Stunning . . .

It's been busy here since the last post, some new photos up, the new 2010 Waves calendar out, some commissions shot, and more images published.

Check out the latest uploads, including a small but sunny surf shoot, here http://ocean-image.com/new_photos.php




The latest calendar -2010- is also hot off the press, showing a different wave picture each month in a funky fold-out CD case. We delivered some to Surfers Against Sewage who are again supported from the sale of the calendar. Buy one and ease your conscience here: http://www.ocean-image.co.uk/calendar.htm


We've also had some images published in the Times, last weekend, with Alan Williams great shot of a surfer waiting making the Beaches supplement. Also a photo of Alex 'Surfing Machine' Wade and his son at a local secret spot to accompany his article on why Britain became a surfer's paradise.


Lastly, in all the driving around, meeting people, shooting and trying to escape for a surf, I was pleased to finally bump into a copy of Black Dove, by Bridgette Cassese. Published in 2007, it uses a backlit wave shot from Ocean-Image.com on the cover and back, but I hadn't yet seen a copy.

With diverse settings of London, Ireland and Cornwall it's 'A collection of four novellas', as the back reads. One in particular stood out, Castle of Dreams, where the back tells us, ' Claire meets the stunningly attractive photographer Mike, who whisks her off on dream holiday'.

Just below, the credit reads 'Cover image : Mike Newman'.

Mmm. Off for a surf now, with a smile on my face.

Cover stories

Ocean Image is on the shelves! This month's edition of Cornish World magazine (sold all over Cornwall as well as Cornish communities all over the world) is sporting a rather fine image from the Ocean-Image.com back catalogue. With a nifty piece of clever designeryness, they've also included a postcard on the front, which is a cut-out from the main photo.

Get out and buy one, and post the card to a friend. Check out the full image here Cover picture

Also in the news is another Ocean-Image photographer, Adam Cornick, who's cracking shot of surfers walking down the beach is now gracing the current cover of Coast magazine.

Congrats to Adam, who has only recently started uploading his photos to the site. Check out his folio here : Adam Cornick. Keep checking the site for more summery images, some have just been uploaded from Rock, in North Cornwall.

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Vellela vellela

Yesterday, on the way back from a shoot with intriguing Newquay based artist Sam Walsh for Award winning magazine Cornwall Today, a phone call suddenly sent us rocketing coastwards. We're being invaded ! I heard. There's millions of them on the beaches ! I heard. They're jellyfish ! I heard.

Turns out, literally millions of tiny 'By-the-Wind-Sailor' jellyfish had mistakenly had a 'mass stranding' along the south coast from Penzance to Perranuthnoe due to a recent onshore storm. Vast swathes of them littered the tideline for miles. However, as a relative of the extremely poisonous Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish it was going to take a braver, or madder, man than I to hold one up for a picture.

Luckily, I just happened to be returning The Patient Wade to his soft walled room after his regular Soothing & Calming appointment at a local hospital. Affably thoughtless when exposing himself to injury, I persuaded him to stop eating them long enough to get this shot.

This shot appears in today's Telegraph , cropped from the larger version below.

As you can see, even National Papers used to showing the Horrors of Parliament and other atrocities, could not stomach showing Wade's self-inflicted thumb wounds to their readers.

Return to Ocean-Image.com

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Porth Emmet

I came across this fantastic beach a while ago, and thought it was very much worth the effort of finding it again. Rumour has it that when decent sized surf hits, from exactly the right direction through the narrow swell window, a mystical A-frame peaks and then peels down both sides of the far rocks you can see in the picture below. Apparently it's an easy take-off and a guaranteed barrel whichever way you choose to go.

Find out more about this wonderful beach here : http://thisisnotcornwall.co.uk/porthemmet/

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Recommendation from a friend . . ?

A message arrives in my inbox.........

My Dear,

Before you proceed reading this mail,this is true and not one of those mails you see on the internet,i am about to retire and here in Africa service is not adequately rewarded i tell you the truth,hence do not blame me on this,i only need you to help me so that we can smile in future,I presume this mail will not be a surprise to you.

I am an accountant in the mineral commission department of Ministry of Mines and Energy Ghana and also a member of contracts awarding committee of this ministry under Ghana government. I got your full information from Chamber of Commerce and industry on foreign business relations here in Accra-Ghana.And i beleived you must be trustworthy and honest main looking at your profile.Some years ago, Ghana government asked this committee to awards contracts to foreign firms, which I and my colleague happed to be the head of this committee. With our good position, this contract was over invoiced and as a deal to be benefited by me and my colleague.

Now the contracts value has been paid off to the actual contractors that executed these jobs, all we want now is a trusted foreign partner like you that we shall front with his banking account number to Claim the over inflated sum.The said funds will be shared within us when it is confirmed into your provided Account in your country by the paying Bank.

NOTE: I know there may junk mails flying here and there on the internet but certainly, this is not one.

Please do not fail to understand that in spite of all that, opportunities of this kind still abound. If you have ever wished or prayed for something good to come your way, now I urge you to take this message seriously and with an open mind.

So please give it a benefit of doubt,and with good faith and trust join me and I am assuring you now that you will never be disappointed.Now our questions are:Can you handle this project? Can I give you this trust? Mail with phone and Fax number,respond back to me.

Respectfully,
Mr.Benjamin Nyarko
Mines and Energy Ghana


So, my question is, is this a Good Business Proposition' ?
Answers, on a postcard, to Mr Nyarko please.

New updated stock library website

Well, it's finally here ! After a winter of headscratching and upoading, the new site is finally ready to go. With cracking shots from some of Britain's best surf photographers, coastal imagery, bits of Cornwall, beach lifestyle, adventure sport action and just great photos of the ocean, you should be able to avoid work for at least a few hours.

We'll be regularly uploading new images though, so keep checking back for the latest shots.
Hope you enjoy it, if you've got any feedback for us, please leave a comment below, or Contact Us .

Library website is here : Ocean-Image.com

Enjoy

Mike

Sand, Salt and Cameras

The thing with being a photographer of the ocean is that obviously you have to be outdoors, and consequently you are constantly exposing all your (very expensive) gear to the elements. And not only 'the elements', but the precise elements that are the very worst for sensitive camera gear. Namely sand, and salt water spray - this latter frequently wind-driven into every finely machined crevice of your sensitive (and very expensive) lenses.

Salt and sand have trashed many bits of gear over the years, including one drenching in Australia a few years back. I was shooting some tow-at surfing from a pier when a large wave hit, covering me and several fishermen in a deluge of saltwater. Not one piece of clothing was dry enough to wipe the camera and the (very expensive) lens down. Checking the kit over, I could even see water sloshing around inside the lens barrel.

Nowadays, I'm pretty good at avoidance tactics, with camera covers, water housings and umbrellas added to the armoury. Iwas caught out shooting a fast dropping sun the other week though. I was using two cameras, one with wide angle, one with a zoom. Deftly stepping away from the whitewater surging up the beach, I lay prone on the beach to get the shot above, completely forgetting that while doing so, the zoom hanging at my side would sink slowly and softly into the wet, salt water laden sand. Which it surely did.

Did I mention this is an expensive game?