KEVIN WELSH

If it wasn’t for the hard work and vision of a few brave, enterprising pioneers, the East Coast might still be in the dark ages of media coverage. Relegated to the back pages of some corporate Cali mag or given a few seconds in a video documentary on Kelly Slater, the Right Coast surfing scene might have never made it to the mainstream were it not for a couple determined individuals. Kevin Welsh is one of those innovators. His early work with photography and surf publications on the East Coast paved the way for all that was to come, including our very own Eastern Surf. Through his diligence, tireless commitment to his craft, and ability to operate 24-7, Kevin has grown into a virtual one-man media conglomerate. Today, as Senior Photographer for Surfer Magazine, the producer of nine East Coast surfing videos in the NRG series, and heading up a slew of other projects, Welsh shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, just back from a 20-show, 8-state tour of the Eastern Seaboard in support of his latest release, Ocean Energy, Kevin appears to be gaining momentum. ESM spoke with Welsh while he was in Hawaii covering the 2000 winter season to find out how he manages to maintain such a high level of...

ESM: You live in Satellite Beach, Florida, now, but aren’t you originally from Long Island?
KW: I’m originally from Babylon, New York, on Long Island. My family moved to East Merritt Island, Florida, in 1972 when I was 12-years-old.

ESM: Were you introduced to surfing up in New York?
KW: No, I never surfed in Long Island. I got into surfing after moving to Florida. My brother Chris and I used to go to the beach with Mike Burke, Dale Burke, and Claude Codgen starting in ‘72. We would borrow their boards when they came in from the water. I remember the first time I stood up; it was at Fourth Street in Cocoa Beach. I was just blown away at how much fun surfing was. After that, I rushed out to Oceanside Surf Shop and bought an old 5’ 10” single-fin G & S. It was probably 22” wide, and we called it the “Pringle” because it was all yellowed from the sun and looked like a Pringles’ potato chip.

ESM: So how did you become interested in photography?
kw: I started shooting photos in ‘75 around Cocoa Beach. I was always stoked to see all the surf shots in the mags, so I borrowed a friend’s camera and started messing around. After that, I decided to enroll in a photography course at Merritt Island High. Back then, I was shooting photos of local surfers like the Klugels and Greg Taylor. Everyone would get together at somebody’s house to party, and I would bring over my slides and a couple Kodak carousels. We’d hang up a bedsheet as a screen, and when the images would flash up, everyone would start going crazy. Nowadays, I’m still doing the same thing except instead of a bedsheet and slides, I’m using a wide screen video projector and a PowerBook.

ESM: Outside of high school, did you ever get any formal training?
KW: Following high school, I went to college at Brevard Community College and received
an Associate of Science degree in photography. Actually, I tell people I went to UCLA because the Cocoa BCC campus is on Clear Lake Avenue, so I’d call it the University of Clear Lake
Avenue [laughs].

ESM: Were you submitting photos to the mags back then?
KW: Actually, the first photo of mine that was published was in Wave Rider Magazine which was the happening East Coast surf mag at the time. It was run by the Griffin brothers—John and Gunner—who also ran a pro contest circuit called the APS, American Pro Surfers. I took the shot at the Easter Fest surf contest at Canaveral Pier. Down on the beach, there was this girl who was hanging out with her boyfriend, and they were both just totally wasted. She sees me with my camera and starts yelling, “Hey, Mr. Camera Man! Hey Mr. Camera Man!” So I turn around, and she says, “Check this out!” and lifts up her T-shirt to flash her tits. I snapped a photo and submitted it to Wave Rider with some other surf stuff, and out of all my pictures, they wanted to use the one of the girl’s boobs [laughs].

ESM: So your photography career was launched by a tit shot?
KW: [Laughs] Yeah, my first photo turns out to be a picture of a woman’s breasts, and it all just sort of steamrolled from there.

ESM: Did you keep freelancing, or did you get a full-time job?
KW: Wave Rider hired me as Photo Editor one month before I graduated from BCC. I went in with some photos of Pat Mulhern and Kurt Wilson, and they told me they were getting rid of the guy they had and wanted to hire me. That was great because here I was not even done with school yet, and I’m already placed.

ESM: You also worked with a few other early East Coast surf publications. Can you tell us about those endeavors?
KW: Around the early eighties, I moved on from Wave Rider and started my own magazine with Art Director Rob McGrath. We started up a full-color, coated enamel paper magazine called US Surf with a woman who had just moved down from North Carolina named Carol Holland—Todd’s mom. But we were doomed from the start because none of us had any experience with publishing. We had all the other ends covered—editorial, layout, photos—but we didn’t know a thing about publishing and distribution. After US Surf, I always wondered if anyone else would do an East Coast mag, then this guy from Jacksonville named Kurtis Loftus started up Swell. He was Publisher and Art Director, and your boss Tom Dugan was Photo Editor. I started on as Ad Salesman and Staff Photographer in ‘86 or ‘87. The magazine lasted a couple years, but it was really expensive to run because we were full-color and glossy. All the money was going to pay for the paper and color separations. Eventually, because Kurtis and his wife Margaret, who also helped run the mag, were having their first child, he decided to throw in the towel. He needed to work on other projects that made him more money, so he could support his family.

