Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

So it's New Year's Eve, let's hope the expected big freeze every surfer seems to be dreading doesn't bring Waves of Ice. These are from Sean Buckley's blog Check out this wakeboarding in St Mark's Square, Venice too, from the same place.

With the dread dark days of winter upon us ( it's the shortest day of the year tomorrow) I seem to be surfing the net more these days than actually physically surfing waves. I've never seen how sitting motionless squinting at a screen, clicking away in a darkened room is in any way similar to surfing. However I was quite happy to encounter this online, rather than in reality! This is from Freaking News , a site where people take a news photo and apply their Photoshop skills to it. See the original photo here . Return to Ocean-Image

Winter is most definitely here, the usual time of year to be heading off to warmer climes for six months. I never thought I'd say this, but having decided to stay UK side this winter, I can only hope that it's going to be really, really cold. All winter. If memory serves correct, in winter the coldest winds blow out of the East and North East, bringing frosty arctic air from over the Russian Steppes. and cooling our tiny island enough for snow to settle. Yeah, and so what? Well, usually, this airstream is driven by a great fat High Pressure sat over the UK, meaning great sunshine, and little rain. Also, any surf-generating Atlantic Low Pressures will tend to go round this High Pressure, meaning the swell will be long range, and therefore better formed. Finally, that cold East wind is directly offshore on our West facing beaches, a North East is perfect for the South facing beaches. Presto! Perfect, lined-up surf, bright sunshine perfect for shooting, and a clean offshore. Bring...

So, we went, and it pumped ! Thurso, that is. Long way to get there, but what a great place Scotland is to surf. Plenty of good set ups, swell drenched from several directions, and blessed with a craggy coastline to find shelter from the wind. I must say, I rather enjoyed it. Shouldn't have waited twenty years to get there, but still. This pic is from one of the best days of thre trip, solid groundswell from a 960 Low. People showed up from all over, including one hardened camper who had his tent set up above the break. Not the balmiest of tenting weather, Scotland in October. Check out the full story and more pics in the next issue of PitPilot magazine. Ocean-Image.com

Crikey, nearly three months since I managed to find the time to post anything !! Not that I've had little to rant about, on the contrary, life has been entirely hectic, and made more hectic with local planning law interference. Without boring us both to death with the details, the upshot is that I have had very little in the way of surf time in the past months. Of course the surf has pumped, and I needed the practice, to get fit for my 20th anniversary return to the legendary Scottish break of Thurso. I say return, but actually I never made it there in the first place, merely attempted to get there. Some cunning thieving type in Glasgow removed my vehicle overnight, leaving me bereft of transport for the final leg of the journey, and so I never made it. Fast forward twenty years(!) and it's time to check it out properly. This time we made it all the way there, and had some of the most amazing surf I've ever seen. I'll definitely be returning, though next time, as it...

Having been shooting surf for quite a while now, at one time being the only person shooting waves and surf at my local break, I've noticed that almost every year now there seems to be yet another surf photographer setting up a tripod at the beach. This type of photography must be a massive draw as there are now at least seven snappers with 'surf photography' type businesses shooting surf, waves and surfers on a swell. This media explosion is obviously linked to the massive expansion of surfing as a sport generally, and is to be expected, if, from a business point of view, lamented. Also, the advent of digital cameras means people can learn quicker, without the huge cost of slide processing ( I think this is a large part of the increase in numbers - you don't pay for your mistakes) What's strange though is that, of those seven surf photographers, four of them are living in my road ! What are the chances of that? Plus, I heard a rumour that another eminent snapper was...

From the lens of the hard working, far travelling and long suffering Mr B comes a new fillum ! Mr B's press department says..... As part of their ambitious screening network for 2008, Cornish film and theatre production company o-region have announced an exciting screening of the new surf film Substance by up-and-coming director Anthony Butler (or Mr B as he’s known in the surfing world) at Carruan Farm, Polzeath on Tuesday 22nd July. This hour-long surf epic is the long-awaited follow-up to the much admired Performing Monkeys. Described by Wavelength magazine as quite possibly "the best home-grown surf movie ever", Substance follows the adventures of a crew of UK surfers who travel the length and breadth of Britain in search of the perfect wave. Substance is entirely shot in Britain & Ireland and features some of the best waves and surfing ever captured in the British Isles. Perfect Waves, Epic Sessions, Incredible Surfing, ALL AT HOME! The film will also be showing ...

