Jonathan van der Knaap – Surf’s up

Jonathan van der Knaap – Surf’s up

By Arden de Raaij

Wherever there are waves, there are surfers. Wherever there are surfers, there’s that blonde dreadlock’d middle-aged dude that  still has the body of a young god. And what a surprise, he’s also there in the beautiful on-going photo-serie of the surfer’s journey by Australian based Jonathan van der Knaap. Jonathan  hails from Adelaide, Australia. Indeed, van der Knaap is a Dutch name as his father’s side of the family was from our little country. Since no-one but the Dutch can pronounce the name, Jonathan usually shortens it to VDK.

I’m guessing most people know that Australia has a strong surfing scene, but sometimes you need to be away from it all to appreciate what you have back home. This is exactly what happened to Jonathan. After living overseas for a while, he came back to look at the surf-culture of his own country with different eyes.

Jonathan: “There are a lot of surfing photos, but 90% of them are of actual surfers  surfing. I was more interested in the before and after than the actual surfing itself. Everyone knows what a surfing photo looks like, but not everyone has seen the journey involved. That is, I guess, what I’m trying to catch; The Journey. Plus it takes me to some pretty beautiful places here in South Australia!!!