Gold Coast photographer Ted Grambeau’s exhibition SEALEVEL: The Art of Awareness
YOU might not know his name but you would’ve seen his images. From a photo tech giant Apple used as its screensaver to the incredible shot of Mick Fanning sitting with gorillas. Meet the man behind the shots.
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THERE was a split second between when the surfer jumped from the Icelandic glacier and his body hitting the frigid water below and Ted Grambeau was there to capture it.
He was there too for the moment the polar bear ambled into the village in Svalbard, Norway and lifted its head with a gaze icy enough to freeze your very soul.
When surfer Mick Fanning crept up on gorillas in the wilds of Rwanda, again it was Ted who had his finger on the shutter button.
With an enviable client list including the likes of Rip Curl, Speedo, Red Bull, Quiksilver, Billabong, BMW and Patagonia there aren’t many corners of the earth Ted hasn’t poked his lens into.
The Victorian native moved to the Gold Coast permanently about 20 years ago after he realised he was spending more time at Surfing Life magazine founder Peter Morrison’s beach pad in between assignments than his own home.
“I ended up buying a place and basing my life out of Currumbin,” Ted says.
“I’d go exploring to all sorts of places — Russia, Mozambique, Tahiti. Anywhere to do with active lifestyle and adventure.”
Many people may not know Ted Grambeau’s name but it’s likely they’ve seen his images.
As well as the plethora of surfing magazines, advertisements, calendars and brand catalogues Ted’s images also appear in less likely locations.
A shot he took of surfer Shane Dorian at the notorious P Pass in Micronesia was snapped up by a leading tech company.
“Apple was using that for their screen savers, which was pretty cool,” Ted says.
“I also did a children’s book The Surfer and the Mermaid which has photos of women dressed as mermaids with whales.”
In his pursuit of everything from monster waves to fashion centrefolds Ted, 62, has visited more than 100 countries and exhausted a dozen passports crammed with the stamps from far-flung nations the rest of us could only dream of visiting.
But like the boy in Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist, there was something Ted had been searching for during his long years of globe trotting.
“It was these little bits of beauty you see but it’s never been my assignment to photograph,” Ted says.
“I’ve always been focused on what the model is wearing or a client surfing. I guess it’s one of those you can’t see the forest for the trees type things.”
And so one day five years ago in between assignments Ted decided to pull out his wetsuit and his camera waterhousing and headed to the beach near his Currumbin home.
He wasn’t sure exactly what he was looking for in the hours he spent bobbing around that day, but thousands of hours later a vision had taken shape.
Just like Paul Coelho’s boy, Ted had found his greatest treasure right where he started — but it had taken a lifetime’s worth of experiences to realise it.
“Prior to that I would consider myself purely a commercial photographer,” Ted says.
“But within every photographer there’s an artist hiding somewhere inside.
“I’d go out and shoot at absolute sea level mostly around pre-dawn or dusk. It really reflects the nuances of the day. The fleeting milliseconds of light as they glance off a wave.
“I basically drew on a whole lot from all my years photographing in the ocean. It was literally the culmination of all my years experience.”
The result, shot entirely at Currumbin, was a stunning abstract body of work focused on light and water. Untouched by Photoshop, it was captured in split seconds unable to be seen by a casual observer.
The experience made Ted reflect on his years of photographing the world.
Were the glaciers in Iceland still as imposing as the ones he’d seen as a boy poring over the pages of National Geographic?
Was the polar bear majestic in his presence or merely lost in a changing world?
“I’ve spent a lifetime up to my eyeballs in the water everyday. If the ocean is changing surely I’d see it?” Ted says.
“But climate change is invisible to the naked eye and I realised the photography I’m doing is similar. It’s only once I’ve processed the images, it’s not a Photoshop thing it’s a mechanical process in the camera, that you see a real moment in time.
“Every credible scientists in the world is saying something but we don’t take any notice because it’s inconvenient to do so but also because we can’t see it.”
A much smaller version of Ted’s exhibition SEALEVEL: The Art of Awareness, was featured in a gallery in Hawaii last year.
However the series in its entirety is currently making its debut at Head On Photo Festival in Sydney.
Ted hopes that just like he did, the exhibition eventually makes its way to where it truly belongs — home on the Gold Coast.
“I could think of nothing more apt than to have an exhibition back where it all started at the Gold Coast. If I could exhibit in the Cultural Precinct when it’s finished — that would be such an honour,” Ted says.
“That’s what I find so fascinating. That out of all the places I’ve been to in the world it was out the front of my place that I’ve found this little sanctuary.”
SEA LEVEL: The Art of Awareness is on display at Head On Photo Festival in Sydney until May 20. You can also view ted’s work at tedgrambeau.com or on Instagram @tedgrambeau
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