{"id":56497,"date":"2015-03-01T15:43:40","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T23:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=56497"},"modified":"2016-03-09T14:19:39","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T22:19:39","slug":"brian-bielmann","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/brian-bielmann\/","title":{"rendered":"Brian Bielmann"},"content":{"rendered":"

BRIAN BIELMANN<\/strong>
\n INTERVIEW by DIBI FLETCHER<\/strong>
\n PHOTO of NATHAN FLETCHER by BRIAN BIELMANN<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with the greatest surfers, and cameramen, who spend their lives on the beaches, in boats, on jet skis and swimming in the impact zone, to capture the images that allow us mere mortals to experience for a brief moment the awe-inspiring exhilaration that the surfers and cameramen spend their lives perfecting. It is an honor and a pleasure to share a few moments of my conversation with my friend, Brian, a generous and gifted photographer.\u00a0\u2013DIBI FLETCHER<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019m really stoked to have a conversation with you about decades behind the camera. I think it\u2019s interesting to talk about your career because we\u2019re in the era of a 15-year-old taking pictures of his belly button on Instagram and having 100,000 followers or you have people\u2019s pets given names and a voice and getting a million likes.<\/strong>
\nYes. I know exactly what you\u2019re saying. It\u2019s such a changing time. There are fun things about the way things are going, but there are a lot of frustrating things for an older photographer. I\u2019m sure that when we came along and had cameras that had 5.6, there were older photographers going, \u201cOh, man, we had to shoot at F\/11 at 1\/60th of a second. These guys got it so easy.\u201d It\u2019s the same way that we\u2019re going. \u201cOh, everything is auto this and auto that. It\u2019s on the internet in 15 seconds.\u201d It\u2019s crazy. It\u2019s hard to have that much energy to keep up with everybody the way that it\u2019s done now.<\/p>\n

When did you first get interested in photography?<\/strong>
\nWell, I moved to Hawaii in 1975 from the East Coast. I surfed for three years and worked odd jobs and, at the age of 21, I realized, \u201cWhat am I going to do for a living? I have to do something. What is going to be my career?\u201d I was super frustrated for a month and then, all of a sudden, one day, I was like, \u201cHey, I\u2019m going to be a surf photographer.\u201d The funny thing is I told everybody for a year that I was going to be a surf photographer, but I didn\u2019t buy a camera for a year, but I was okay, because inside my head I knew what I was going to do. For some reason, I didn\u2019t have to start right away, but I knew that I was going to be a surf photographer.<\/p>\n

You were getting used to wearing the idea first.<\/strong>
\nYeah. It\u2019s so funny looking back on it now. People were like, \u201cOh yeah, sure you\u2019re going to be a surf photographer.\u201d I ended up getting a bunch of equipment, but I still couldn\u2019t make myself stop surfing. One day I got in a collision with the reef, head first. I got thrown over the lip head first at Rocky Point and went to the doctor here at Kahuku and he stitched me up and left the corral inside. It got super massively infected and I came super close to dying. I ended up in the hospital and they had to drain all this junk out of my head. It was one of those things where the doctors had all these different interns coming in to look at me because it was such a bad infection. Luckily, the infection had not gone to my brain and I made it out alive. Then I had a month to stay out of the water and that\u2019s when I said, \u201cOkay. I think it\u2019s time I start grabbing that surf equipment and start trying to see if I can actually do this.\u201d Even then, it took me a long time to get my act together, because I still kept surfing, but I was shooting more. I think the first time I got published was with Surfing magazine in 1979. They ran a sequence of Waimea shore break. It was three double-page spreads in a row of one wave breaking. That\u2019s when I realized, \u201cI really have to push this.\u201d That was the beginning of everything right then.<\/p>\n

Did you apprentice with other people as well?<\/strong>
\nWell, I moved to Los Angeles, in 1980, really close to the beginning of my career. I started studying with photographers who shot everything under the sun, like fashion, products, cars, just everything, to learn. I would live in Los Angeles for six months of the year and then live in Hawaii six months of the year. I did that from \u201980 to \u201990. It was a really great experience and it opened my eyes to all different types of photography. I think in the long term it made me a better photographer at surfing, for me to be able to see other aspects of photography.<\/p>\n