News reaches Ocean-Image towers of a fantastic new way to improve your surf skills by , quite literally, surfing online. This new viral surf game immediately has you dropping in to a double overhead peeling right-hander, something most of us rarely get to do, let alone practice. And then you can start cranking your manouevres. You can slide your turns, stall for tubes as well as bust prolonged floaters and aerials. The longer you stay in the tube, the more points you score - only you have to actually make it out of the barrel to claim the points, unlike some head-dip/wipeout scenarios I've seen claimed as ' Mate, I just got a stand-up barrel '. Designed by gallery owning tech-head Sennen surfer Toby Jones of Heading West Design , he's been so immersed in code, he hasn't been seen in the water at his local break for at least two years. But we say time well spent Toby, and congrats on finding a way toSurf whilst Surfing, and make us even more addicted to our sport. Ch...

Things that stop you going surfing: broken legs, the need to actually show up at work once in a while, even the lack of a decent wave, but what has stopped me a lot in the past few months has been the dreaded DIY. Without wishing to depress myself by going over this (self) enforced horror endurance, I will merely show you the results of said labour of (non) love on our two bed cottage near Porthleven : Click the pic for a view of the results of all my (er, our, actually, as I had much help from the estimable other half) latest labours. Anyway , so it's up for grabs as a home via Mathers , or for a great Cornish holiday, just e mail us. Me, I'm off for a wave. Bugger, it looks flat. Oh well, may as well put a face in at work, it can't be as bad as DIY.

The Ocean-Image site will be changing in the near future ! Development work has been underway for some time now, and the IT droids processors are overheating as the upgrade work progresses. So what's happening? Well, there will be a lot more surfing, seascapes, waves and ocean-related imagery to have a look at, in an online slide library fashion, as well as other extreme sports, windsurfing, climbing, Cornwall, travel, etc etc. This will be a searchable database, and include uploads from guest photographers, with images downloadable full size for commercial use, or as small microstock images for websites or personal use. A (free) subsciption allows use of a lighbox feature, picture rating, free screensaver downloads, and more. Keep an eye on www.ocean-image.com for exciting picture developments!

So we planned a trip to try out this crazy new type of surfing - Brush Boarding. Designed to try and replicate a skate-surf-snowboard sort of feel, it's essentially a metal quarter-pipe skate ramp with holes cut into it, through which brushes rotate at high speed. You stand on a foam board and try and surf against the upthrust of the brushes. Am I making sense? Pretty much like surfing or skating, you can drop in from the top, do bottom turns and cutbacks, trim down the line, as well as kick-flips (not me) off the tops (maybe after a bit more practice) and wipeout (definitely me). The wipeouts are OK though, with loads of padding around, and instaed of being mullered by the rest of the set, as in surfing, the guy on the controls simply shuts the machine down, so you can dust yourself off, and get right back into it. Which, it turns out, is what everybody wanted to do. It was definitely fun to do, and with further developments in the pipeline, I can see this becoming a great traini...

Have a look at this picture. It's of my local break - pretty much going off - on a sunny clean offshore day, and yet the chap surfing decided this wasn't a good session, despite, if the photos speak truth, having loads of waves like this one. The thing is, there was a crowd in the water. If you've surfed all winter in waves like this with only two people and a seal for company, and then the first day of spring great unwashed hordes of wannabe surfers descend onto 'your' patch and drop in on you, a certain peevishness is entirely understandable. Certainly though, it's a better idea to surf with a crowd and get a few waves than sit on the beach taking photos as the surf pumps up to high tide, then decide to go in, only to find that the dropping tide includes a dropping swell for free. Oh, and a bigger crowd. And an onshore wind. And don't get me started about Summer crowds. Return to Ocean-Image

Finally managed to get in the water today, missing out on the huge crowd that gathered for the start of this swell, up to more than ten times the usual crowd apparently, depending on which disgruntled local you talk to. The internet has a lot to answer for, back in the day, we'd be glued to the six oclock news watching the isobars form rings behind Michael Fish, and simply guessing when the swell would arrive. Nowadays, online predictive tools and knowledge are so good that the swell arrival can be pretty much timed to the hour, and star ratings show which beach even will attract the best of said swell. Consequently, everyone turns up at the same beach and complains about the size of the crowd. So what's the answer to this little conundrum? Somehow trash all internet forecasting sites? Or the internet itself? Or use your head and find a nice little spot that doesn't feature on any of the forecast sites, doesn't have a webcam, and no-one bothers going to because you have...

