Tony Caramanico, Montauk Surf Journals

 - Dimensions: 9.3" x 12.3", hardcover

- Published in January 2024, Tony Caramanico’s Montauk Surf Journals represent the public’s first peek into the world of the legendary Long Island surfer, TV producer, surf shop owner, astute traveler, and artist. Beginning in the 1970's at the request of his friend and landlord Peter Beard, Caramanico began keeping a journal to log his daily surf sessions and the goings-on of life at The Ranch, Beard’s legendary playground located at the tip of Montauk. Over time and thanks to Beard’s influence, his daily records grew to incorporate newspaper clippings, personal polaroids, watercolors, and sketches.

- “Being around Beard was a little infectious. He was a good time, a creative spirit, extremely connected. It was a lot of fun. Parties and people. I wasn't a photographer or into wildlife, I wasn't this playboy kind of dude, but I was a surfer. I had something going on. I wanted the journals to be a record of my life through surfing.”

- Each page features full-color spreads of the journals’ pages (Caramanico has created over 16,000 to date), accompanied by quotes from the surfer. Equal parts coffee table book and artistic record, this vibrant volume provides a glimpse into Caramanico’s interior world and the culture that shaped it. Punctuating the layered journal entries are photos of his highly lauded, 100-plus-piece surfboard collection, along with introductions and interviews conducted by LA-based editor Zack Raffin.

- Melding collage work, stream-of-consciousness writing and a plethora of surf/pop culture references, Caramanico's journals paint an intricate picture of freedom, joy and his undying passion for a surfing life.