Well, I think you were on that shoot with Annie Leibovitz when they shot Christian and Malcolm McLaren.<\/strong>
\nI was. I got Jim Russi the job too. Our whole job was carrying a generator down the side of a cliff.<\/p>\n

[Laughs] That\u2019s an apprentice job, right?<\/strong>
\nYeah. Then I realized what it was really like because it was eight hours of doing make-up and literally half an hour of shooting.<\/p>\n

That was Annie\u2019s style because she did all the body-painted stuff. That was her genre.<\/strong>
\nYes. That was the coolest shot.<\/p>\n

So it was valuable seeing all this go on?<\/strong>
\nAbsolutely. You know what else is funny that was also valuable? I\u2019ve worked with photographers, her included, and I\u2019m sure she was having an off day, but she was really mean to one of the assistants who was my friend. He would say something and she would just snap back at him. I\u2019ve had some other photographers that were kind of mean like that and it made me realize I never wanted to be that guy. I never have been that guy. I\u2019ve always been really nice to the people working for me and I\u2019ve never had this huge ego. Again, she may be very nice. I\u2019ve read enough about her that what I saw seemed to be sort of a normal, common thing with her. She wasn\u2019t super duper sweet, but I think deep down she has a good heart. I talked to one guy that assisted her for five years and he said she was really rough on the outside but, on the inside, she was really nice. That was a learning experience that you don\u2019t have to be an asshole to people. I mean you can, but you don\u2019t have to. All that aside, Annie is probably the greatest portrait photographer of our generation.<\/p>\n

Well, you get it from wherever it comes and, hopefully, you learn from it. Who knows who is going to be the bearer of these gifts of your growth and development on life\u2019s road. As long as you get it, you know you got something of great value, right?<\/strong>
\nExactly.<\/p>\n

So we talked about how you started your surfing photography career. When you got those three spreads, were you able to sustain yourself through just surf photography or did you do studio work as well to help put food on the table?<\/strong>
\nWhen I first started taking surf photos, I was also working construction because there was no way in the world I could make a living at surfing photography. I remember getting a quarter page photo and I got $25 and I remember thinking, \u201cGosh. If I could just get a quarter page every issue, I\u2019d be stoked.\u201d It was $25, but that was back when I paid $50 a month for rent and mowed the lawn, you know? That was my rent. When you look at how much money you made back then it was a lot different compared to what you pay now to live here\u2026 It still wasn\u2019t enough to keep things going, so I did work construction. That\u2019s when I decided to move to Los Angeles to learn more about it. Then all I did was be a photographer. I didn\u2019t make my living off surfing. It was just everything like studio work and all of that kind of stuff. I worked for free for a long time to learn. I literally would walk around with whatever money I had in my pocket at that time. I had no bank account. No nothing. Working for free so much, it seemed like every time I would get $50 in my pocket, my car would break down. For the longest time, every little bit of money I made, my car would break down and it would cost me the exact same amount of money I\u2019d just made. It was the weirdest thing. I\u2019m like, \u201cYeah. I made $75.\u201d Boom. Car breaks down. \u201cOh, that\u2019s going to cost you $75.\u201d I couldn\u2019t believe it. With surf photography, it was a long time before I could make a living off of that.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s value in that though. It sounds kind of old and tired, but you look at people and they don\u2019t have much value in a job. They expect a lot of money for very little effort.<\/strong>
\nI think with digital, there is no having to learn about using a camera. It\u2019s all auto and, because of that, most of the guys that are on top now have only been doing it for a few years, so they missed out on all the years of struggling. In surfing now, the turnaround is quick as far as who is on top. I look back at all those years of struggling and I think I really appreciated it when I finally made it. I pounded nails and dug ditches and assisted for free for years. I probably sound like an old guy and I guess that\u2019s the way it is now. It just doesn\u2019t take as long to make it nowadays, but how long is a career now? Will this new group of photographers burn out a lot faster? Who knows? I\u2019m not saying that the new photographers are not hard workers. They are. It\u2019s just that it took us years to master the camera and they have bypassed that and are really good really fast so they kind of missed out on the phase in between the start and the peak of their careers.<\/p>\n

