If you were a magazine-guzzling grommet in the 80s, 90s, or 00s you'll know Ted Grambeau's work. Even if you think you don't, you do. His was the eye employed by Rip Curl and others to document surfing's great era of discovery and by way of editorial, advertising, and art, Ted's imagery suffused the culture.

Born with the great unrest, Ted launched headlong into the unknown, and he did so relentlessly. His missions are too numerous to mention, yet recently he had cause to stop, take stock of his formidable portfolio and begin the unenviable task of selecting and discarding. The reason was the upcoming release of his retrospective, the 240 page 'Adventures In Light'.

Ted recently chatted to Swellnet about the book, his underlying philosophy, Google Earth, and many other things...

Swellnet: Is this your first retrospective book?
Ted: I had a book with Surfer's Journal but I would say this is a different take - I guess this one is more of a photographic journey. I was looking for a way of incorporating my evolution as a photographer and some of the directions it's taken me. It began with water photography and surf photography, but it's allowed things like beautiful portraits of models underwater, fine art seascapes, and beautiful abstract images. 

I wondered, how do I put these in a book? I didn't want it to be like a surf magazine and I wasn't trying to document every search trip I've been on...but it was the 'search' philosophy that worked. It became, in a way, a celebration of the philosophy that I share with Rip Curl, which is the search. It's my whole life. That's what I live by, that philosophy of seeking adventure at all costs.

So rather than just a big, beautiful coffee table book, you've got a narrative in there also?
I really like the essence of the image surviving on its integrity, so each image had to get in there by its photographic merit, but at the same time I know there's always a story behind everything.

The first twenty pages start with a narrative written by Tim Baker, and he's just a genius with his words. I think he's at the pinnacle of his writing, and not just because he says nice things about me! So Tim outlines my story: from humble beginnings in a country town to just basically having this lust for travel. Then opportunities arrive, Rip Curl search came on the scene, and it was like someone dreamed up the perfect job. Even though I wasn't technically employed by Rip Curl, I was on those assignments more than anyone.

What have been some of your favourite trips?
The trips I love are the ones going to places I've never been to before. I'm not always the architect of these trips, although a lot of the time I'm researching particular swells in particular regions, and going, "I know that's firing." One of my passions is trying to hit these places during their best conditions. There was one where I went to some islands about 1000 kilometres north of Norway. I'd heard a whisper through a friend that made a snowboard film up there. He said they had a guy up there, basically a guy that stops polar bears attacking him and everything like that, he also surfs up there and I'm thinking, "this guy's got to be the northern most surfer in the world". That's a pretty interesting angle. I ended up going up there but I timed it wrong. But just spending some time up there was great.

How much time do you spend on Google Earth, Ted?
Google Earth's almost too easy. I've got a whole collection, a large collection of marine charts, which was the expensive way of doing Google Earth. You'd really have to look at things closely, but no matter what, the bottom line is this: you still have to go there on a swell and actually see how it breaks. I think once Google Earth gets real time, that's when it's going to be really easy. At the moment you're looking only when a satellite image is taken and it's, well...maybe?

Okay, well, while we're talking secrets and whatnot, were you on the shoot when Mick Fanning surfed the snake?
No. 

Damn. Thought we could have ourselves an off-record conversation.
I'm assuming it was done in the studio.

I think there might have been some trickery in there somewhere.
They definitely went to great lengths. It's such an interesting thing, isn't it? How they made it so tantalising, more interesting to everyone, by sparing the information. I don't think we've all learnt from that yet. People still get onto Instagram and blurt out where they go and what they do. 

It was a real lesson, both in terms of keeping Mum, and having a winning marketing formula.
Absolutely. It still gets talked about. I really admired that. To be honest that's probably one of the strengths of my relationship with Rip Curl. That policy. The thing is, you're not trying to take people to a particular break, you're trying to encourage them to have their own adventure. You don't lead a path to a direct point and go, "This is where the surf is!" We've seen how that ends up. To some extent that's inevitable anyway, whether it's exposed or not, yet there's still a lot of really remarkable waves, and I love going to those places.

The last few years I've had travels with Louie Hynd. We've gone to places where he was the only one in the water and I was the only one on the beach. It was what people would consider just perfect 4-6ft surf.

So you can still do it then?
You can still do it. There's a lot of waves out there. 

When is 'Adventures In Light' going to be available, Ted?
I've got a launch date here in Queensland at the end of the Quiksilver Pro. It's Saturday March 24th at a place called the Dust Temple at Currumbin. Anyone is welcome, I'll be signing books. But for everyone else, we're taking advance orders on my website.

So here's one more link for those that missed it.

(homepage photo of Ted by Selina Kidd)