DAN MALLOY: I've been down to Baja with him, I think, two or
three times.
Trying to think, we've been in Hawaii together, Sri Lanka,
France, oh, at the end of that trip was Morocco, J-Bay.
Indonesia twice.
It's funny, I thought I was going to run out quick.
I was going to be like, maybe we haven't traveled that much.
But yeah, we've spent some time on the road together.
THOMAS CAMPBELL: This is my fluid head.
Ancient Chinese secrets right there.
Where are my sticks?
Ancient Chinese sticks.
I think they were made in Mongolia by the descendents of
Genghis Khan.
I think people look at them, and they're like, why are you
doing that?
Why do you have those sticks?
Though, there are ones that are comparable, but they're
about five grand.
People wouldn't expect it to be something that would work
good, but it's really smooth.
-It's looking better out there.
THOMAS CAMPBELL: That's what I like to hear.
-Good [INAUDIBLE], brothers.
-Nice.
THOMAS CAMPBELL: Rex 5.
Yeah, this is pretty much the set up that I
shot "Sprout" with.
100-foot loads, which, I think, for most people, when
they hear that I made my movie on 100-foot
loads, they just laugh.
I'm into trying to master the simplest stuff and then moving
on, more than maybe other dudes that are really into
getting high tech.
But everyone's got their own trip.
MARK CUNNINGHAM: I don't know how Thomas Campbell
came into my life.
He was the freaky artist who showed up on the north shore
with a camera and going to the beat of his own drummer.
MIKE STEWART: He's an artistic guy.
And he's very particular with what he wants, which is good.
CHRIS CHRISTENSON: I think what Thomas did for surfing is
all positive.
Once Thomas started doing his films, it really opened the
door to surfer to where there's so many different
avenues now, and it's more diverse.
KASSIA MEADOR: What Thomas did, it was something
different at the time.
And people really caught on to it.
And now I think that people are realizing that that's a
really cool way to portray surfing.
I'm not saying it's the best way or the only way.
But he's branched out, and now there's this other avenue for
people to go with.
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ROBIN KEGEL: If it weren't for Thomas Campbell, I don't think
I'd be selling anything.
He opened a lot of people's eyes to stuff.
I've always been really into all this stuff.
But the general public didn't want any of this shit until
Thomas Campbell made his first movie.
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DAN MALLOY: There's very few people, I think, that know
exactly what they want.
And I think Thomas is one of those people.
He'll let things happen, too, but he's got an idea of what
he is trying to capture and what it is that he's trying to
get across.
And he'll challenge you.
And he'll tell you, hey, you're not surfing
that good right now.
I don't think you should ride that board anymore.
Even if you think that you're having a great time, he'll
tell it to you straight.
That's how I got to know him, and it's been a wild ride with
making films and getting to know a lot of different really
neat people.
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