Being a water photographer can be particularly grueling. How did you handle that aspect of being a surf photographer?<\/strong>
\nWell, I started out making my own housing. I remember the first time that I took it out, a big set came in and I dove under and made it just under the lip. I was holding the camera and the lip came down right between my handle and my housing and when I came up, I only had the handle in my hand. I remember freaking out. I looked over and I would see it and then a wave would hit before I could get to it. That happened three times and I finally got the damn thing. That was because it was plexiglass glued together. Now you just plop down $3,000 and you get the absolute deluxe housing that does everything for you. Back then we had 36 photos with film. We had to focus ourselves. It was tough. I swam lots of days and came back out of the water with not much at all. The other thing that was good about it was that half the time you\u2019d swim out and there\u2019d be one to five guys in the water and that was it. Now as you know there\u2019s 40 guys out every time you try to go shoot Pipeline. We had a lot more room to move, but we had a lot more restrictions with the amount of film we had to shoot. I remember guys strapping two water housings to themselves, just so they could get out there and have 72 shots versus 36 shots. We went through hell. Now you swim out there with 2,000 photos. You\u2019ve got motor drives that shoot 12 frames per second and the autofocus is crazy. The only thing that hasn\u2019t made it easier is that nowadays the kids are gnarlier. They\u2019re swimming in with their fisheye housing and shooting bigger heavier waves. That\u2019s definitely progressed and I can\u2019t take anything away from them for that because they\u2019re doing way heavier stuff than we did. We did have all the technical stuff that was much harder with the amount of film we had and having to focus and everything else.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the most challenging thing for you personally to stay in the surf scene with so few magazines now available as outlets?<\/strong>
\nWell, what\u2019s happened now is that the Internet has become the new magazine. With the magazines, it\u2019s a real treat to have something in them. We\u2019re just watching them go away. In the heyday, every country had three to four surf magazines and every magazine had five to eight to ten photographers working for them. My personal experience was that I was the top guy at Transworld Surf getting so many pictures published then, boom, Transworld goes down. I went from one of the most successful surf photographers to now I can\u2019t even find a magazine to work for. That was like going through a divorce with the feeling you go through from that. It was like, \u201cOh, man, what am I going to do?\u201d I had the bitterness feeling and all that stuff. After a year, you kind of realize that you either have to evolve into the way it\u2019s working now or you die. I\u2019ve watched people do both things. Personally, I feel like I have been around for long enough that I still had people calling me. Even though I didn\u2019t get a job with either of the magazines, I ended up shooting for all the magazines. Everybody knows me, and I ended up getting articles in a lot of different magazines. A few months ago, I had articles in five different magazines at one time, Geo Magazine, Red Bulletin, Surfers Journal, Hana Hou (airlines)\u2026 I get my stuff out to a lot of people and I stay connected. I\u2019ve been working with Surfline and that\u2019s a great way to keep people seeing your work. I still do stuff with Surfing and Surfer, but it\u2019s pretty hard to get shots in those these days. I really like Surfline and they seem to be the leader now on the Internet. If you think about it, while you wait for the mags to come out once a month and you might get a spread, or not, it\u2019s not that bad. The one thing that\u2019s a bummer is it\u2019s just not that much fun seeing your photo up for a day and a half, like a quarter page photo on your computer screen, compared to seeing it in a magazine and it being there for an entire month.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s much better to be in a magazine where people can pick it up and enjoy it. That\u2019s the difference between reading a book and having a Kindle.<\/strong>
\nYeah. Exactly. Competing now, there used to be ten photographers that could afford the equipment, and had the best stuff, and then the trend became to pull back on the beach a mile and focus on the tiny little surfer. Now you\u2019re competing against hundreds and hundreds of surf photographers to get that $50 on the website. It\u2019s crazy. It doesn\u2019t matter if you\u2019re Tom Servais or Brian Bielmann or you\u2019ve been around forever or some brand new kid got the shot. Now you\u2019re competing against a heck of a lot more people. There are a lot more places now to sell them, minus the magazines, but it\u2019s just not as fun. Here\u2019s one of the other things that Tom and I were talking about. I said, \u201cWith so many incredible photos out there, why do we feel like we don\u2019t have any iconic images anymore?\u201d We came to the conclusion that it used to be only magazines and the magazines would only come out once a month and you\u2019d look through them and they were the surfing bibles. There would be an incredible photo in there and you would look at it for a whole month and everybody talked about it because that was the only place to see surf photos. Then next month a new magazine would come out, so you had these photos that everyone knew about and everybody talked about and they were the most incredible photos and they stood the test of time. Now, no matter how great the photos are, they last for a day. It\u2019s like the Andy Warhol thing. You get 15 minutes of fame and then it\u2019s gone. There is so much. It\u2019s overkill. It takes a photo like my photo of Nathan Fletcher to stand out anymore. If you don\u2019t have a photo that looks like that, forget it.<\/p>\n

