Tom Servais Slideshow @ the Surfing Heritage Foundation – Recap

The Servais slideshow the other night at the Surfing Heritage Foundation to put it bluntly was pretty damn sweet.

They had the show in the SHF office and showroom which is filled with more historically important surfboards and gear than I have ever seen in one place. It was incredible to watch and listen to Tom, (and Pat O’Connell), tell the stories of some of the most famous surf photographs ever taken while surrounded by iconic boards built and ridden by guys like Tom Blake, Velzy, Harbor, Lopez, Brewer, and many many others.

The show itself was great…it wasn’t stuffy or boring (like watching a slideshow or the latest powerpoint at work). It was surprisingly interactive…Tom stood in the middle of the seats and would walk us through each photo (or have Pat tell a funny story about what was happening behind the scenes) and they would both field questions from the audience. Tom seems like a great guy and he had a good sense of humor and had us all laughing at his stories.

It lasted a little over an hour and I think we blasted through about 300 radical photos…I am sure with Tom’s body of work he could have kept us captivated even longer.

The Surfing Heritage guys put on a good party too…kind food, good beer and wine, definitely worth the price of admission.

Anyway I brought along a camera to take some shots of the event (this is kind of a funny…I tried not let Tom see me taking photos…I was totally sure he would cringe at my techniques. Hahahaha I am lame)

Here are a few shots

As you can see the Surfing Heritage Foundation has lots of boards


No I mean lots of boards



Seriously



Here are a couple of my favorites

“Lance, I just want my board back. You know how hard it is to find a good board!”



Plastic Fantastic



One of Duke’s original boards



Finally the SHF has a custom surfboard studio…if you have a board that you want documented you can take it into their office and get some shots taken. What is really rad is that they have a suction system that lets you stand the board straight up and down without hurting the board at all.

Here is a shot of a Hobie board in the studio




They are having an Art Brewer show in April…I am sure I will be sending out some reminders later…but they are a very good time. If you are into photography, surf history, and surf culture I would recommend attending.

Tom Servais event at the Surfing Heritage Foundation

Hey gang, here is a cool event that is going on at the Surfing Heritage Foundation.

It is officially called “An Evening with Tom Servais” (which sort of sounds like an awkward man-date, but in reality sounds like it will be really fun.)

I just got off the phone with Casey over at the Heritage Foundation and he laid it out a little clearer for me.

Basically it will be a slide show of Tom Servais’ best work that he published in his chapter of the book series Through a Liquid Lens: Masters of Surf Photography.

Tom will be giving a play-by-play of each photograph while Pat O’Connell and Donovan Frankenreiter haze him from the peanut gallery. There will be food, music, and a no-host bar.

Personally I am going to try to attend…so if you see a large shaved head guy standing near, examining, and possibly drooling on some of the vintage boards come over and say hi.

Here is the flyer…





And here are the details…

What: An Evening with Tom Servais (a slideshow book signing…not an awkward man-date)

When: 8PM March 28th, 2008

Where: The Surfing Heritage Foundation, 110 Calle Iglesia, San Clemente, CA 92672, (949) 388-0313

How Much: $35 ticket or $100 which gets you a ticket and a signed copy of the book.

Casey says feel free to email him at casey@surfingheritage.org for more details if you need them.