By Brian Bielmann –
The photographer known affectionately as “Hank Foto,” has seen it all, and has pulled the trigger on most of it. The stuff he missed he probably did so on purpose.
If you’ve ever known a surf photographer, they are as a whole, far from the normal studio scientist looking to get the perfect angle on a soup can, figure out the perfect setting for their flash, or trying to get famous shooting aspiring models who may well just be the next “big thing.” Between my youth as professional surfer and then, as publisher for the last 3 decadesI have been fortunate to have known, traveled with and dealt with many of the world’s best. Some are specialists, trying to get that perfect wide angle look, others areand capable of dealing with any lens or configuration Still others maybe should have taken a different life path because they’re just too frustrated because they can’t make enough money. Then you have guys like Hank Foto: a man that has done it all, seen it all, and has a good and a bad opinion about everything and nothing— depending on what mood you catch him in, that is!
As much as surfers can be characters, the watermen who capture these surfers on film are every bit as eccentric, colorful, dynamic and moody as the athletes. Hank is the real real deal. If ever there was a war torn, surf veteran gonzo-photographer, Hank photo is it.
Brian Let’s start with the beginning. How’d you get the nickname Hank?
Hank I got the name Hank from a couple of boys at Salt Creek. I grew up, born and raised in California. Kevin Billy actually nicknamed me “Snack Bar Hank” because at 13 years old, I started working at the snack bar in Salt Creek and it kind of stuck with me. Then I met Larry Moore (former photo editor of Surfing Magazine) down at the beach, and he was a big mentor of mine. He was the one who got me to get my first water housing and taught me everything I knew about photography. I was friends with him until he passed away. He was a great friend of mine.
Brian You were a kneeboarder, which I always thought was pretty cool, but why??
Hank Kneeboarding had its day way back. It seemed kind of easier to do than surfing cause you could get barreled easily. Surfing, kneeboarding, bodyboarding, bellyboarding— they were all in the same era. I just think kneeboarding had its day.
Brian As a kneeboarder, did you have your heroes? Obviously George Greenough and others, but were there guys you looked up to in that niche?
Hank There were a couple of guys. Definitely George Greenough was a big influence for me, and guys like Rex Hoffman from Big Rock in La Jolla. Then I started doing the NSSA contests and WSA contests. Guys like Bill Lerner and Bill Sharp were the ones I always competed against. I actually made my first trip to Hawai’i in 1978 to surf in a contest, kneeboarding.
Brian What year did you start taking photos?
Hank I started taking pictures in high school in the early 1980s. I actually didn’t do my first surf trip until ’83. I went to Bali. That was my first photo trip. So ’83 was probably the first year I started doing it full-time.
Brian I remember when you first came over to Hawai’i and that your nickname was Snack Bar Hank, but I kept getting you mixed up and calling you Lunchbox Hank. I don’t think we really got to know each other until we both started working at Bodyboarding Magazine. Remember when Surfing Magazine started a bodyboarding magazine? Those were fun times. You must have some memories or stories from that era.
Hank Well, in 1985, I started working at Surfing Magazine as the special service grom. I did everything—picking up lunch, dropping off pictures, picking up pictures. That was before the bodyboarding magazine. I kept seeing all these pictures come in from Tom Boyle from and Sandy’s, and they were just incredible. The photos he took were so vibrant. It was a good niche for us, you know, you and me: because it was a new thing, a new magazine, and we had a little niche going. It was an interesting time in our lives. Bodyboarding was really part of the mainstream of surfing. We did some crazy bodyboard trips, from Cabo San Lucas to Nat Geo and Tahiti. I was influenced by other photographers at Pipeline because Pipeline was incredible to watch and photograph. In ’90, I moved to Hawai’i full-time. I finally found a little place on the beach with a couple of bodyboarders, Dean Marzoll and Kavan Akamaro, at Piddlies.
Brian Oh yeah, that’s right. I forgot about that. I remember we’d all come and park at your house and go surf Piddlies. It was awesome. Then they tore your house down and built a gigantic mansion there. Time moves on, huh?
Hank Yeah, we had some great times at that house. The ’90s were just blowing up. What a great time to live in Hawai’i. We really had the best eras of Hawai’i. It’s still great and beautiful, but instead of $50 a room, it’s $1,500 a room now to live here, if you can even find a room. I was paying $600 a month to live on the beach.