That wave of Nathan\u2019s was on eight covers around the world in the same month, but it reverberated far wider than just surf and it will go down in history as one of the greatest surf photos of all time. Did that change your career in any way?<\/strong>
\nYeah. For me, it was really good because there were 50 guys shooting from boats, and I\u2019m not claiming I did anything other than being on the right boat. There were 50 guys shooting and everybody got great shots. I was shooting for Transworld at the time, and all the other photographers were sending their shots out and getting covers all over the world. I didn\u2019t do anything with mine because I had to save it for Transworld, but I was okay because I saw all the other shots and I knew my shot was going to have a life of its own and it has. Now every time you see that wave, it\u2019s my version. All the other versions have disappeared and mine is the one you constantly see. I knew, at that time, just relax, it\u2019s going to be okay, even though everyone else was sending their stuff out everywhere. I knew it was that classic shot I had been waiting my whole career for. So I\u2019m still on the cutting edge because I still got the best version of that shot. I hope that does not sound egotistical because God put me in the right place at the right time, and, luckily, I shot it the right way. I moved back and didn\u2019t shoot it too tight. I knew it was one of the greatest surf shots of all time. It had much more to do with Nathan than with me.<\/p>\n

He tells the story of that photo and how it changed his life. I think it makes the photo that much more interesting because a photo is a story all on its own and a photo has a life of its own, but there are only a few photos that stand out through the test of time. I think you\u2019re right. I think it changed his life, so I was curious to see how it changed yours, or if it did, knowing that you have it now as your career photo.<\/strong>
\nYeah. It\u2019s the kind of thing where I might not ever get a better shot than that. I might get other shots that are more creative, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll ever get a better action shot than that. I\u2019m just talking from my experience, but I look at big wave surfing, tow-in and everything, and it\u2019s kind of like, that wave came along and set the bar so much higher than it had ever been before, that now when something comes along and happens, people are like, \u201cOh yeah, no big deal.\u201d It\u2019s almost hurt big wave riding. It\u2019s almost put it in a stagnant period now, where nobody cares about anything unless it surpasses that wave, and will it ever surpass that wave? I don\u2019t know. I just don\u2019t see how it\u2019s possible. It could.<\/p>\n

You made it. You made it as a surf photographer! Yeah!<\/strong>
\nYeah. I think my shot will stand next to Greg Noll standing with his longboard, which is my favorite surf photo of all time. I think it\u2019s in that category. I have a photo of that caliber. No matter what, I\u2019ll never ever be forgotten because of that shot.<\/p>\n

Okay. Let me ask you this. What aspect of surf photography is the most personally challenging for you?<\/strong>
\nAs I get older, it\u2019s the water shots. I sit on the beach on days when it\u2019s just too heavy for me. I\u2019m 57 years old, so I\u2019m not going to swim out to Backdoor when it\u2019s 8-10 foot, and that\u2019s what the limit is now. That\u2019s what the guys are doing. It\u2019s kind of hard sometimes. knowing that, physically, emotionally and mentally, I\u2019m not there anymore. I\u2019m not at the peak as far as strength and conditioning. I figure out other ways of being creative and versatile, so I\u2019m still valuable. I realize that I can\u2019t compete with my nephew who is 25. I can\u2019t compete with Zak Noyle. These guys are heavy. That\u2019s been the hardest part, knowing that these guys are better in the water than I am because I\u2019m just past my prime shooting from the water. I still shoot big Pipeline when it\u2019s the right conditions. I\u2019m just really picky now.<\/p>\n

