Images(2)

Riding the Wave

Photographer Ray Leighton (Australian, 1917 - 2002)

Date1943

Object number00032012

NamePhotograph

MediumSilver gelatin print

DimensionsMount / Matt size (B Fini): 560 × 407 mm

ClassificationsPhotographs

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionPhotograph by Ray Leighton titled 'Riding the Wave'. Image taken at Fairy Bower (near Manly) New South Wales, depicting a surfer riding a wave on a long board. The the reverse is handwritten 'Riding the Wave c.1943'. Stamped lower right "Ray Leighton Collection", written below "4/98". Ray Leighton was a highly successful professional photographer who had a long association with the Manly surfing community and often featured beach themes in his work.HistoryWhile Ray Leighton was a commercial photographer he also photographed beach scenes, which stemmed from his keen interest in surfing, and during the 1940s, a number of Leighton's Manly photographs were published in newspapers and magazines. Leighton had joined Manly Surf Club in 1932 in order to store his plywood long board, which was too heavy to transport. This was common practice among surfers in the 1930s. He made his own boards with distinctive patterns and insignia, earning him the name 'Badges' and was Manly Surf Life Saving Club's top boardsman in the 1939-1940 season. However, as Leighton tells it, his surfing success was not instantaneous: "Together with about seven other guys, I helped pioneer surfboard riding on Manly Beach and the Bower. My first surfboard was carved with a hammer and chisel by me and a carpenter friend, out of a 9 foot x 2 foot x 4-inch piece of solid redwood, bought at a timber yard. I had to belong to the surf club to be able to leave it in the clubroom as it weighed over 100lbs and was too heavy to transport. I regret to say I was a poor learner, falling off more than staying on. In fact, the club captain was heard to say, "While young Leighton's arse points earthwards, he will never learn to ride a surfboard." I proved him wrong by taking out a national title, and numerous state titles on the first of the hollow boards. Sometime later, I bought a 14-foot balsa board and on my first sojourn on this board, I attracted the attention of a group of boys on modern 8-foot boards whose immediate reaction was "Get a load of the old codger on the primitive." -Ray Leighton The Escapades of a Professional Photographer.SignificanceRay Leighton, like his contemporaries Max Dupain and Laurence Le Guay, was an important figure in Sydney commercial photography, and for the next three decades specialised in advertising and industrial work.