Photographer Steve Sherman Looks Back On His Momentum Generation Masterpiece

In the early 1990s, a young, aspiring filmmaker made Taylor Steele picked up a video camera and changed surfing forever. Capturing what would come to be known as the Momentum Generation in their formative years, anchored by eventual GOAT Kelly Slater , it was largely his VHS release of "Momentum" in 1992 that set the stage for what was to come.

“The battle was definitely egged on by Taylor, as well as the magazines and sponsors. It was all designed to get us to surf harder and perform at our best,” Ross Williams explains. “We all thrived on it.”

“One thing that made Taylor so good at what he did was that he had an eye for what everyone excelled at,” he continued. “When I asked him about this he noted, ‘The crews today seem more specialized. Not as diverse. In our crew everyone was pushing each other in every category. Slater at innovating. Shane with charging and airs. Rob with speed and combos. Ross with style and power. Knox also with combos and power.’”

And as luck would have it, Steve Sherman, a San Diego skateboarder turned surf photographer, was right there with Steele in those heady early days.

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“I was surfing with Taylor one day in 1992 at Seaside when he says, 'Sherm, would you be into shooting my new video cover?'” Sherman tells SURFER. He then explained that he wanted it to look like a band photo. I said sure, this is right up my alley.”

“So, we decided that we were going to shoot it Thursday afternoon at my house in Solana Beach. He told me Kelly Slater, Ross Williams, Shane Dorian, Donovan Frankenriter, Greg Browning, Conan Hayes,Benji Weatherly, Taylor Knox, and Rob Machado are all going to show up at my house at 3 o'clock, ready to shoot,” Sherman continues.

“I said, 'Sure they will.' And left thinking there's no way these guys were going to show up at my house, let alone be on time. Well, sure enough, they all showed up at 3 o'clock on the nose! I couldn't believe it. We took a few shots around my yard, then moved to an alley behind the car wash. It's amazing to think that this was shot over 30 years ago no!”

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