Vol. 11 "Pero" Hiroyuki Hayashi No Wasted Days - Anti-Mainstream Aesthetics
In the world of classic longboarding, which is distinct from shortboard surfing that has now become an Olympic sport, there is a solitary genius shaper surfer named Robin Kegall who has inherited the history of longboarding since the 1960s.
Pero, also known as Hiroyuki Hayashi, has been friends with Robin for many years, and has traveled together to California, Australia, Hawaii, and Europe many times, capturing their adventures on camera. He has taken over tens of thousands of photos, most of which are unpublished. This time, we spoke to Pero about the true Robin Kegal from his perspective, and the meaning of continuing to pursue unknown waves together.
(Robin Kegel, Morroco. 2011 )
Speaking of Pero, you've been spending a lot of time with Robin Kegall, who recently visited Japan. Robin has actually come up in conversation many times in this series, but how did you become friends with her in the first place?
I think it all started around 2009 , about 15 years ago, when Robin and I went on our first trip together. When we came to Japan, we thought there might be some waves, so we decided to fly to Tanegashima on short notice, but we couldn't bring our longboards, so we just brought a short board. Since it was just the two of us, we were a bit nervous at first and a little awkward with each other, but when we got there, the waves were overhead and amazing, so we became good friends.
It looks like there will be waves again this time, so Robin, Kai Ellis Flint, Yuriko and others headed to Tanegashima again. By the way, are you planning to publish the photos in some media?
No, nothing has been decided yet (laughs). Apparently the wave quality has changed at the point where I got a hit last time because of the tetrapods, and since then the big waves have not broken. The locals are talking about Alex Nost coming, but I can't tell Robin that (laughs).
Pero is known for having a mountain of unpublished photos that he hasn't released to the public, but what will he do with all the photos he has taken so far?
Of course I will. First of all, I'm thinking about making a proper photo book. The reason I haven't released my photos until now is because the people I photograph are all quite famous, so I thought it would be difficult to deal with copyrights and so on. But I think it's fine to just let them sleep like vintage wine, so I'm thinking about releasing them when the timing is right. First of all, I'm not sure if I can do it properly with Robin, but I haven't released one yet. I guess the reason is that I want to shoot with bigger waves, and I haven't found anything that I'm satisfied with yet.
(Robin Kegel, Guitaly . 2012 )
How did you discover surfing?
I played soccer from junior high school onwards, but I wanted to enter the photography department in college and become a photographer. In the future, I wanted to go to a place with Native Americans or a gold mine in Brazil, take pictures of a world of selfish, good-looking adults, and make a name for myself as a photographer. But to do that, I needed to earn a living, and the idea of working in a bar came to mind. There are bars all over the world, so I thought I could be hired if I had bartending knowledge. So when I started working at a bar in Tsujido, I got into surfing. There were a lot of longboarders around me, and I thought their style of sticking to single fins was cool.
It was at that bar in Tsujido that I first met Pero (laughs).
That's right. I first started surfing when I was in high school, but I started after I entered university through someone I met at a bar, so I'm a pretty late bloomer. After that, there was a neighbor who I started saying "hello" to on my way to the beach every day on my bike. He was actually the president of surf apparel, SPRAWLS , and he said to me, "What do you do? If you're a photographer, come and visit us sometime," and my photos of the clothing were used in an advertisement, which was my first job as a photographer. Sano-chan from NALU saw the advertisement and contacted me through a friend, and this time I was asked to take portraits of surfers at NALU . The first one was Jeffrey Yokoyama from MODERN AMUSEMENT, who I'll never forget. After that, I took photos of Seitaro Nakamura and Shoroku-san, among others.
So you started working on location right away before doing any studio work.
Yes. About a year after the magazine serialization started, the president of SPRAWLS said to me, "There's someone who wants to meet you," so I went to the now-defunct Denny's in Hayama . It was photographer Mitsuyuki Shibata, who happened to see my photos at SPRAWLS and asked if I'd like to help him. After graduating from university, I worked at a studio in Gaien for about seven months, but I ended up quitting and wasn't good enough to go out on my own, so I thought I'd just show him my photos and turn him down at first. But he said, "If you keep saying that, it'll never get started. I'll just do it the first time," and I thought he was such a nice guy. At first, I was an assistant to Haruka Igawa, who was a campaign girl at the time, on Hachijojima. After that, we worked together for several years, sometimes every day and sometimes with a little time off, but I sometimes made mistakes too. Even at times like that, Shibata never got angry and always supported me, so I can't look him in the eye.
(Cody Simpkins, Sano, CA. 2004 )
After that, when I finally became independent and started out as a photographer, I got a small amount of money and went to California with two friends. I was surfing at San Onofre and taking pictures of good surfers in between, and it was Cody Simpkins who looked at my film camera and long lens and said, "You're a classic." I later found out who it was, and Robin had also made his signature model. He said, "We're in that van over there, so come over later. You've got friends there, right?" So I went to play, and he didn't say anything even though I was pointing my camera at him and taking pictures, and we all drank beer and even had a campfire at the end, which was great.
My friend Kentaro was working at Seakong at the time, and on his way home he stopped by Robin's house and that was the first time he met him. The next day we went back to say hello and he took photos of Robin again. Just as he was saying that he was going to turn this place into a shaping room, he turned the panel into a skate ramp (laughs), and Thomas Campbell was there too.
When I got back to Japan, I developed the photos and showed them to Mr. Sano from NALU . He invited me to go and do some shooting in California. That was my first overseas assignment. The portrait of Robin and Alex was used on the cover of NALU .
