Ron Perrott

Ron Perrott was born in 1935 and it wasn’t until the late 50s and early 60s that his passion for photography melded with his love of surfing. The majority of his early time was spent on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, where he grew up.

Many of his images of the Bower, Dee Why Point, Narrabeen and Manly appeared in most major international and local surfing magazines of the time.

In the late 60s Ron travelled to Europe and later settled in South Africa where he continued his love of surf photography.

Ron was one of the first surf photographers to visit the Seychelles. In 1967 word had gone out in Durban that there might be waves there so Ron negotiated an article for American Surfer and signed on as crew on a trimaran to get there. Some surf was ultimately found and a story published.

Above: Ron Perrott self portrait in The Seychelles  late 1960s

Two of Ron’s best known photos are of Dave Jackman and Midget. His photo of Jackman riding the Queenscliff bombora made big news and gave surfing a positive public profile in Australia. His photo of Midget doing the cutback that pretty much clinched for him the 64 World Championship has appeared in just about every surfing journal.

He was respected by all the great surfers as a genuine, quiet guy with a terrific eye for a good picture. In his later life he spent time in New Zealand as a commercial photographer, later returning to Australia where he settled on the north coast until, sadly, he died in 1991. Rest in peace.

Ron Perrott's archives are managed by his nephew Ron Saggers, who supports the work of Hodaddy.