Long before surf cinema grew into a global phenomenon, the earliest known motion picture of wave riding was captured in 1906 along the idyllic shores of Waikiki, Hawaii. And it was created by a familiar, yet unlikely, figure: Thomas Edison. Yep, the creator of the light bulb made the first surf film. The short, silent, black-and-white footage offers a mesmerizing historical window into turn-of-the-century Hawaiian culture, depicting native surfers effortlessly gliding across rolling ocean swells on heavy wooden boards alongside traditional outrigger canoes. Check it out here on Instagram , and below as well. View this post on Instagram Behind the lens was pioneering cinematographer Robert Kates Bonine, whom Thomas Edison dispatched to the Pacific archipelago to document everyday life in the newly acquired U.S. territory. Produced by the prolific Edison Manufacturing Company, the footage was distributed as part of a travelogue series titled Hawaiian Islands .…