ESM: What came next?
KW: After the demise of Swell, and when Surfer axed East Coast Surfer, the door was wide open for something new. That’s when ESM started up. The formula was there, and I discussed it with Dugan, but I couldn’t come on board because I was working with Surfer. I had already worked with three East Coast mags that had failed, so it was like three strikes, and you’re out. I think now the Right Coast is finally getting some good exposure, but it’s definitely been an uphill battle.

ESM: So Surfer offered you a job after Swell went under?
KW: I had already been contacted by Editor Paul Holmes and Publisher Steve Pezman, who wanted me to work with them, but I wanted to wait and see what Swell was going to do. My position with Surfer came out of promotion work I did for Natural Art Surfboards. Natural Art used to do a really big contest in Barbados with Carib Beer, and when ESPN’s Surfer Video Magazine wanted to go there to shoot an episode, I set up all the plane tickets, hotels, and rental cars, so their video crew could come down and film. The trip went off really well, so that’s when they started talking to me about working with them. I waited until Swell folded, and then I became Surfer’s East Coast Advertising Sales Rep and Staff Photographer.

ESM: Did Surfer help you out with your first Surf NRG film?
KW: No, the videos have always been my own entity. The stills I shoot are for Surfer, but the NRG series is my own thing. Although now, some of my video clips can be seen on surfermag.com.

ESM: You once told me that the Halloween swell in ‘91 put you on the map in terms of filmmaking...
KW: That year I had just purchased a new Canon L 1 High-8 video camera, and right after I bought this thing, the Halloween swell comes along. Next thing I know, I’m on the third floor balcony of the Ramada Inn at RC’s filming the biggest surf I’ve ever seen on the East Coast. The footage I got from that swell was so good, it inspired me to produce that first Surf NRG video which was and still is my best seller. So, yeah, the Perfect Storm definitely started my career in the video business.

ESM: But up until that point, you were dealing strictly with still photography. How did you learn to edit and produce a full-length video?
KW: When I was working on the Natural Art contest in Barbados, I got to know a video producer from Virginia Beach named Keith Lown who became my mentor in the film biz. He was a surfer from Virginia who was doing commercials and documentaries in the mid-Atlantic area. I logged all my good clips in Florida, then I took them up to his studio in Virginia Beach. I remember walking into his editing suite for the first time, and there were all these machines with buttons and lights and TV monitors all over the place. I was like, “Oh my God! How am I ever going to learn all this?” But Keith was a good teacher. He taught me how to edit and showed me the ropes of video production.

ESM: After the success of the first video, did you become more focused on film rather than shooting stills?
KW: I’ve always kept the still photography going. Videos are great, but there’s nothing like getting back a roll of film and seeing how you were able to capture that one fraction of a second—the peak moment. Taking that one slice of time out and having it recorded forever is quite incredible. To utilize both stills and video at the same time, I devised a double bracket system I call “Double Trouble.” It allows my still camera to be mounted alongside my video camera, so when I’m shooting stills, I’m also recording video of what I’m seeing. It’s kind of cool when you get a feature in a magazine, like the one I just did on Costa Rica with Surfer, and when the video is released, you get to see that story played out on film.

ESM: You’re one of the only filmmakers who takes your show on the road like they used to do in the surf film heyday of the ‘60s and ‘70s. How has the road tour affected your series’ success?
KW: I remember when I was a kid in the late ‘70s coming out of the water at Fourth Street and seeing these flyers posted up on telephone poles. They’d say something like, “Showing at the Cocoa Beach Playhouse Friday Night: Adventures in Paradise.” Before the video era, people used to tour around with their movies. They’d set up their films at VFW Halls or local theaters. There’d be lines outside every night, just tons of people. The movies would start and everyone would just go crazy, hooting and hollering. There would be young kids there with their parents—all ages. It was really cool, definitely very soulful. I’m trying to emulate that kind of thing with my tour. I’m trying to capture that period in history and bring some of that feeling back.

ESM: Did you feel some of that energy when you did your first tour?
KW: The first time I did the tour, there were only four stops—all in Florida—and it was just incredible. I remember looking up and seeing my name in lights on the marquee and being worried no one would come out, but inside the place was packed, and everyone was really stoked. I felt like I captured the feeling with that tour. The road show helps promote the video, but more importantly, it brings everybody together; it’s really a social event. It’s a lot of work, but recreating that magic is worth it.

