A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

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advertising and surfing

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aerial

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Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

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alaia board

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alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

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Ancell, Kevin

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Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

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angle

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Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

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Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

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Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Easygoing surfer and photographer from Honolulu, Hawaii; best known for capturing many of the classic surf images of Waikiki and Makaha in the 1950s and early '60s. Maki was born (1924) in Kilauea, Kauai, raised in Honolulu, and began surfing in 1944.

In 1958, he was a finalist at the Makaha International Surfing Championships. In 1959, 1960, and 1961, Maki served as the director for the Makaha contest. He represented Hawaii at the 1960 Peru International event.

Maki was a self-taught photographer. His photos, developed from his home darkroom, were first published in 1953 in the 

 newspapers; nearly all of Maki's work is in black and white. Photography was always a moonlighting job for Maki; his real career was with the City and County of Honolulu, where he worked in the Office of Information.

Some of Maki's images were candid or quickly posed beach shots, but he's perhaps best known for the water shots he took of the last great Waikiki beachboy surfers, including Blue Makua and Scooter-Boy Kaopuiki. In 1954, gray-haired surf pioneer Duke Kahanamoku, carrying a surfboard, approached Maki on the beach and told the photographer it was his 64th birthday. A few minutes later, Maki took a shot of Kahanamoku that was published the next day on the front page of the 

; it was the last photograph of Kahanamoku surfing.

For his water shots, Maki used a Rolleiflex camera mounted in a homemade plexiglass housing, which was airtight and fully waterproof; he tied the housing to his waist with a piece of rope. While paddled into the lineup on his board, the camera rested on the deck before him, stuck in place with suction cups fixed to the housing.

A Maki surf image won $1,000 in a national photo contest sponsored by Kodak in 1957; another shot of his won the Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Grand Prize in 1971. Maki's work has been used to illustrate more than a half-dozen surfing books, including

 (2010). Maki shot his last surf photo in 2005, and died in 2010, at age 86.

Maki, Clarence

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features