Leroy Grannis

LeRoy "Granny" Grannis (August 12, 1917 – February 3, 2011) was a veteran photographer. His portfolio of photography of surfing and related sea images from the 1960s enjoys a reputation that led The New York Times to dub him "the godfather of surfphotography." He was born in Hermosa Beach, California. Living a beachfront childhood, by the age of five Grannis was taken swimming and bodysurfing by his father. Soon Grannis made himself a bellyboard from a piece of wood and rode it during vacations in his mother's home state of Florida. In 1931, at age 14, his father gave him a 6' x 2' pine board from which he hacked a kneeboard using a drawknife. At Hermosa Pier, stand up surfing was the rage, so he began borrowing boards until he could get his own. Later, he struggled to balance surf time with family and work as a member of the Palos Verdes Surf Club, second only in America to the Corona Del Mar Surf Board Club, which was established in the late 1920s) . Unable to afford an education at...