Life as a 22 year old student can is a blurred mess.
But not so much for photographer Julius Bauer for who images are part of his everyday life, being a photographer and graphic student based in Southern Germany. “I come from a small town near Stuttgart. We got a little Club where me and my friends hang out and it feels like being part of a family”
For some odd reason, the amount of people from this region passing by our shop/office always amazes me. The fact that so many men and women who are deeply into into surfing—a sport depending on living on the edges of the continents—are actually landlocked always blows my mind. If you’ve ever met one of these continental specimens, you know as a fact that they turn out to be the most surf frothers you’ll ever meet. And if my words are not a strong enough proof of this, the fact that they surf 8 hours per day everyday once they finally get to the ocean is an ample proof to back up my point.
Julius is part of this emerging surf community based hundreds of kilometers from the closest coast, and living so far from the ocean haven’t discouraged him to keep busy with surf-related projects such as “otio.“, a custom surfboard label he’s been working on with a friend of his. “It may take weeks or months for a landlocked shaper to test the latest creations. But when you finally reach the shore, its a highly rewarding thing to ride equipment that you manufactured. Not only trying it yourself is a great pleasure. Once you see a friend enjoying a ride on a vehicle that you shaped you will forget about all the sweat and dust.”
Julius recently took a break from his scholarly activities and flew away from his hometown on a few occasions, in search of waves, but mostly new shores to document. After making his way back to Europe, he took the time to send us a few postcards from his travels abroad. And here you have it: “A year with Julius Bauer”.
“Morocco.
First time in Africa. First time in the land of endless rights. After a one hour taxi drive from Marrakech, first sunset session at Anchor point. Sitting in the line up, watching the African Sunset. Love at first sight.”
“America.
Land of opposite. First time I shoot with a Yashica T4. Never saw a Landscape like this. America is so wide and big, you can drive for an hour not seeing a single house or car. Everything looks magical. Sunrises like Hollywood. Now I know why everyone talks about California.”
“Back to Europe.
Home again. I‘m sitting on the front seat of our camper. We are driving over the hills in Oyambre. Waves are rolling. Chris and Ole laughing about a joke. Had a perfect session in the morning, looking forward to the evening. Everything is alright. Life treats us good.”
