ADVERTISEMENT

Growing – Morgan Maassen

Watch Morgan’s transition as a filmmaker from 2003 - 2016

Morgan Maassen has garnered a reputation as one of the finest documentarians of surfing. He is in high-demand from companies across the globe for his aesthetic style, all looking to tie his look into theirs.

Growing is an edit put together by Morgan which documents his own rise from  a kid with his family's old Canon ZR80 camcorder from Costco, a ghetto Sony PC and a painfully buggy version of Windows Movie Maker, until the present day.

Here’s Morgans synopsis of the edit:

I started out at the age of 13 in 2003 with my family's old Canon ZR80 camcorder from Costco, a ghetto Sony PC and a painfully buggy version of Windows Movie Maker. After hustling the neighbourhood with dog-walking, computer-fixing, gardening and various odd-jobs, I worked my way up to a Canon GL2 an a bazooka-sized Ocean Images water housing. Throughout my teenage years, I ditched school and work to sneak off and film my friends surfing, making short films I released on Myspace, Youtube, and sold on homemade DVD's in Santa Barbara's surf shops.

After I left high-school and held a steady job, I worked my way through a costly Super-8 phase, and my first high definition camera, the stunning Canon XH-A1. I continued making films for the web, but almost grew away from my passion as I fell into a sudden and unexpected photography career.

After a year hiatus from filmmaking to explore my newfound interest and career in photography, the Canon 7D was announced. I immediately purchased one, and started making films of a technical and artistic quality I had been longing for endlessly. Come 2011, my photography career took off and my schedule exploded, and the 7D was back on the shelf. But in early 2012, Nikon announced the D4 with video, which gave me video capability in the still cameras I was using on all my shoots. Again I was hooked, so hooked in fact I treated myself to a Red Epic! My logic for this investment was that if nothing else, my technological curiosity wanted to take it apart and reassemble it to better understand the circuitry and complexity of its small package and beautiful form factor.

Fortunately, 2013 saw Quiksilver supporting me in investing a lot of time and energy into making films with Stephanie Gilmore and Kelly Slater, and pursuing passions commercially for other surf industry clients and artistically for myself. A Red Epic, Red Dragon, and now Red Weapon later, I spend at least 50% of my time and energy making movies, mostly outside of the surfing realm now, but I will forever love and cherish my time filming surfing, and pointing my camera at my first and favorite passion … and continue to do so, in new and exciting ways 🙂

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
An eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW
SUBSCRIBE TO TRACKS
An eclectic tome of tangible surfing goodness that celebrates all things surfing, delivered to your door!
SUBSCRIBE NOW

LATEST

After burning his QS budget on two early exits, Arch ditched the jersey, chased slabs and came back stronger.

An uninhabited island, a turtle massacre and the hope of a fun left hander.

Has big bru found his post tour retirement plan?

Surfing's answer to Bear Grylls is at it again.

ADVERTISEMENT

PREMIUM FEATURES

Why Milla Coco Brown’s unfiltered, full-throttle approach has everyone paying attention.

The tight-knit brothers redefining the scope of a modern surfer.

Three decades behind the lens with Andrew Buckley.

Joel Parkinson 2001 - Tavarua Island portrait and Cloudbreak carve.

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

TRACKS PREMIUM

Get full access to every feature from our print issues, read classic Tracks issues from the 70s, 80s and 90’s, watch all of our classic films & more …

CLASSIC ISSUES

PREMIUM FILM

YEAR: 2008
STARRING: JOEL PARKINSON, MICK FANNING AND DEAN MORRISON

This is the last time the original cooly kids were captured together and features some of their best surfing.

Their rivalry helped push each of them onto the world stage but their friendship endured. This is the last time the original cooly kids were captured together and features some of their best surfing.

A film by Shaggadelic Productions

This is a Premium Feature only available to Tracks subscribers.

Existing Subscriber?  Login here.
YEAR: 2011
STARRING: DAVID RASTOVICH, OZZIE WRIGHT, CRAIG ANDERSON, RY CRAIKE, DEAN MORRISON & MORE

Seven free surfers embark on a voyage to boldly go where no man had gone before.

Seven free surfers embarked on a voyage to boldly go where no man had gone before.

Not that long ago, in an island chain far, far away, seven free surfers embarked on a voyage to boldly go where no man had gone before. Equipped with an array of surfboards, a packet of crayons and two ukuleles, their chances of success were slim. In pursuit of perfection, they were forced to navigate under the radar of a fleet of imperial boat charters. Despite numerous obstacles, the rebel alliance of wave-riding beatniks continued to make Galactik Tracks into a new surfing cosmos; their search for a Nirvana reaching its climax when they arrived at… The Island of Nowhere.

A film by Tom Jennings

This is a Premium Feature only available to Tracks subscribers.

Existing Subscriber?  Login here.
YEAR: 2014
STARRING: DAVE RASTOVICH

The film features the enigmatic and free-thinking Dave Rastovich at home on the Far North Coast of NSW.

Gathering is a short film from independent filmmaker Nathan Oldfield, the creator of the award-winning left of centre surf films Lines From a Poem, Seaworthy and The Heart & The Sea. The film features the enigmatic and free-thinking Dave Rastovich at home in the sacred playgrounds of the Far North Coast of New South Wales. The film explores Rastovich’s ideas around how the tension between the industrial and the natural in the surfing world unfolds in that place. Ultimately, Gathering celebrates how diversity and difference in ecosystems, relationships and surfing contribute to the preciousness of life. Gathering is easy on the eyes and ears and Tracks Magazine is proud to present it to you. Nathan Oldfield is a maverick, a filmmaker who wants a surf movie to say something important, to move us and make us grateful for the sea around us and the life within us. His films are quiet, beautiful and brimming with sacred purpose. Tim Winton, Acclaimed Australian Novelist

This is a Premium Feature only available to Tracks subscribers.

Existing Subscriber?  Login here.
YEAR: 2015
STARRING: MIKEY WRIGHT, LOUIE HYND, OWEN WRIGHT, CREED MCTAGGART & CAST OF THOUSANDS

In this quintessentially Australian film, the two friends ride waves with the nation’s best surfers.

From dreamy, north coast points to nights beneath starlit desert skies follow Luke Hynd and Mikey Wright as they embark on a surfing odyssey. In this quintessentially Australian film, the two friends ride waves with the nation’s best surfers, down beers with cantankerous locals and visit some of the more innocuous nooks of the continent’s rugged fringes. Wanderlust lets you rediscover the country and the coastline you love. Be careful, you might even be inspired to toss it all in and embark on your own journey around The Great Southern Land.

This is a Premium Feature only available to Tracks subscribers.

Existing Subscriber?  Login here.
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

PRINT STORE

Unmistakable and iconic, the Tracks covers from the 70s & 80s are now ready for your walls.

Tracks