Awhile back I was browsing some books at the library here in L.A. and I stumbled across this book titled, Photo/Stoner The Rise, Fall, and Mysterious Disappearance of Surfing’s Greatest Photographer. It was a total random find, as i was just browsing the photo section but as soon as I opened up to one of the full-page spreads of Ron Stoner’s simple, sun-drenched photos I knew it was going to be a solid book.

The biography tells the story how Ron Stoner fell in love with surfing as a teenager and later, photographing it, finally becoming the highest paid, most prolific photographer in the surfing world. His story takes a turn for the worse when schizophrenia begins to run Ron’s life, and he eventually disappears not to be heard from again.

The story is clearly a sad one but the photos that are heavily interspersed throughout are amazing. There are some copies of the book on Amazon used for cheap.