Innovative surf photographer was gold standard

Warren Bolster / 1947-2006

Pioneering surf photographer Warren Bolster, 59, died Wednesday on Oahu, friends and family said.

Soon after the North Shore's Triple Crown of Surfing began in 1971, Bolster "was there every winter as the official photographer," said state Sen. Fred Hemmings, former championship surfer.

Bolster was known for "upping the ante, like surfers do," for his daring camera angles, Hemmings said.

"One year at the Pipeline he got wiped out on a wave and lost his camera," Hemmings recalled. "He was known for getting up and close."

After not seeing Bolster for several years, Hemmings said they ran into each other at the Duke's OceanFest in Waikiki the last weekend in August.

"About a week after that, he called me and said he wanted to do another surfing book and one about prisons, in black and white," Hemmings said. Bolster sounded excited about the projects, he said.

North Shore surfer Peter Cole called Bolster's photo work "as good as anybody's."

"I don't know how he did it but he would speed up the camera and get these real action shots, a lot of real innovative water shots," Cole said.

Fellow surf photographer Jamie Ballenger wrote in a tribute to Bolster on his Web site hawaiianwatershots.com: "He took camera board shooting to another level with guys like Bonga Perkins and Sion charging huge pipe with one of Warren's cameras attached to the tail of their boards! There was a time when Warren's pics filled every mag known to man and ... HE WAS THE MAN!"

Bolster was born in Arlington, Va., in 1947, learned to surf in Sydney, Australia, and went on to become a pro surfer in Florida in the late 1960s, according to Surfline.com.

The Web site said Bolster shot his first cover shot for Surfing Magazine in 1972 and was a staff photographer for Surfer magazine in 1975-1992.

Louella Bolster was married to Bolster from 1988 to 1999. She described Bolster as "an athletic person, very active, who is really into the ocean, doing a lot and doesn't even care how painful it is."

Louella Bolster said her ex-husband suffered from shoulder and hip injuries, some sustained while skateboarding or photographing skateboarding.

To her knowledge Bolster didn't surf much anymore because "he can't paddle that much anymore. When we were married, he used to surf a lot."

Bolster had two books published: "The Legacy of Warren Bolster, Master of Skateboard Photography" and "Masters of Surf Photography: Warren Bolster."

He is survived by sons Edward, 17, and Warren Jr., 12, and a sister who lives in Washington, D.C., Louella Bolster said.