John Heath Ball

John Heath "Doc" Ball (January 25, 1907 – December 5, 2001) was an American surfer and surf photographer. Ball invented a waterproof housing to fit around his camera to better capture surfing photographs. The images were prominent enough to be featured in the likes of Life magazine and the Los Angeles Times newspaper. Ball collected his images in one of the first photography books on surfing, California Surfriders: 1946.

Early life and family background Image taken by Doc Ball for the cover of Saturday Night magazine (February 12, 1938). Ball was born in Los Angeles, California. Ball's mother Genevieve was a natural child psychologist, and his father Archibald E. Ball was a dentist. Ball revolutionized surf photography and surf culture. His family came from the Midwest, and he always had a passion for tinkering. He was always a good athlete, participating in football and pole vault. He ended up working as a dentist (he opened his practice in 1934), The Palos Verdes Surfing Club was one of the first and most influential of the early California surf clubs. A product of the period, the surf club was all-male.

Ball published California Surfriders: 1946 to showcase the sport in California. The book featured Ball's own photos as well as several from other photographers, whose pictures covered areas that Ball was not as familiar with.