Smorgasboarder_16_March-2013

Latest: INTERVIEW
Tim then went back home to show his footage
only a couple of weeks after the contest. His first
venue was the Victoria Hotel and to his delight
the line of people cueing to see his film stretched
from outside the pub and right down the hill.
“I thought, ‘This is it, this is the future.’”
In 1998 Tim shot some absolutely incredible
footage of monstrous waves breaking at a spot
called Jaws off Maui in Hawaii. He turned the
footage into one of the biggest selling surf
videos of all time called Biggest Wednesday.
It was this movie that spawned the Australian
Surf Film Festival, a travelling road show of surf
films now entering its 11th year.
“From that point I have never looked back.
Obviously back then there were no videos, DVDs
or internet. I would just hit the road and screen
the movies around the pubs showing surfers
what was going on in the world out there.
“I would sit in the pub with my super 8
projector, an 8x10ft screen set up at the back
of the room, a cassette deck, sound system and
mic. I would sit there and narrate the film with
one hand controlling the levels, and the other
on the slow motion control. That was it for
the next ten years - showing films in pubs and
clubs, the good life.”
Present day
Tim is just as hyped and passionate about
shooting surfing footage today, as he was when
he started back in the late seventies although
he has achieved a bit more balance in his life.
Rather than “burning the candle at both ends”
as he did when he initially returned to Sydney
working in the Australian independent music
scene at night before heading straight to the
beach to shoot, he has settled down with his
beautiful French wife and two kids.
“I still enjoy the good life in terms of travelling
the world but I have concentrated on my film
career and family foremost. My passion still
mar/apr 2013 | sMOrGasBOarder 57