Is it just me or does everyone hate doing DIY? Just spent a whole day measuring and sawing and fixing, getting the house ready for sale. Of course the only day this was possible was the day of the best surf for ages. Sunny day, clean six foot perfection, offshore wind, Curses ! Only, if it had been two foot onshore mush, the deep hatred of these accursed chores would still have run deep in my veins. It's such an utter waste of life itself searching for the right flange bracket screw, replacing rotten timbers, or, the most wrist-slashing of all- painting. The Horror. I don't have any quirky photos to share with this, just imagine a totally black square in a vast cauldron of blackness a thousand miles deep and you'll get the picture. On a more positive note, there's now a beautifully done up two bed cottage for sale, not far from an epic barrelling right hander in Cornwall. Return to Ocean-Image.com

Not being able to get to the surf for a while, I've been checking out som videos of it on the web. Fair play to this geezer 'Vas' at Ours in Sydney for even taking this wave on, let alone the subsequent beating. Still, at least he got a trophy for his trouble - Worst Wipeout Award. Return to Ocean-Image.com

The hunt is on for a name for our new baby daughter, now past three weeks old and as yet un-named. We are 'in conversation' about the final naming, but the lack of a viable name for others to use has seemingly caused widespread panic. People seem unable to relate to her as a human being without said moniker, incurring lots of high-street tutting, late night pub discussions, and leading one commentator to utter 'Really, it amounts to child abuse!'. Your ideas on postcard to . . Another new arrival that has succesfully achieved a name is cool new surf mag - Drift . Born out of the online mag of the same name, it promises a refreshing change of angle on our surfing life. Return to Ocean-Image

Of course with the new arrival, there's been absolutely no chance of escaping for a wave for the past three weeks. Odd moments of freedom get taken up with things that simply invade your time. Like work, for instance. Consequently everyone has been ringing up or emailing their congratulations, frequently ending the conversation with 'Oh yes, and it was going off today.....!" and keeping my cup from running over. There is a minute portion of pedantic pleasure to be gleaned from this heavy dose of surf starvation, in that it just goes to prove my First Law of Surfing in a recent post. Luckily there's a backlog of work to catch up with, including uploading the recent Penzance Triathlon shots. The thing with surfing is that you never realise if you're breaking a sweat, as you get a cool rinse on every duck-dive, but these guys (and gals) were surely showing the strain at the end. Though it made a change from shooting surf action, it was certainly chilly up on the ...

So, no posts for a while due to the arrival of a new baby girl on the 19th March, in the back of the ambulance on the way to hospital no less. An exciting event in many ways, and making the 'Place of Birth' spot on the birth certificate, er, almost redundant. Although 'A30, Cornwall' might be accepted. In other news, a recent job in this diary of strangeness involved taking a picture for the Daily Mirror of a chap eating a plate of mushy peas. Not the everyday shoot. Witness the story of Rob Mathews, 42, who had allegedly lost 18 stone in seven months on a diet of three tins of mushy peas a day. Or had a gastric bypass. You decide.

SO everyone was out storm chasing, instead of sitting in at home like a good little bunny and not going out unless ' Your journey is really necessary', as a lot of TV and radio reports urged. This being the biggest storm in living memory for this area, a drive about with a camera was warranted. The south coast was pretty sheltered really, but the north coast was going ballistic, with the wave bouy reading up to 56 feet, and a force 10 onshore wind, the beach, cafe and harbour at Sennen were really taking a battering. Huge amounts of spray flooding the village and blocking out the sun. Creamy wind driven spume rolled in on top of ragged whitewater waves. The setting sun giving it all an apocalyptic sheen. Certainly the biggest waves I've ever seen. This image appeared in the Daily Mail online, Daily Star, Daily Mirror and the Times, and in the US National Examiner. Many thanks to Apex News Pics for getting it out there. Please get in touch if you'd like a print. Whilst ...

When you can't get to the surf, it helps if you can stay fit by doing something else, in this case, a few lengths at the local pool. Still fiinding something to learn about breathing, timing and technique, despite having swum for years. Not the prettiest of architectural inventions, the local pool does have the added bonus of warm water in mid winter. The open air Jubilee Pool on Penzance promenade, however, operates on the reverse basis - cold enough to attract only hardened fanatics in winter, it is one of the most spectacular pieces of architecture, with many many lines to please the eye, whether on a swim or having a coffee in the cafe above. Always good to photograph, this pic was the cover of Cornwall Today last summer. Remember summer?

