Barrie Sutherland - Surfing's Timeless Photographer
Stunning. Evocative. A timeless tranquility.
Wherever surfers gather, accolades for Barrie Sutherland’s images roll in like a king tide.
If eyes are the window to the soul, then images hold the key to the photographer’s heart.
Looking at a Barrie Sutherland photograph is like stepping back in time. Back to a time when the pace a little slower, the boards a little longer and the waves a heck of lot emptier.
The first thing that strikes you in his images are how devoid of surfers are the waves. Victorian surf breaks that now attract hundred of waveriders, are shown with just a few surfers enjoying the glorious glassy peaks or in the case of his now classic 1965 images of Bells Beach, battling leviathan waves.
Initially enthralled when the 1956 Melbourne Olympics exhibition surf carnival brought Californians Greg Noll, Mike Bright, Tom Zahn and Bobby Burnside to town, Sutherland was hooked. “They paddled out and rode malibus for the first time at Torquay Point”, he says with as much excitement as any grommet. His lifelong addiction to salt water always battled photography for first place in his heart – after girlfriend Madeleine, of course. A stunner then and a silver fox now, Madeleine has lost none of her charm and her warm personality is as strong as ever. She featured in many of Sutherland’s early works and was a talented shooter herself, her image of her husband paddling out on his longboard at Coolangatta in 1966 is considered a classic.
Back then Sutherland’s photographs of Bells Beach first came into prominence when fledgling surfing company Rip Curl decided to use one of his photos early on to promote their business.
From the moment Sutherland picked up a Kodak Box Brownie, it was evident that he had that rare ability to capture what he felt and saw. And it wasn’t long before others realised his talent.
“Rip Curl chose a classic full colour, early morning Bells Beach line-up shot of Barrie’s for our very first magazine advertisement and we captioned it ‘The Dawning of Rip Curl’", recalls company co-founder Doug Warbrick. “The heritage of surfing in Victoria and especially Bells Beach owes so much to the great black and white images shot by Barrie in the 60's and early 70s”, he says. But unlike John Witzig who lays claim to northern Australia, especially Queensland and Jack Eden to New South Wales, many of Sutherland’s Victorian photographs have never been exhibited before. Now after more than 30 years in Western Australia, where Sutherland worked in IT for Alcoa, they have returned to set up the Watermarks Photo Gallery in Torquay.
Sutherland’s connections with Torquay began in the mid-1940s when his grandparents holidayed then moved there. His cousins and later Sutherland’s family soon followed. “Riding surfboards then was out of the question, they were the 16-foot hollow plywood boards that were far too big for kids to ride, let alone ever own”, he says. “The older guys like Rex ‘China’ Gilbert, Vic Tantau, “Mumbles” Walker, Owen Yateman and a young Peter Troy were always on the scene”. Back then, he says, Torquay Point was the place to surf and was always busy with surf skis, boats and the 16-footers plying their way across the waves. When he was 10, Sutherland and his cousin decided to swim out to the main break on the sandbar. Ian made it, but Sutherland almost drowned but for a woman who pulled him out by the hair. “From that experience I learnt a life long lesson; always respect the ocean, never take it for granted and don’t take on any wave if fear strikes you”, says Sutherland. It was a lesson that stood him well some years later when facing huge, uncompromising swell at a Bells Beach competition. “We had watched four surfers paddle out into the huge waves, then Marcus Shaw looked at me and I looked at him and we decided to wait a while before paddling out”, he says. The judges called off the event due to dangerous conditions after several massive waves closed out Bells and caught the other surfers in the Bowl”.
“Bells 1965 blew them away. It was probably six to seven to eight meters and when you scaled it, the face was 25-30 ft (10m),” he says. “No-one ever knew the surf could get that big in Australia, let alone at a contest. A magazine called it the Waimea Bay of Australia,” says Sutherland.
Between 1959 to 1962, Sutherland studied engineering at the Gordon Institute of Technology. One hot day in February 1959, at Graham ‘Macca’ McKenzie’s instigation, Sutherland and some friends took a drive to Bells via the Jarosite track (now a sealed road) and that visit set in motion a deep desire for him to return and surf the powerful waves. After he graduated in civil engineering in 1962, Sutherland purchased a new Barrie Bennett nine-foot Malibu from Marcus Shaw. On the advice of mentor Joe Sweeney (the craftsman who still makes the Rip Curl Pro trophies) he went to Bells and was captivated by the waves. Sutherland purchased a 2nd hand 35mm Practika camera and a rudimentary teleconverter to enable him to start capturing action shots. As the surfing became more intense, Sutherland’s passion to record it increased. Late 1963 he was dissatisfied with the limits of the camera technology, so early 1964, Sutherland invested in a new Minolta SR1 35mm camera and a 400mm lens.