ESM: You also tour with some of the bands that provide music for your videos. Being on the road with these groups must make you feel like quite the rock star...
KW: Getting to travel with these bands is great. The films give these up-and-coming acts excellent exposure. This year we were lucky to have a group like Lefty that has just signed with Interscope Records, so that was really cool, and the band Don’t Look Down came out on the road this time, too. We’ve also had great support from major companies like Hurley, Reef, and Smith, who all help out with the music end. One of my favorite bands is the local group Lo Presher. Those guys are definitely a unique, creative group of individuals. From touring with these groups, I’ve learned how tough the music business really is.

ESM: The music in your films has evolved along with your series. How do you decide on the tunes for your videos?
KW: With music, you’ve got to cater to your audience to a certain extent. Of course the pop punk scene has been real popular, and occasionally I use that kind of stuff in my videos. However, popularity seems to have shifted from punk into something else. I don’t want to say hip-hop, but rather it’s something with a rap style, something with a lot of rhythm. It’s different, like Freeflow Conspiracy in Ocean Energy. But I still like the soulful Gary Hoey type of guitar riffs. Instead of all hardcore stuff, I like to mix it up. You’ve got to break up the action into different moods. If you’ve got a heavy day at Pipe with people getting spit out of these gnarly pits, then punk works well. But if it’s a segment at a pointbreak where guys are just flowing with the waves for like 300 yards, you want something that will capture that feeling, a more laid-back guitar sound that’s smooth and cruisy.

ESM: Surf films today all seem to combine humor or funny pranks in with the surf action, and your films are no exception. Seeing as the snake segment with Matt Kechele in Ocean Energy won Surfer’s video award for comedy, what role do you think humor plays in your movies?
KW: The humor has been there from the beginning. I remember Bill Yerkes’ films back in the ‘60s. Those guys always had so much fun; there’s comedy segments throughout those old movies. I enjoy including humor in my films because surfers are a really funny group. These type of things always occur on surf trips. I mean, there really is a lot of weird shit that happens when surfers get together, a lot of hilarious stuff. I try to capture those moments as they happen, although I have staged some things like the gorilla in Positive NRG. But most of the gags are spur of the moment. These things happen spontaneously, and you’ve just got to be on it. The humor in my films is an effort to recreate that kind of atmosphere.

ESM: Over the past few years, it seems that some other people’s surf videos have been trying to go over the top with really crazy and oftentimes sick stunts. Do you think there’s a point where the comedy routines can get out of hand?
KW: It can definitely get out of hand. A lot of young kids are buying surf videos, and you don’t want to expose them to those things. If it’s good clean fun and nobody’s getting hurt then that’s fine, but I mean when you’re filming people getting set on fire and guys doing drugs... You’ve got to step back and examine what kind of message you’re sending.

ESM: So I guess in the next NRG movie we won’t be seeing people nailing their scrotums to 2 x 4’s like I’ve seen in other surf flicks...
KW: No, that’s too punk for me [laughs]. You want to keep it funny, but only up to a certain point.

ESM: Since we’re talking about humor, how’d you get the nickname “Pooch?”
KW: I was working in this back office at US Surf by myself or alongside one other guy for hours at a time. Being cooped up like that, you get kinda loony. You’re talking to yourself, making noises, or whatever. Well there’s this dog bark I used to do that sounds pretty realistic. One day, I was in the back room, and Pete Dooley from Natural Art was hanging out in the front office. He hears this dog barking in the other room, and he’s like, “What’s going on? You guys got a sick dog back there or what?” He really believed there was some animal in the office. He finally found out what it really was, and when he was using one of my shots for his next ad, he put “Pooch” as the photo credit [laughs]. From there on, I had the nickname, and it just sort of stuck.

ESM: So let’s see... you’re a Senior Photog at Surfer, you’re also head of their East Coast ad sales, you’ve successfully produced nine of your own films, you distribute videos, and you tour the entire Right Coast to support your movies. Where do you get all this energy to carry so many projects at once?
KW: Fortunately, I don’t require a lot of sleep. If I get five or six hours a night, I’m good. You’ve really got to take advantage of the time you have. You can’t just sit back and expect things to happen. I do the opposite; I create opportunities. My work inspires me because I really enjoy my profession. I remember when I was a kid thinking about what I’d be doing in the year 2000, and I thought I’d be so old. But I’m 41 now, and I feel like I’m in my 20s. I feel so young, and my work just helps keep that energy level on high.

ESM: What can we expect from the Surf NRG series in the future?
KW: I’m considering shortening the videos a little, so I might be able to pull off two in a single year. Also, I’m going to venture out to other areas but always with the pulse on the East Coast. I’d like to explore the Northeast more, like New Jersey, Long Island, and further up in Nova Scotia, but I’d also like to hit some more distant, tropical locales like Indonesia. In the next year or so, I want to offer the new nrg releases on DVD. Who knows what’s around the corner? I mean, just five years ago, who would have thought guys would be landing rodeo flips? Surfing will continue to evolve. I just want to be there to document it.