Andrew Kidman lives 13 miles inland on a plot of land in New South Wales, Australia. A shaper, photographer, filmmaker, and musician, Kidman pulls all of these disciplines into a self-ordered, unified artistic statement about things in which he believes. Lest that sound a little dry, it must be noted that he's also hilarious, cynical at just the right times, and a red-hot surfer.

His C.V. shows the random threads that he has woven into a life: Aussie schoolboys surf champ; Waves magazine editor; director of the influential surf film, Litmus; longtime to contributor to The Surfer's Journal and Surfing World; author of the soul tome, Ether. In between were assorted LPs, films, live performances, and art projects. On the occasion of the release of his newest project -- a book and DVD combo called "Lost in the Ether" -- ESPN had the chance to speak with Andrew about film, surfboards, and media.

What compelled you to pursue this latest project, "Lost in the Ether"?
I wanted to show the direct link that a surfer/shaper has with his own equipment -- how considered and personal it is.

It was kind of a personal journey I was undertaking myself and was reinforced when I rode the Peterson board from the "Morning of the Earth" period. Carl Tanner told me the surfboard was specifically designed by Michael to ride on the points. I rode it in some beach breaks and it went pretty badly, then I rode it on a point and it was seamless. I then went and asked Michael why he made the board, and he said, "To surf Kirra." I wanted to follow this theme through the film.

What was the genesis of your title?
When you make a surfboard, at every point in the process you can make a move that will effect the way the board goes: put a flyer in, a concave, a swallow tail, chine rail ... it's endless, hence "Lost in the Ether." I get pretty lost in it all to be honest; it's a lot of fun ...

What is that is makes the custom surfboard maker such an attractive subject for you?
I like how dedicated they are to doing the best job they can and making a board forsomeone they don't know. I like how they have dedicated themselves to something that is a pretty odd job. They are interesting people as they've pretty much blown off everything in life so they can do this. It's not going to make them rich and it hardly pays the bills, so they are doing it because they love it. People that have followed their hearts and do what they love are pretty interesting people I think.

You seem to have a persistent interest in the underdog: shapers and surfers who might otherwise go unrecognized. Talk about that for a moment. They generally work/surf outside the mainstream, they've steered clear of it. I like underground culture, as it's usually people just doing things for themselves because they want to do it. They may be influenced by things, but they are taking these influences and applying it to their own projects, they usually aren't mass producing ... which I find pretty interesting, just the general psyche of what makes these people tick.

Things have changed dramatically since you made "Litmus." The barriers to entry are gone. Today, anyone with a DSLR and a PowerBook can shoot, edit, and market a surf movie. What effect has this had on the surf media landscape?
I'm not sure. It doesn't make any difference to what I do -- I just make the films I want to make. It's the stories that I find interesting in the end and you can make a film with anything really, a digital camera or just some old camera, I just work with what I've got until it breaks down. I can't keep up with it; I don't have the money or time to learn all the new stuff. I think, though, there's been some pretty incredible stuff that's been shot during the last decade because it's all so accessible now, stuff maybe we never would have seen, everything is covered now. I like watching random performances by artists I Iike, it's sort of like bootlegging, or making tapes of obscure stuff, but better because it's live and there's a visual performance.

Stuff that pops up on the Internet today is more like news -- this happened today, and we see the footage and then we forget about it. I still think there's a place for timeless films.