rob gilley
The Young and Not-So-Brilliant
To the youth: May this image always be a lesson to you. Photo: Gilley
Rob Gilley
Recently cut from the Surfer photography staff, Rob Gilley is now applying a surprising new talent for embittered, sardonic prose to the
blogosphere.
Young people don’t always make good decisions. In fact, let’s face it: They usually make bad decisions. Take the above photo, for example. What at the time seemed like a brilliant self-portrait idea has now set the bar as one of the most laughed at images in surf slide show history.
The interesting part is that the two photographers pictured here were receiving a high secondary education at the time—which goes to show that schooling means absolutely nothing.
Young people are basically idiots, and if you want proof, just ask an older version of themselves.
So the next time your buddy asks you to paddle out when its 40-foot and closed out, or jump off a cliff into shallow water, or drink grain alcohol, or streak naked through the Quad during an electrical storm, or (heaven forbid) take a self-portrait, run away. Run away, quickly.
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Comments
May 10, 2012 5:44 pm
Classic Choice Photo, good blog entries too, thanks.
April 25, 2011 3:44 am
Your letter just inspired me to ditch work today and go surfing.
April 24, 2011 1:37 am
The quote about youth will be recorded, repeated and attributed to Mr. Gilley until time immemorial. It is so ironically true that I couldn’t stop laughing my ass off.
April 20, 2011 9:34 pm
Bilderback now shoots kite surfing!!! LOL!
April 20, 2011 11:27 am
Shouldn’t this photo credit be, “choice photos”? Wasn’t that the photo credit that you two put on your photos way back when you both moved west from where was it, New Jersey?
A more captivating blog would be the reason you two came up with to shoot this photo in the first place. Where did you think it would take you? I worked with Bilderback shortly after this as an assistant for Aaron Chang. John was a blast to be around but took a beating from Chang and Hornbaker who called him Bilderwank. Enlighten us as to what was behind the genius of this shot. That would be much more interesting.
April 19, 2011 1:42 pm
That’s a photo of Bilderback and Gilley, back in the early 1980′s. They were in fact, both young and idealistic about what they could achieve in the surfing world. They were a photographic team for awhile….
The underlying theme of this post: Get an education.
April 19, 2011 12:53 pm
The fact is we need to read between the lines when an author shows us a photo of 2 men on the ledge.
It is a metaphor for preparedness in life. These two young men appear to have had “measured success” by academic standards, but fail at common sense principles such as this example with the warning signs behind them. They have little idea that their own choices have consequences and what boundaries mean because their “reality” is academia and “time outs” or parenting and teaching that is buffered from consequences that effect them. (I have not written my name on here, but I am a teacher and very worried about our future generations. This piece struck a chord with me because i work with this age group. My name is not Alek, but I want to remain anonymous.)
Please know that there is a man out in the world today that is trying to put young adults like this on a path toward success not by handing them the keys to the car or laughing at their inept behavior, but making them accountable operators in the world and showing them how to get to where they need to be. We cannot continue as a society to degrade them, but lead them. Its not in my curriculum anywhere, but with certain knowledge comes wisdom (only gained through experience) so I make my students prepared for their future by showing me concrete evidence that they are working and are responsible in their choices. I am not asking us to change anything, but take it upon ourselves to look at what example we set and our expectations.
April 19, 2011 9:46 am
come on gilley you can do better than that
April 19, 2011 9:08 am
I don’t know what this jabroni is talkig about. The smartest I have ever been was between the ages of 18 – 21. In fact, I knew it all!
April 19, 2011 9:01 am
I hope those 3.125 paragraphs were worth ~ $150. This seems more like an exercise in spiting your patron.
April 19, 2011 6:56 am
HEY!
I was here first. How did you get SURFER to post you before me by 1 minute?
April 19, 2011 6:54 am
Alek
I vote your comment best in class!
April 19, 2011 3:43 am
That’s the mark of a good blog; to be so ambiguous in what you are ranting about, that no one knows what you’re talking about. If you want people to get on board with you, we have to know what the hell your babbling about.
April 19, 2011 3:29 am
They are misled by today’s enabling society.
They are put in “time out” and have no discipline.
Its called “conversational parenting”.
Take a good look in the mirror and ask yourself when the last time you saw an adult as a leader.
Our entitlement culture continues to foster the notion of all is good until baby sticks the knife in the socket. These children look great on paper though.
Until we promote respect and hard work as a culture, we will continue to fall far behind other countries.
Many people reading these words I type are enablers.
It is not what “feels” right, but what is right.
April 19, 2011 3:12 am
Yeah…what’s the problem here? This photo is rad!
April 18, 2011 5:32 pm
Why is that image laughed at?
April 18, 2011 1:56 pm
Man, what made Gilley so bitter? The fact that he enjoyed a career most photographers can only imagine? Maybe he’s pissy because no one shoots slide film anymore? Whatever. I already find his shtick tiresome. It’s formulaic, it’s uncreative, and it’s certainly not clever enough to be funny. A column about young people being “stupid” is like an investigation of (gasp!) erectile dysfunction in middle-aged men. It’s just too flaccid to be interesting. It’s also kind of sad. Rob, I know you were a young, stupid person at one time in your life. My advice to you: go find that kid. I’d be willing to bet he’s a lot more fun than you are.
April 18, 2011 1:23 pm
Who is that posuer on the right?
April 18, 2011 11:50 am
Pentax 135-600mm in the back? Nice!
April 18, 2011 11:07 am
Hey, I resemble that remark!
April 18, 2011 11:04 am
Slide area…BRILLIANT, BRILLIANTTT haha. Rob, will you snap a photo of me next to a stack of hard drives and come up with a witty remark. this photo is classic
April 18, 2011 10:27 am
Follow the footsteps of Art Brewer and teach the upcoming generation of surf photogs the difficult mechanics and finesse of surf photography.
Gilley – give Art a call.
April 18, 2011 10:26 am
Think only photogs care about this pic. Weak post.