But you know what? You\u2019ll be successful at this because you recognize that changing of what\u2019s going on. A lot of guys don\u2019t. They don\u2019t see that in themselves. They still want to be that guy or compete with that guy, even though their abilities physically have changed. You look at life differently. At least you\u2019re recognizing this, so that gives you a real step forward in the process.<\/strong>
\nThanks. My whole underwater photography thing, which I started doing years ago before everyone that had a Go Pro thing was doing the same thing, was something really unique and different. At the time, I was already getting up there. I was 40 or 45 and I started doing all this underwater stuff, which is my favorite stuff in the world. That\u2019s where I started getting the most notoriety outside of the industry. You don\u2019t have to swim out in 8 to10-foot Backdoor. You can go out on a 4-to 6-foot day and just learn how to operate underwater. That was another smart way of getting myself to thinking outside of the box to do something different and creative.<\/p>\n

Well, Ansel Adams went out in the world and did all that photography and then, later in life, he took all that photography he had done as a young man and reworked it in the studio as an older man. He created new images out of the images he had first done. I thought that was so interesting.<\/strong>
\nWow. Yeah. It is.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t have to go out and take new photos. He already had them. So that\u2019s how you turn the corner. With going on boat trips and things like that, are there certain people that are easier for you to work with as a photographer?<\/strong>
\nYeah. There certainly is. There are times when I go out with a bunch of young kids and I\u2019m just like, \u201cI can\u2019t do this anymore. I can\u2019t relate with these kids.\u201d I start thinking that every kid is 18 and acts like he needs a babysitter. Next thing you know, I\u2019ll go somewhere with Nathan and other people who I completely relate to and feel comfortable with and then I\u2019ll realize, \u201cI can do this stuff for a long time.\u201d I can\u2019t hang out with the little kids and go out and party with them, which I don\u2019t want to do, but there are definitely guys I can relate to and guys that I can\u2019t. There is one thing that\u2019s funny, thinking of all that. I look at everything that\u2019s happening in the surf industry right now and some companies are in big trouble and people are losing their jobs and stuff, and I think, \u201cWhen I finally decide to walk away from this, will there be anyone left to say goodbye to? Is anyone even going to remember me anymore, because it\u2019s going to be all these new people?\u201d Think of all the new people running the ASP now. Who are they? I don\u2019t know them and they don\u2019t know me. They have no history with the sport. That\u2019s one thing I didn\u2019t count on was things changing so much that people didn\u2019t even know me anymore, no matter what I\u2019ve accomplished. That\u2019s one of the things I think about.<\/p>\n

Well, they grew it so big that outside interests became interested in it and came in and ruined it. It\u2019s like Abercrombie and Fitch\u2019s company, Hollister, became the biggest surf company, with no surfer in sight, no contests, no nothing\u2026 It shows that there was something lacking in the industry, if people from outside the industry could come in and take the entire imagery and not pay anybody or really be involved in surfing. It\u2019s very interesting how it turned a corner. Everybody wanted it to get bigger, so the surfers and photographers would get paid, but once it got bigger, people are no longer interested in the actual surfing part of it. They use it like Ralph Lauren used a polo pony on his shirt.<\/strong>
\nYeah. You\u2019d think that all the photographers that had been there forever would be like, \u201cYeah, now it\u2019s big. This is great for all of us!\u201d All that really happened was it imploded within the surfing community and it exploded outside the industry. All these people now are following the tour and they\u2019re the photographers that are most involved and the rest of us are not even in the picture. It\u2019s really bizarre. A lot of them are not making any money because they are ASP photographers. ASP pays them a rate and the photographers don\u2019t own anything. These guys walk away from their jobs, ten years later, and they don\u2019t even own anything.<\/p>\n