(Robin Kegel, CA. 2005 )
(Al Knost, Newport Beach, CA. 2005 )
Robin is a surfer who lives in the so-called good old days, and he has the image of someone who never conforms to the people around him.
I feel like Robin has only ever thought about surfing, and I think he is where he is now because he has been serious about it. He has a hunger for riding good waves, so even if he gets drunk at a party, if there are waves, he gets up and goes surfing. It's the same with board making, he has a huge amount of knowledge, so he uses it to create what he thinks is cool. It's like his destiny to do that.
I don't start shaping until I'm in a pinch, but once I get going It was a really long time with an abnormal level of concentration. I can't speak English and I have nowhere else to go, so I just keep shooting, but everyone else gets tired and goes home soon. The fact that we're able to have a relationship where we don't get angry no matter what we're shooting may not be because we've become friends by talking, but because we've built it by sharing the same time.
(Robin Kegel, Dana Point, CA. 2011 )
There have been various stories about him in Japan, such as him causing trouble in bars and being banned from hotels, so if you just listen to the stories he has, you might think he's a weirdo (lol), but from the events he's held in Japan so far, he has given the strong impression of caring about each and every user and fan.
He's one of the leading men in California, so I've heard of him getting into serious fights at parties and breaking teeth, but when I was with him, he was just drunk and drinking until the morning. Oh, I heard a while ago that he broke the door to his hotel room in the morning, and said he'd go and fix it because it would be fine if he fixed the hinges and stuck them back together, and then he took the door off and put it in his car and tried to take it with him (laughs).
But, as I said before, Robin surfs when there are waves, and when there aren't, he devotes himself to shaping. He left California once, and since he knew the local waves well, it was natural that he turned his attention to Australia and Europe. He wants to surf at various points and interesting places. He imagines how to attack unknown waves and thinks about boards for them every day. In the surfing world, the surfboard revolution happened in the 1960s . He said that after the surfboard revolution, boards became shorter, but he wanted to evolve the longboards of that time while keeping them long, and pursue new movements.
I think that he was heavily influenced by riding for Tyler Hazzikian, the post-1967 longboard designs that were disappearing from the world, although Tyler's interpretation and Robin's interpretation were completely different directions.
I went to Australia, then moved to Europe, where the rails were getting thinner and in a pinch, and I was thinking about which fins, which rails, and which lengths to use every day. I lived in the Basque Country and was also working on big guitar waves. But after that, I said, "Everyone says Morocco is good, but Portugal is probably the best. In fact, I know Euriko from Portugal. It seems that everyone around him, including Chris Boreich, who started Cream and Gatoheroi with him, is gone now. It seems that they parted ways on bad terms, but that may be because they are both Americans with strong individualism.
(Forever Chiz, Morroco . 2011 )
You've spent a lot of time with Robin in California, Hawaii, Australia, and Europe. I don't mean this in a weird way, but I'm impressed that you're able to get along with such tough members even though you're not fluent in English (laughs).
I think I've been able to be with him for a long time because he really embodies the cool aspects of single fin longboarding. I was lucky to be able to see it in full and film it when I was young and full of energy. Of course, there were countless accidents and troubles along the way (laughs).
Aside from California and Australia, you've also been to Europe quite a few times, right?
I always went there once a year at the end of the year, so that continued for five years. There were times when I went twice a year. First, I went to France and stayed there for a while, then drove to Spain with Robin, and then took a ferry from Spain to Morocco. That was for three weeks or a month. Even if I went in conjunction with a magazine, the money only came in six months later, so it was really hard. But I thought Robin was the real deal, and it was the best opportunity for a photographer, so I was able to do it. Normally, you wouldn't go to Europe to take photos if it didn't make you any money, but I thought I could do it now and wouldn't be able to do it when I'm an old man. Among them, the support of Toshihide Tanaka of Sea Kong was truly indescribable, and the gratitude I received from Seiichiro Nakamura, a legend of single fin longboarding, for every meal in France and Morocco, and the opportunity to learn about adult tastes, are the greatest assets and the foundation of who I am today.
After hearing all of this, I'm really looking forward to someday releasing these unreleased photos! Finally, what does the beach mean to you, Pero?
I wonder. I was lucky enough to be born in this area, so maybe I was able to jump into this flow. Being close to the sea also gave me a job. I was lucky enough to be able to do what I loved in the place where I was born and raised, and before I knew it, I met a great surfer who lives with the waves, and he has been guiding me!
"Pero" Hiroyuki Hayashi Born in 1972, from and currently living in Kugenuma, Fujisawa City. With a father who loved cameras , he went on to study photography at Tokyo Polytechnic University. He served as an assistant to filmmaker and photographer Mitsuyuki Shibata, who also lives in Shonan , and learned the ABCs of photography and life before going independent. He is passionate about single fin longboards, and continues to pursue stylish surfers from Japan and abroad. He currently works at his own photography studio with stylist Moriyasu's botanical design shop BIRDIE and EDNA SURFBOARDS ' Shinsuke Enomoto at Edna-ya in Fujisawa Honmachi.
Interview / Kawazoe Mio Born and currently living in Kamakura , Kanagawa Prefecture. Graduated from the surfing club at University of California, San Diego. With a father who was a first generation Japanese surfer, Kawazoe was exposed to overseas culture from an early age. From the early 1990s , she lived in San Diego and Malibu, California for 10 years, experiencing the longboard revival. After returning to Japan, she became the editor-in-chief of ON THE BOARD and worked on magazine media such as GLIDE . Until now, she has used her own network to introduce real California logs and the alternative surf scene to Japan.