George Barnes was an Ocean Beach photographer, father, and community figure. He would sit on the beach with his camera, and take photos of people surfing or just relaxing by the shore. He did this for decades and accumulated friends and fans from all across San Diego.
Unfortunately George passed away on January 30th 2022 after a long battle with cancer. Many of his friends, family, and fans from over the years gathered last Saturday to honor and remember his life. Everyone taking part brought with them their favorite photo of George’s, as well as the story accompanying it.
Enjoy this video by Charles Landon.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Grerat video, Charlie, I liked that you put in so many of his photographs, well done.
I meant “great.”
Pretty warm video and such kindness shown by all those folks to show up to celebrate the wake. Very cool, and he left people with smiles in their hearts of him. What more can one ask for?
He took pictures for the last three decades someone said in the vid? His face sort of seemed familiar but I guess I had closed the ding shop and moved to the mountains before he started doing this (1987). I have surfed OB and the Cliffs twice since then for a couple weeks each visit; in ’94 when I came down to bury my dad and in 2001 when I buried his older sister and that might be when but he would have been a much younger face.
Never really surfed much on the north end of OB being a goofy foot who loved the point/reef south of the Pier. And through it on big days. After my old friend Dyke Driggs (OB’s Topper Surfboards’ little brother) got incredibly sick from chemical poisoning surfing MB Jetty I deliberately started avoiding both jetties in the mid/late 70s.
Didn’t see a single shot of Southside unfortunately among all the photos displayed but I’m betting there are some from big days when the reef threw huge lefts through the pilings. Would have been hard to ignore for a photog.
Nice send-off Charles Landon. I enjoyed the vid, too.
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