MAKING TRACKS WITH JOHN WITZIG
In the heady, early days of Tracks, John Witzig was the co-founder with the polymath sensibilities. Witzig was at once photographer, journalist, visionary, procurer of finances and designer for the fledgling publication that endeavoured to capture the broader spirit of a rapidly evolving subculture. Indeed, it’s Witzig who can take credit for the name Tracks and the cute tagline that accompanied the masthead ‘Tracks – continuous line, series of marks, left by person, animal or thing in passing along.’
It’s a testament to both the quality of John’s work and his eye for the zeitgeist moment that his photos and words still resonate with wonder and insight more than half a century after he began to document surf culture. In the interview below he candidly traverses a broad range of topics, from the attitudes and methods underpinning the origins of Tracks to the renaissance of ideas and objects synonymous with surfing in the 60s and 70s.
It’s been explained before, but refresh our memories on why the photo of the Newcastle Steelworks was used on the cover of issue number one – October 1970. That seems to suggest that Tracks was willing to prioritise making a political statement over a commercial agenda. Surely a surf image would have sold more copies? Or were you trying to clearly differentiate from the other surf publications (Surfing World, Surfer any others)?
The answer to that is simple… That wasn’t the cover.
