AUSTRALIAN SURF CULTURE IN B&W

Australian surf culture is more than just riding waves — it's a way of life woven into the fabric of coastal communities up and down the eastern seaboard. This ongoing black and white photography project by Tony Palmer strips away colour to focus on what really matters: the people who surf, the clubs they belong to, the competitions they enter, and the unguarded moments that happen in between. Combining archive shots with new work throughout, the series deviates from surf action photography to tell a deeper story — portraits, culture, and community, centred around Sydney's Northern Beaches and Freshwater Beach. Some subjects are pro surfers. Most are just regular people. All of them are bound by the same draw of the ocean. Shot in black and white for a reason — because sometimes stripping it back is the only way to see it clearly.