham­burg­ers and a good bowl of poki.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Hank Williams III, The Clash, White Buf­falo, and The Arc­tic Monkeys.

What are you most grate­ful for?
After all of the stu­pid things I’ve done, prob­a­bly just being alive.

What’s next for JP Van Swae?
I was won­der­ing the same thing. If you find out, tell me or just keep me in the loop. Maybe Mex.

Find out more about JP Van Swae here. The Whitey Har­ri­son Fes­ti­val will be held on June 27th, 2010 in San Clemente. Details can be found here.