A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Alexandre, João (Dapin)

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

Atlantic Ocean

August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

Avalon, Frankie

Azores

backdoor

backside

backside attack, Pipeline

backwash

bail out

Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

Baltic Sea

Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

Beach Boys, The

Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

beachbreak

Beachcomber Bills Grand Prix

Beachley, Layne

beavertail

Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

Bells Beach

Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Soft-spoken photographer from San Diego, California; a longtime senior contributor to 

 magazine; regarded by many as surfing's premier all-around lensman in the 1980s and early '90s. "People always ask me who the best surf photographer is," 

 magazine photo editor Jeff Divine said in 1994, "and I've always said Aaron Chang."

Born (1956) in Tucson, Arizona, Chang began surfing not long after moving with his family to San Diego at age nine, and took up photography and filmmaking at 16. Four years later, while living in Hawaii, Chang made a full-length Super-8 surf movie titled 

 (1976), but was soon concentrating on still photography. He began contributing to 

, was hired as a senior staffer in 1979, and for the next 10 years was regularly dispatched on travel assignments to exotic surf world locations.

 magazine named Chang as one of the top five emerging American sports photographers in 1980, and in 1985 Chang was the subject of an 

 cover story. He was by then expert in all aspects of surf photography: action shots (taken from water or land), portraiture, candids, landscapes, and lifestyle. His composition was masterful; the color palette he worked from was broader than that of any of his surf-world peers. Over the years Chang's work has been published in 

, and dozens of other mainstream magazines; he's contributed to a number of illustrated surfing books, including 

 (1984). Chang also produced a line of top-selling romance posters and, in the 1980s, contributed to the 

Chang is quiet, aloof, intense, and keenly business-minded, branching out to do high-paying work for Nike, among other accounts. In 1994 he launched Aaron Chang Clothing, a successful beachwear line, and in 2001 he was featured in "Loaded: Ten Surfing Millionaires," an 

Chang was part of a 12-man expedition in January 2001 to ride and photograph the huge deep-water surf at Cortes Banks, 100 miles west of San Diego; three months later his photo of California big-wave surfer Mike Parsons riding a 60-foot wave was named the winner in the Swell XXL Big-Wave contest. In 2010, Chang opened the Aaron Chang Ocean Art Gallery in Solana Beach, California.

Chang, Aaron

Subscribe or Login

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

The Sunday Joint

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

The Sunday Joint