Think of the lesson of Hollister. It wasn\u2019t about shortboard progressive surfing. It was about that Endless Summer, dreamy longboard mood. It wasn\u2019t about progressive shortboard or aerial surfing or big wave riding. That\u2019s a very unique sport and it\u2019s almost like an adventure type thing, but the Midwest doesn\u2019t understand it. They bought into the shirt that had a Woody on it or looked like a Beach Boys song. That\u2019s what Hollister sold and that became worldwide. People from all over the world were interested in that because that\u2019s what those people think about surfing. They think about surfing from the time of my dad\u2019s generation.<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s funny you say that because I look at some other photographers shooting surfing and we would never consider them some of the great surf photographers, but they have got that whole vibe where a bunch of people from Malibu and New York have all decided that they are going to start surfing and riding longboards and go on a little trip. They love the shots of someone with a longboard walking down the street and smiling over their shoulder or shooting something off the nose of the board from some weird angle in the water. That\u2019s great. They are beautiful shots, but it\u2019s not what I consider a surfing photographer. It\u2019s surfing lifestyle photography, kinda hipster surfing photography, not hardcore surfing photography.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the Hollister world. That\u2019s almost like the guy on Wall Street that decided to go on a boat trip. It\u2019s hipster surf.<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s exactly what it is. That\u2019s what\u2019s happening to surf photographers like us. We understand the high performance aspect of it, but we neglected what you\u2019re talking about.<\/p>\n

That does not check at retail and mass market. They want a drink with an umbrella in it. They want to be on that vacation. It\u2019s not about competition shortboard gnarly cutting edge surfing. Hollister proved that and it\u2019s interesting. They sold lifestyle. They didn\u2019t sell surf.<\/strong>
\nExactly. I remember trying to get a job with a photographer representative agency and they were calling me up and courting me and then, at the last minute, they said, \u201cWe decided to hire this guy from New York.\u201d I looked at his site and I called them back and I said, \u201cLook, I don\u2019t mean to be rude, but you have to tell me why you went with this guy instead of me, because if someone is looking for a serious surf photographer, they\u2019re not going to hire him.\u201d They said, \u201cYou know what? It\u2019s all about the lifestyle and what he\u2019s doing.\u201d He\u2019s from New York and he shoots all these people wearing wetsuits and walking to the beach.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hipster surf.<\/strong>
\nHow long is it going to last? Is it going to go away or is it going to be there for a while or what?
\nI think it\u2019s going to be there for a while. I\u2019ll tell you why. The average person can understand that. They do not understand dropping in at Pipeline. They can look at it and go, \u201cWow. That\u2019s rad,\u201d but they can\u2019t even relate to it. The guy sitting by his old car at San Onofre with the BBQ and the ukulele and a couple of girls and a campfire, they can relate to that. It\u2019s Bruce Weber surf.
\nYes. There you go. That\u2019s it. You know what? I just realized that Bruce Weber is the godfather of hipsters.<\/p>\n

He made it accessible to the average person to have the dream. The average person doesn\u2019t dream of big wave riding.<\/strong>
\nThey want the lifestyle and they don\u2019t want to have to die for it.<\/p>\n

Yeah. Not only that, the lifestyle in Hawaii is just a little too rad for them. They want it more like San Onofre. You go there for the day and it\u2019s kind of dirty but, afterwards, they can go to their expensive home at night behind the gate. Back to photography. What inspires you photographically? What is your best day?<\/strong>
\nFor the perfect day, at Pipeline, I\u2019d swim out in the evening when it\u2019s just perfect and backlit. That\u2019s my dream session, depending on how many people are out there. Honestly, if I could just shoot underwater photography and that would be it, I would be the happiest photographer around. I absolutely love doing that.<\/p>\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, ORDER ISSUE #73 AT THE JUICE SHOP\u2026<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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BRIAN BIELMANN INTERVIEW by DIBI FLETCHER PHOTO of NATHAN FLETCHER by BRIAN BIELMANN I’ve been extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to work with the greatest surfers, and cameramen, who spend their lives on the beaches, in boats, on jet skis and swimming in the impact zone, to capture the images that allow us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4042],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-surf-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/BRIANBIELMANN1-2.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56497"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56607,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56497\/revisions\/56607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}