Keen to improve, Sutherland joined the Geelong Camera Club where he learnt photographic composition and dark room technique. Mentored by local photographer, Ian Hawthorne, Sutherland says he was a strict, but fair critic. Setting his ego aside, Sutherland listened carefully and took notes of Hawthorne’s comments and soon became very successful, winning many club competitions. Looking to capture what surfers took for granted as they paddled out, he investigated water housings for his Minolta, but found they were too cumbersome and expensive. Upon Nikon releasing its 35mm underwater camera, Sutherland purchased one of the first in Australia. Sutherland says his proudest photography achievement came when he combined his two loves to capture greatness on a roaring and ruthless Bells Beach in 1965. On Easter Monday 1966, tying his Nikonos camera to his waist, Sutherland made history when he paddled out on a malibu surfboard as close as he could to the impact zone and took the first photographs of Bells from the water.
Now the first water shots taken at Bells and along the Surf Coast are amongst his most famous – and best-selling - images. Sutherland’s photographs appeared in Surfing World and Surfabout magazines and were used by local surf industry pioneers, including Don Loveless at Torquay Surfer Supplies, Fred Pyke Surfboards and Rip Curl.
Despite success, surf photography back then couldn’t support a growing family. Ever a realist, Sutherland kept his passion as a hobby and joined Alcoa in their fledgling IT department at Point Henry in Geelong and a few years later, was transferred to Western Australia for a long and very successful career with Alcoa before he retired in 1999. An unsuccessful foray into a boutique surf shop / gallery, which was way ahead of its time, only made the couple long for the Victorian surf coast. However, it was evident that something was in the air if not the waves; three years earlier, he was contacted by his life-long friend John Panozzo and asked to hold an exhibition at the newly opened SurfWorld Surfing Museum. The duo had surfed along the coast for years, doings dawn patrols when some of the fabulous seascapes were taken. Sutherland took the photos, Panozzo took notes, and both caught more than their fair share of waves! Together with Jack Finlay, they spent a hectic six months and the exhibition opened to great acclaim in December, running until May 1997.
Ten years later, Sutherland and Madeleine returned to where it all began.
Sutherland has also exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art (US), National Maritime Museum (Sydney), Surfworld Surfing Museum (Torquay), at WA’s Dunsborough Festival, Cottesloe Whalebone Classic, Margaret River Library, Margaret River Masters, Piney Lakes Environmental Education Centre and Metro Church. His work has featured in many surf stores and is held in private collections throughout Australia.
“Barrie has an important place in Australian / Victorian surfing history as he was one of the few people of the time to actively catch it on film”, says former Surfing Australia CEO Alan Atkins, who won the Victorian state titles in 1967 when Sutherland snapped him standing alongside Gail Couper and Rod Brook. “Technically Barrie has an excellent eye for a surf shot and fortunately, he has maintained his library over the years; at the time, most surfers were looking for their next wave, recording their antics and surfing exploits were far from their mind (but) Barrie enjoyed his surfing immensely but also found time to record it”, says Atkins.
Down the coast at Port Fairy, Keith Curtain, editor of Australasian Surf Business magazine agrees. “What can you say about Barrie Sutherland that hasn’t already been said before?” he asks via email. “Barrie occupies a rare place in Australian surfing history, because he had the presence of mind to capture and catalogue beautiful images of an embryonic surf culture emerging in South West Victoria”, he says. “It was a time before mass surf media, before the internet, each image is a time capsule, a window to our past, each lovingly taken for prosperity and not for profit.”
Over in Western Australia, Rob Holt who manages Edith Cowan University’s Bachelor of Surf Science course includes Sutherland’s images in the curriculum’s surf history unit. “Barrie is undoubtedly a significant figure in Australian surfing folklore”, booms Holt down the phone. “His images of the south coast of Vicco from the 1960s give us a real understanding of our surfing roots and our surfing culture in Australia”, he says. “The photograph that really sticks in my mind is the shot of Rob Conneeley and ‘Nipper’ on that smoking right; that's an archetypal Bells moment”, he says with the wistful tone of a man who may have taken on Bears, Yallingup and Smiths, but yearns to walk down the steep stairs and paddle out to Rincon. “Isn't that one of the fabulous things about photos though? They share such wonderful moments with future generations”, says Holt.
A few weeks earlier, visiting longboarder, talented artist and member of surf band Mal and the Longboarders, Soren Carlbergg popped into Watermarks for “a quick look around”, only to emerge two hours later. “He’s one of the special photographers”, muses Carlbergg. “Barrie is more about the atmospheric, I find them beautiful in composition, simplicity in form, very interesting in the interaction of light, he gives a timeless tranquility in his photos”.