Brian You also were kind a photo pioneer of Tahiti. What are some of your memories of early Tahiti?
Hank Definitely, the first day I got to Tahiti in ’83 with Ben Severson, we pulled up to Papara. Papara was this beach break— but outside the beach break was this reef break. They were having a local contest and I looked out and saw these perfect six-to-eight-foot barrels on the outside reef. It was just amazing, like the dream Tahiti you always saw in magazines. Me and Ben went out there, and the color of the water and everything about it was just amazing.
Brian One thing we can’t leave out is that you were quite the wild man in your early days. I remember at one point, you said you wanted to start a company called Crack-A-Noon Productions because that was the time you were getting down to the beach. I remember looking over and seeing your tripod set up while you were just sleeping on the beach. The stuff of legend.
Hank Yeah, it was kind of a phase in my life that I went through. You don’t always know which path you’re going to go down, but I really enjoyed having a lot of fun. Fun was more important than work or anything else. When you add alcohol or anything to influence that, it kind of makes things a little exciting. And I was pretty much just hitting it hard.
Brian Hitting it hard is putting it mildly. You were pretty much a substance-fueled animal. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to others but luckily you came through all that. How long would you say you were partying hard? Ten years?
Hank Yeah, a solid ten years of partying hard. I stopped drinking at 42, so it’s been 17 years sober.
Brian You know what’s funny? When you were young, you looked old, and now that you’re older, you look younger than the rest of us. You’re like the Benjamin Button character. Literally pickled.
Hank Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s worked out pretty well in my favor. I’m not advocating for partying and drugs and alcohol, but I will say our industry was like rebels. We were living outside of society. It was a wilder time where everybody had these one-of-a-kind personalities, and it was really fun. It was cool to know someone showed up, and he was on acid, and he won the contest. I mean, that’s kind of crazy. Again, I’m not advocating that for the youth or surfers now, but it made for some great stories.
Brian Times have changed a bit.
Hank Yeah. and the local scene was pretty heavy. You didn’t just show up from anywhere else and paddle out, taking all the waves. There was a lot of gnarly stuff going on back then. The Wolf Pack and everything else— I loved it. It humbled those coming from California to Hawai’i. You had to tread lightly. If you acted up, you wouldn’t last. A lot of people didn’t last in Hawai’i. Drinking and doing what I did made me a little harder on the inside, so it kept me on the edge. I wanted to take photos of all the locals: Junior, Wayne Boy Victorino, Michael Ho and too many to name. By taking photos of those guys, it kind of opened the door for me a little bit. I wasn’t just a holidaymaker coming to Hawai’i; I was making a mark for myself.
Brian The real question is how did you wake up in the morning, hungover or without sleep, and jump on a ski to shoot gigantic waves. If I remember correctly, you were one of the very first guys out on a jet ski. Maybe Larry Haynes and John Bilderbeck too. Would you say that was the original early crew?
Hank Definitely. A good friend of mine, Troy Alotis, had a jet ski. One day I saw him towing in Hornbaker, and Art Brewer, they had a Zodiac jet boat they would take out. Once I saw the jet ski, how practical it was for getting out to the outer reefs, I knew I had to get one.
Brian Tell me about your early shots of Ken Bradshaw?
Hank Outer Log Cabins. It was a day when Waimea had just closed out, and they couldn’t even hold the Eddie. I got home late that night from the strip bars, and my good friend Markie Mark came over and said, hey, go look at Waimea before you go out. I’ll change your plugs and get you all ready, but go look at the bay before you go out. So I started driving up to the bay, and I saw Larry Haynes going towards the harbor. I thought, I’ll piggyback Larry and go out with him. Definitely better to go out with two people than one. We went out to Waimea. It was bombing 25-30 feet. I pulled my camera out to take photos of these empty perfect waves at Waimea, thinking the Eddie was going to start any minute. Then we saw this giant set come in, and we were like, oh, geez, we got to make it over this thing, or we’re dust. We almost didn’t make it.
But here I am, still shooting and I don’t plan on going anywhere soon. I’ve got a kid to raise and a lot more waves to catch!