Surfland

"On the waves, surfers are muscle, sinew, and impulse. But at the shore, gravity weighs down their limbs. They become ordinary people again, their hair sliced with slat spray, their bodies squeezed into neoprene wetsuits. And it is here, on the beaches of Montauk, New York, Carpinteria and Santa Cruz, California, that Joni Sternbach finds and photographs them. Sternbach makes her photographs in tintype, a labor-intensive technique little changed since its invention in the 1850s. Photographing this way is a kind of performance, which Sternbach uses to her advantage. Her elaborate setup is an object of curiosity that helps attract sitters. The process is slow and involved, so making a portrait becomes a conversation." from "Surfland" Photographs by Joni Sternbach