meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Surf Splendor

270 – Tony Roberts

Surf Splendor

David Lee Scales

Sports

4.8653 Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2019

⏱️ 79 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Innovative photographer and filmmaker Tony Roberts packed his boards and camera gear and drove from Santa Cruz, California to Santa Cruz, Costa Rica 30 years ago to pursue a surf centered life. In today’s show he talks about adapting his career due to surf media’s instability, the exponential growth of surf tourism in Costa Rica, … Continue reading "270 – Tony Roberts" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Mr. Tony Roberts, what's the best way to describe Tony. He is an innovative surf photographer and filmmaker from Santa Cruz, best known for his work with

0:22.8

surfing magazine in the 80s and 90s, where he pioneered photography techniques to document

0:28.5

the genesis and quick progression of aerial surfing that was taking place in his hometown.

0:35.3

He got his first camera when he was 12 years old and I actually found

0:38.6

an epic image of Tony on the encyclopedia of surfing, EOS.Surf. And Tony's 13. He has a video

0:46.4

camera hoisted on his shoulder with a young Tom Curran trying to sneak a peek over his shoulder

0:52.5

and into the viewfinder.

0:57.1

I've posted that on Surf Splendor Podcast.com.

1:05.1

By the age of 16, Tony was touring live shows of his surf and skate films to local school auditoriums.

1:06.0

He was providing live narration and even DJing the soundtrack live on the spot.

1:12.8

So he began working for Surfing Magazine in 1984 under the tutelage of famed photo editor

1:18.6

Flame. Much of the world's interest and focus on Santa Cruz and the aerial surfing, which

1:25.5

by the way became immeasurably influential in modern surfing,

1:30.2

much of the world's interest in those things can be directly attributed to Tony Roberts,

1:36.0

and him having that platform of surfing magazine to showcase really what was uniquely

1:41.2

happening amongst his friends.

1:43.6

And among them, Ratboy, Flea, Barney, Galley, Richard Schmidt.

1:49.7

Tony logged multiple cover shots during that time, probably a dozen,

1:54.4

and then 20 featured length surf and skate films.

1:58.8

In 1996, he relocated to Costa Rica and became a key asset and liaison

2:04.3

for nearly any pro-surfer or surf brand who wanted to ensure that they would score in

2:10.3

Central America. As the industry and surf media has slowly dissolved, Tony has parlayed those

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from David Lee Scales, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of David Lee Scales and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.