In 1967 surfing was about to undergo a shift – to smaller boards with developed rails and fin areas – that would affect every surfer in the world. The era of a surfing culture was burgeoning throughout the world and one young 23-year-old Australian surfer, photographer and freelance writer, John Witzig, was capturing the moments.

An exhibition of the major photographic works by John Witzig will be on exhibition at the Shoalhaven City Arts Centre from 11 December.

Phil Jarratt, former editor of Tracks, said: “John Witzig’s idea was that a core of young Australians (and an expatriate Californian) had redefined the sport of surfing by focusing on riding the wave, rather than riding the board. Ahead of his time by a full year, Witzig contended that this development had been brought about by the design of new, more sensitive wave-riding equipment (the real innovations were to come during the winter of 1967), and almost immediately he was proven correct when Australian surfer Nat Young, used the techniques to blitz a star-studded international field and win the 1966 world surfing championships in San Diego.”

Mark Cherry, a Sydney-based writer and surfer, describes the influence of Witzig in a foreword to the book, John Witzig: Surfing Photographs from the 1960s and 1970s: “At times ethnographic, Witzig’s [photographs are] not items of nostalgic fetish, but forensic traces of lives that revolved around surfing and were active in creating it. He had a knack for this type of thing. It wasn’t just that he was good with a camera. His photographs are more than a technical exercise – they are intuitive pieces of art-directed reportage.

“John Witzig’s photography and writing made a difference. Often political in subtext and pointed in effect, it is no surprise that his time at Sydney University coincided with a period of aggressive student politics. He studied architecture, a discipline that closely relies on the symbiosis of function and aesthetics. This period was the grounding for the electric confidence in his written voice and the cultural focus of his photography.”

The exhibition provides clear insights into the burgeoning culture or surfers and surfing that are well established on the South Coast. Witzig’s photographs also roam around the surfing spots on the Australian east coast as well as international sites such as Honolua Bay and the north shore of Hawaii.