CHILD’S PLAY - Jason Childs Pearls Of Wisdom

Top flight Surf Photographer Jason Childs spent most of his career living and raising a family on the island of Bali, the most exotic surfing crossroads on the globe. Not only capturing the iconic images of an extraordinary place, but learning about what it means to make a surfing life in a foreign land. Here are his reflections and a few of his photographic gems.

Connections is what it’s all about with the Bali surfers. That is why I am so grateful for how lucky I was when I first came here. Because I was automatically invited into a tight community. We all seemed to have time for each other. And we were hungry for it. I was so lucky to be welcomed into that world when surfing felt so new here.

There were no color issues, no distance, no wallet envy, it was a surf society and I was so lucky to contribute to it. By documenting the revolution and giving the locals the top priority instead of the visiting surfers. There was a strong sense of pride in what I was doing and the locals were benefiting from more than just being hosts, they were royalty. And I think that perception survives today. As much as I put in, I got much more back. I got to belong to a place.



Rizal Tandjung, Made Kasim, Made Switra, Wayan Ganti, Ketut Menda, Suenda, so many to name. From the early days they ruled, especially at Padang Padang. And the new generation still does. Bol, Garut, Rondi, Mega Semadhi. These surfers are better than the visitors that come through Bali. World class surfers. I know I talk about shooting Kelly and Andy as the best of the best, but at Padang Padang, the jewel in the crown here in Bali, the best guys in the water will always be the Indonesians.

Indonesia taught me that discovery and exploration is hard work. You had to really want it. Especially hunting it down with a camera. Because there is so much more to be concerned with than just finding a fantasy wave. Tearing around with all that equipment, it felt like those first explorers that discovered the source of the Nile or something.

I was late for the Mentawai experience. But maybe that was a good thing. Because Jeff Divine at Surfer Mag called me and said do you want to go on a trip with Andy Irons, Chris Ward, Shea and Corey Lopez and the Beschen brothers? Was he kidding? I shot 140 rolls of film. Film mind you. To this day the finest film I ever shot. Back in the day, shooting with film taught me discipline. I grew up with manual focus cameras, processing my own stuff, printing my own stuff. It taught you to seek that definitive moment. You learn that that one moment is never going to happen again. No photoshop, nothing back then. You had to be pure and clean. It was hard, honest work.

Remember I was shooting blind. With film you never saw your photos for months until they came out in the magazine. Remember, there were only 36 frames a roll. Swim out. 36 frames, swim in, open the housing, start over. Think of the waves we missed. That hurts. What I learned from Andy was that he loved Bali and he loved his friends here. And that he really did have an affinity with Bali. The wildness of Andy fit the wildness of this place. Not many surfers from outside have mastered Keramas. But when Andy surfed it he was in command. Relaxed and connected. So easy to shoot. He would dictate to the wave the way he wanted to surf it. It was such uncommon surfing, stylish and creative. I have never seen anyone surf Keramas like Andy. And not just one time, but every time he paddled out. Unlike anywhere else in the world, you have to love the culture in Bali as much as the surf. Otherwise you are missing half the game.



My most precious photos are the ones of the Morotai kids. The innocence of their surfing, unadulterated, no influences, so clean. I don’t think there has been a cover in the history of Surfer Mag like that one. It was the purest cover. Not advertiser driven. It was the allure of it all. The imagination. What these kids with their home made wooden boards were doing. The whole experience was the magic of a first contact with a pure surfing culture that you had no idea existed. .

After the 2002 Bali Bombings, living there taught me you can’t control the world. You can make decisions about how you want to live, but Bali taught me how to live without fear. The tsunamis, the earthquakes, I’ve been through it all. It changed the way I lived, but it did not stop me from living. Some people get to scratch the surface of life. Indonesia forces you to dive into it. And in a material sense it teaches you the difference between what you want and what you need.

It’s been a real honor to shoot Indonesian surfers from the originals to the contemporary. I remember when I first heard about surfing in Bali the people described it as dancing on the waves. And that really put it on me. And once I arrived I was so stoked to see it was true. Bali is a calling. Do it right and your very identity will be so infused into Bali. Bali is a privilege that cannot be taken for granted. I can’t close the door on this. And I won’t. I don’t just want this place, to this very day I need this place and its people.