QuantumTom

Wayne “Dick” Whittington is one of my favorite photographers. With his large format Kodak he captured classic Southern California imagery like few others.

Whittington was an early pioneer of commercial photography in Los Angeles and owned one of the largest commercial photography studios in the city.

I was astonished to see the size of the surfboards used back then!

They look like canoes — some look like they’re six inches thick in the middle!

USC has digitized thousands of his photos and posted them online.

This last one is my favorite. How the hell did he get that huge camera out there?!? If I recall correctly, there may have been another adjacent pier at around the time this photo was taken. I think it might have been called “Meier Pier” or something, but I have to check. Otherwise, I don’t know how he got this angle of the beach. Still, it’s a fantastic shot!