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February 2007 Issue
Jeff Johnson: The Student
By Chris Malloy
We live in an era full of fakers and dilettantes.
When somebody paddles out to 54th St. in Newport Beach without a leash on, the surf media calls them a “waterman”. When somebody is spotted with a long skateboard in the back of their Miata squished between their golf clubs and lapdog at Starbucks, they are called an “old school skater”. When somebody includes a few nights at a climbing gym into their low carb Tae-Bo cross training regimen they consider themselves a “climber”. And, since being a writer or photographer seems to woo the opposite sex, MySpace.com (a.k.a LieSpace.com) shows that almost all of its customers are lensmen or authors.
Jeff Johnson doesn’t slow down long enough to call himself anything. He starts his day long before the sun has risen, presses himself a batch of super potent dark roast, and depending on the given wind, swell, tide and location (mountains or ocean), immerses himself in the elements at hand until long after the sun has set.
He grew up in Northern California roaming the East Bay poaching empty pools and curbs, winning the only skate contest he ever entered. Right out of high school he moved to the North Shore. During his time there he worked for years as a North Shore lifeguard plucking the high paid pros out of harms way. He swam the Napali coast during big winter conditions. He paddled canoe three years in the Molokai and finished well. He won his division in the Duke paddleboard race. Last year he made the finals of the Pipeline Bodysurfing classic and took fourth (many people see this event as bodysurfing world championship). He learned to climb on the boulders at Waimea Bay and quickly graduated to Yosemite Valley where he has done El Capitan twice and Half Dome in a one day push. Any time the surf wasn’t pumping for the last five years Jeff has lived out of his van in places like Joshua Tree and Tuolumne Meadows ticking off his dream list. He has written volumes of stories true and fictional for most of his life and had many pieces published in The Surfer’s Journal and The Alpinist. His first book of writing and photography is in its second printing and he shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
So why doesn’t he call himself a waterman, climber, skater, photographer or writer?
“It ain’t that big a deal,” Jeff laughs, “I guess I just have more fun learning something than being something.”
What are you doing?
What do you mean what am I doing? Like, right now or in life?
Alright. Is this how its gonna be?
I dunno. You started it.
Well then… How’s life as a writer and a photographer?
Good. Good. I’ve always taken pictures and written in my journal. I’ve traveled quite a bit. I’d be doing all of this anyway. I’m just very fortunate to be getting paid for some of it now. But at the end of the day I’m a surfer and a climber- that’s really what I want to be doing.
Who are your favorite writers?
Charles Bukowski for simplicity and rhythm, Fyodor Dostoevsky for depth,
Cormac McCarthy for his descriptions and unusual style, um…
Who are your favorite photographers?
Paul Bowles, Dave Eggers, Hunter S. Thompson, Jon Krakauer…
Those are writers
(laughs) Well, writers have inspired me to make pictures more than anything. How do you say it? …a good word is worth a thousand pictures.
Hmmm. Writing, skating, surfing, photography, climbing- out of all those things, if you had to pick only two to do the rest of your life what would they be?
I’d have to pick surfing and photography.
Why’s that?
Surfing you can do till you are pretty old and even if I can’t walk or talk I could still tell a story with some photos.
Why not writing?
Writing is very hard for me. It’s the most rewarding but it takes a lot out of you- lots of energy.
You’ve traveled with some of the best surfers and climbers in the world. Who do you think is the most hardcore? Surfers or climbers?
There’s nothing better than surfing and I think there are some radical people out there living the life but I think all the money and hype these days has made it a bit soft. Surfing’s lost a lot of character. I’ve been on trips with “professional” surfers and I hear them complain about the food, their bed, the waves- can’t wait to get home to their fancy cars and shopping malls. I know some climbers who are at the top of their game and they’re dumpster-diving, living year-round out of their trucks. In Yosemite Valley you see these guys come in, climb some audacious new route and come Monday their pounding nails at the construction site- purely ‘cause they love it.
What does the dawn of the digital photography era mean to you?
You got an hour? (laughs) I can’t stand computers. I think it is a shame that to be a photographer now you have to spend a lot of time indoors rotting in front of a computer screen. And uh… it's changed the flow of picture making- take a shot, look at the back of the camera, take a shot, look at the back of the camera. But there are crazy benefits to digital. Less environmental impact, it's cheaper, and in low light situations there’s no comparison. But with digital you get noise whereas film you have beautiful grain. You can go back and fourth all day with this. Over all I wish the digital thing never happened. Am I sounding too negative?
I dunno. Any advice to young photographers?
Tom Servais said one time that 90 percent of taking a great photo is just being there. I think that sums it up pretty well.
You grew up in Northern California then lived on the North Shore of Oahu for fifteen years. Now you live in Ventura. What do you think?
It’s been a little bit of a shock. Big change in lifestyle. I basically moved here to work for Patagonia. I wouldn’t have done it for any other company. I love it. Made the right choice for sure. But, how do I put this? --I can’t stand southern California. But Ventura feels different than the rest of it. It’s the last coastal town that hasn’t been taken over. It’s got a lot of character still. And I dig the fact that you can’t just pull up here in a car full of guys and paddle out. The locals won’t have it. They have some integrity, they demand respect. Old school. I’m a strong supporter of localism.
(laughs) Was leaving Hawaii and moving to California to work full-time the biggest turning point in you life?
Not really. It’s kinda funny. The most defining moment in my life was in the seventh grade at the end of a football game. I walked out of the locker room and all the guys on my team began laughing at my brand new checkerboard Vans- cause the shoes were different. Nobody had them yet. I realized then that none of these guys could stand alone. They weren’t individuals. And for some reason I had a deep respect for the individual. So that football game was the last organized sport I ever played. I got a haircut, a skateboard, and started listening to punk rock. I began to question everything. It changed my life for the better.
Ever get your ass kicked?
Yeah, a few times. I wasn’t too popular with the jocks after that. Had some trouble.
Who are your heroes?
Man, I have a lot of ‘em. My dad for beginners. He’s had such an influence on me. He was a top springboard diver, still is a world-class skier and loves a bit of adventure. A great storyteller too! After that there’s Xocoyotzin Moraza, Jay Adams, Dan Malloy, Neil Young, Peter Croft, Eric Haas, Yvon Chouinard, Lucas Ray, Iggy Pop, Owl Chapman… there’s too many to list.
So what are your plans?
You mean like tonight or in life?
C’mon man. I thought we got through this?
Ok, ok. Um, lets see… Get up. Make some coffee… Shit, I don’t know.
Posted February 2007 Blue Edge Magazine. All rights reserved.