A quick blast to the Emerald Isle as part of the Doom Bar Big Wave Project at very short notice produced some amazing results for the few intrepid tow-assisted surfers who made the effort to get out there. Huge lumps of water pounded the reef at Aileens, ramping up to what the Guardian and the Irish Times were calling 50ft. Mole Ben Some amazing beasts were ridden by Dan 'Mole' Joel, Ben 'Skindog' Skinner, and Tom Doidge-Harrison. Check the latest edition of Pit Pilot surf magazine for the full story, bigger waves and plenty of pictures, out at the end of the week. Return to Ocean-Image.com

I was out on a shoot last week, which just happened to be at a secret spot which only works once in a blue moon. It was a rare sunny, blue sky winter's day with a light offshore breeze grooming the swell perfectly onto a cranking A frame bank. Of course, I had no time to go in, stopping only to grab this picture before sadly driving away, crushed, under the cursed weight of the First Law of Surfing. The First Law of Surfing states simply, that : The size and quality of the surf will be inversely proportional to your ability to get to it. In other words; busy all day with no window of opportunity ? It'll be six foot and going off. Got the day off and time to search for a decent wave? Blown out two foot mush everywhere you look! Oh well, at least I got a picture this day...... Return to Ocean-Image.com

The frenzy continues with Scrunch the bull making it into the Guardian at the weekend, in the 'Unsettling Animal Picture of the Week' section, inside front cover. Shame they credited the wrong photographer though. Went to Porthmeor to shoot some surf, checkout the results on WPSurf.com type Porthmeor into the search, then click Total Images, to see the latest shots. This is Billy Norways, who was in fine form. Caught a recent Have I got News for You episode last night with acerbic Scottish comic Frankie Boyle on Paul Merton's team. Asked if Scotland had a cricket team, he replied ' Cricket is played in Scotland like some sort of homosexual martial art'. Return to Ocean-Image.com

Had a really decent wave at Porthmeor earlier in the week, with not too many people out. Still trialling the Surftech, I think it might be a pretty good board, as I managed to get covered up on my last wave. I wouldn't normally claim it, but the pleasure was doubled when a mate, who'd been watching from the car park, said ' Nice last wave, you were fully in there! '. Cheers, Lawrence, pint waiting for you! A memorable week with a Great Happening on Wednesday, including a mention in the Times online, courtesy of journalist and author Alex Wade, in his daily surf blog . Check out his latest book - Surf Nation - for intelligent insights and some of the best writing about the current state of surfing in Britain. Then, today, I had a couple of pictures in the Mirror, of Scrunch the bull, and his owner, mentioned in an earlier post, in the front room of his dilapidated, 15th century pub (aging it three hundred years in a few days). Under the groan inducing headline 'Unbel...

Caught up with big wave supremos Al Mennie and Duncan Scott in Newquay recently. Towing in to this 'small' wave at the Cribbar must almost be boring after their 55ft exploits in Ireland. Does that mean we have already seen the biggest wave towed in Ireland/ the UK / Europe of all time ? It's hard to imagine it getting any larger than the record breaking 14m swell of that day. But as Al said ' The break was working really well that day, it'll hold larger '. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. Mike Return to Ocean-Image.com

Hello there Welcome to the Ocean-Image blog. Not sure what it's really going to be about yet, presumably stuff that happens that's interesting. Like a recent shoot for a magazine about a guy living like a hermit on Bodmin Moor, in a derelict 18th Century Inn. No gas, no electric, just and AGA in the kitchen. And a one ton Highland Bull in the front room. Taking pictures of the chap combing it whilst avoiding being crushed aginst the cooker or gored by the horns. Or probably the latest surf session - four foot cross/off Hawks Point since you ask. Really pretty good, on a new Santa Cruz Surftech which I'm beginning to enjoy. No one out but myself and Billy, everyone must have been working for a change, it's usually mobbed there. I guess there'll be news here too, currently there's a competition to win one of the fantastic 2008 Ocean-Image.com calendars in top surf magazine Pit Pilot . Well, got to do some work now, so leave a comment and check back later. Cheers,...