Grant Forbes, former head of design for Rip Curl now owns Tigerfish Gallery down the road reckons Sutherland is unique. “He was actively documenting Victorian surfing when the fledgling surf media was focusing on Sydney and Queensland”, says Forbes. “While the Witzigs and Falzons, masters that they are, created heroes and a subculture through their work and the broad circulation of the surf magazines, Barrie was quietly creating beautiful images, more for the creative satisfaction than the glory of mass exposure”, he says. “So while his work is distinctly historic and ‘retro’, it's as fresh as the day it was taken...many of the images that he has stored as negatives have never been printed until now”. Forbes believes that technically too, his work stands up well in an age when we're assaulted by thousands of throwaway digital images on a daily basis, Sutherland's carefully planned pieces, textured with delicate film grain, beautifully lit and artfully printed, scream ‘quality’. “Victorian surfing is the richer for Barrie Sutherland's work; it shows us that our waves, and our surfers, are worth celebrating”, says Forbes.
Next door at the Bell Street Gallery, photographer Matthew Stevenson agrees with his neighbour. “Barrie was the only Victorian surf photographer at the time, ahead of such renowned photographers and film makers such as Alby Falzon, Jack Eden, Ron Perrot, Bob Weeks and Mal Sutherland who all hailed from NSW”, he says. “His imagery was used in the first Rip Curl advertising in 1969 and we have all grown up knowing his photos which in time where ingrained into our surfing psyche”, he says.
At Manly, Chris Moss of Heritage Surf reckons that a Sutherland image always wears its heart on its sleeve. “Barrie Sutherland gave his heart and soul to take photographs that tell us about Victorian surfing, about where surfing evolved from”, he says.
Earlier, Sutherland turned up late for a photoshoot with master glasser / shaper Peter Ashley (who retired last month. Sutherland explained that 1963 Bells winner Doug Andrew, “just popped in as I was leaving”. Ashley forgives him and the two have a laugh as Sutherland views his image of Peter surfing a wintry Bells in the de rigueur footy jumper and shorts; the faded photo has been on display at Ashley’s shop for over 40 years. Ashley recalls Sutherland taking shots of him at Winkipop (the break left of Bells bowl) in 1964. “I can remember clearly back in the 60's when new surfing vibes were new…clean consistent waves and unspoiled beaches ..very, very few surfers and Barrie always there doing his things he loved; surfing and as well as his profession, was taking photos of seascapes and true-blooded good and gutsy surfers without leg ropes and modern wetsuits ”, says Ashley. “Barrie is so friendly, without commercial ego, he is a pioneer” he adds. “Really I’m very lucky to have (the) one photo of myself surfing at Winkipop last 1964”, he says. Son Stephen, a former state surfer now does most of the shaping and he’s stoked to meet someone whose images he has admired for years.
Today Sutherland who still drives everywhere with a board in the back of his Triton ute in case of waves, sits behind the counter and in between chatting with customers, talks about returning home. “We decided it was time to come back”, says Sutherland, his hair still damp from his morning surf. But he says it was hard to leave WA, he loves being back. Sutherland looks around the gallery and smiles as various images catch his eye and memories come flooding back. An apt description too, for many of his old mates from the 60s and 70s have been rocketing through the door as soon as they heard he was back in town. Torquay may be the fastest growing town in Victoria, but set back off Bell Street, Watermarks is now one of three places that locals in the know pop in to have a yarn with other like-minded souls.
That night at the Surfworld Surfing museum, staff are flat-chat putting the final changes into the Liquid Mountains exhibition. Along with the usual suspects of trophies, posters, big wave guns and tow-in surfboards, the exhibition contains several Sutherland images. The one that draws the biggest crowd shows an intrepid Roger Falahey paddling over a monster wave at Bells Beach Bells during the infamous 1965 event. “He captured a unique time those 1965 shots of bells beach; 25ft the biggest day anyone’s seen there,” says the then director Jeff Arkinstall. “We are exceptionally proud to have Barrie Sutherland images in our collection”, he adds. An unassuming Sutherland beams with delight as he catches up with all the old surfing tribe from back in the day.
“He’s a gentlemen”, confirms Peter Dunn, inaugural president of WA’s Cottesloe Longboard Club and organizer of the annual Whalebone Classic. “He has the feeling of stoke and he’s enlightened a lot of us as to what it what was like in the early surfing days”, he adds.
Barrie images can be seen at the Watermarks Photo Gallery.
A version of this article first appeared in Slide magazine in 2008.
