Surf culture started to become mainstream in the sixties. The movie Endless Summer came out in 1965, helping show the ultimate surfers dream. At this time the introduction of the lightweight 35mm SLR camera from Nikon and Canon, changing the way surfing was shot forever. Leroy Grannis and Bruce Brown, creators of Endless Summer, liked the 35mm a lot better than the previously used medium format camera. Surf magazines started being produced then too. Doc had a hand in this, being the co-founder of Surfing Magazine. Post war saw the transition from black and white to color film.

Ron Stoner was the leading man in color surf photography. He worked for Surfing Magazine 1965-1967 creating images that were unlike anything that had been previously produced. Stoner's work stood out among the rest because of the quality and style for the time. Stoner was able to truly capture a surfer's whole lifestyle. This helped feed into the ideal male surfers lifestyle. This was where surfer journalism based its understanding that it was to be for the male gaze. Shot by men and produced for men.

Women surfing has always been minimized and underestimated. To a man it is not a story worth telling until she’s doing something that is considered groundbreaking or is thought to be in possible for a woman to do.

Stoner shot everything male surfers were doing from the line up to portraits. He recorded it all to show everything he thought was worth seeing. His work was highly recognized, setting the tone for what a surfing magazine could be. Stoner got the cover of Surfing magazine unheard of six times. Stoner’s success was short-lived with him suffering from schizophrenia. He stopped shooting in 1971 and went missing in 1977. His tragedy was the first of a surf photographer’s road to madness, but will not be the last. Reaffirming this was not thought to be a job for a woman.

Pioneer skate photographer Warren Bolster moved to North Shore in 1978 bringing his new age thinking with him. He was the first to use the fish eye lens, strobes, and even started using a helicopter with a remote controlled camera he developed. In later years he would use a custom made dome to get half in half out of the water shots. Bolster had a tragic end himself, taking his own life in 2016.

Jeff Divine and Art Brewer took hold of the scene in the seventies. Their work showcased the start of professional surfing. Professional surfing brought a whole new dynamic where women were minimized and male gaze ruled. Contests didn’t see the women on the same level and would send the women out when the surf was bad so that everyone else could have a lunch break. Even worse, contests would have their focus on bikini contests at the beach simultaneously when the women surfers were competing. Either way women were not shown the same respect from the event holders, so the crowd would follow suit. The men were the main focus for contests and magazines. With the draw of professional surfing sponsors started to take notice.

This call came to a head 1989 OP Pro in Huntington Beach tried to take out the woman's contest entirely because the men wanted more prize money. Not just that, they were planning to leave in the bikini contest. The women fought back. They wrote letters to the city and OP Pro. Editors for Surfing Magazine even wrote in to help.

Ultimately they were able to generate enough negative press to put the contest back on.

In the late seventies Canon came out with the first autofocus SLR camera. This took away part of the skill level needed to get a solid photo. In the eighties surf photography would change forever with the invention of the telephoto lens. In 1981 Canon created a 800mm lens that became the standard of surf photographers. If a woman is doing surf photography it is stereotypic thought that she would be using a telephoto lens and not risk being in the water.