Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

I guess it's about time to write something new here ! Been busy recently - shooting a job for the Times, had a cover with the Western Morning News, had a shot in the Guardian recently too. As well as meeting some great characters for the Cornwall Today Artist of the month slot. Specifically in this instance, Barrie Cook , considered a great artist by his peers, or as Alex Wade put it ' A gem of a man'. A quick trip to Newcastle and Sunderland shooting, amongst many other things, water sports, lighthouses, Britain's only restaurant-in-a-cave and Blackhall Rocks beach, which featured at the grisly end of the Michael Caine film 'Get Carter'. Then a blast further North for some decent waves at Thurso, home to one of the best rights in the land, and some great surf, with the occasional icy blast of wind to remind you exactly how far North you are. And of course, dear reader, as you know, the 2010 calendar is out now as well.... available for only £4.95. Get y...

Had a great shoot this summer for Cornwall Blind Association , who are highlighting the harmful UVA and UVB rays from the sun that sea users like surfers and fishermen are being exposed to in their 'Be Bright for Sight' campaign. This involved spending time shooting at the glorious Sennen beach with willing sunglass 'models' from Sennen Surf Centre , and in the water with local writer and longboard ace Sam Bleakley. This shot has been used in the recent Stranger mag article , others will be appearing in your favourite surf magazine in the coming months. It's always great to be able to spend time at Sennen, but on a sunny day, in some cracking little waves, and getting paid? Now I can almost afford those 'must-have' sunglasses . . . .

Just had the latest newsletter from online surf mag Drift in their new European guise. Having a quick look through, reading articles about secret reef points and trying to work out where they are from the grainy black and white photos. Surely after many years of coastal searching I must have been to these lesser known places? I couldn't recognise them though, so it's good to know that there are still epic reefs and points to be discovered, even close to your home. Another discovery in this mag was the re-use of an article I wrote for the magazine's first ever issue a few years back. It's from a trip we made to Arugam Bay, Sri Lanka with the UK Surf Tour back in 2005, shortly after the Tsunami had struck. Check out the full story here . The Tour has recently returned there after a two year hiatus, so the surf mags will be full of Sri Lankan stories in their next issues. Looking forward to hearing how the rebuild is going, and seeing how the photos compare to t...

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 bum...

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. Return to Ocean-Image.com

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...

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/ Return to Ocean-Image.com

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 be...

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

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 arm...

Is surfing Art? Is the actual act of surfing an Art form? Are all surfers artists in some way? There's a lot of both surf and Art around in this part of the world (south west Cornwall, in the UK, since you ask) with the Tate Gallery in St Ives and the renowned Newlyn School of Art just down the road toting their historic lists of well known painters and sculptors. But recently Penzance itself has become the place to see more cutting edge work, perhaps not relying on traditional painting and sculpting methods. Check out the new art works by artist and surfer Ben Cook . This piece refers to the demise of Hayle based Kamikaze surfboards, and the retirement of the company's owner and shaper Mutley, after around 80,000 surfboards. ' I'm not sure if I'm an artist who surfs, or a surfer who arts' says Ben. Despite this mental conundrum, he has made some great investigations in to the areas where surf and art cross over. See his latest show upstairs at the Cornwall Co...

News reaches Ocean-Image of the use of many surf photos by many surf photographers to produce a flashy animation. This mini-movie is bought to you the Surf Twisted creative collective. ### WARNING ### Contains Flashing photos ### WARNING #### See if you can guess where all the surf spots are...

Harking back to the problem of concreting over beaches, the Route Partnership, who are proposing to extend and expand the South Pier in Penzance over the beach and rock pools nearby, have ldged their planning application. It is vital to lodge objections to this by 26th March when the proposal comes before the Planning Committee. If you haven't already, you can raise your objections via the Friends of Penzance Harbour website : http://www.friendsofpzharbour.org/ Most people in the area object to the plans, nearly 85% according to the Route Partnership's own survey. However, we still need to pass this knowledge on to the Planners, so please check out the website, and email your objections to them. Thanks for your support.

Went up to the Cornwall Outdoors centre today to photograph writer Fi Read and family trying out their indoor climbing wall. AMongst other outdoor lunacy, they also had to do this mad 'Leap of Faith'. And since they'd done it, they thought the photographer ought to have a go too .... Photos courtesy of Fi. Thanks Fi. Just keep your eye on the ball, and jump. Return to Ocean-Image.com

A company is planning to widen the lighthouse pier in Penzance, to build a small passenger terminal and aid freight handling for the Scillonian ferry. However, to accomplish the build of what will be essentially a lorry turning area, will involve concreting over a beach, rockpools and other marine habitats on the promenade in Penzance. Apart from the obvious eyesore, the whole project is totally unnecessary, as alternative, more environmentally friendly options for improvement are readily available. (And with greater savings to the public purse). Check the details out here http://www.friendsofpzharbour.org/ I've written in to the local paper, the Cornishman ::: Dear Sir RE: Scilly link development in Penzance (Cornishman recent issues) It is appalling to think that concreting over a vast swathe of rocks and the secluded beach near Battery Rocks is the best way of ‘securing’ the Scillies link. The rock pools and pebble beach there have long been family areas, perfect for youngsters ...

There's nothing better than sitting down and watching a surf movie in a real cinema. Waves just look spectacular on a big screen, rather than squinting at the scratchy output at home from your shonky old video player. Especially when there's loads of like minded surfers hanging out there too, for mucho surf banter. Check out these sessions being run once a month in St Ives by The Surfscreen . There's a range of different films that should cover your wave riding vehicle of choice. Full screen surf porn, why wouldn't you go? Return to Ocean-Image

I was going swim out and shoot surf with top water photographer Tony Plant today, if only I didn't have to drive away to shoot Tony Blair . . . . . . . . . . There were some cranking barrels to be had at this little secret spot today. Tony was there with Ben Skinner . I would have gone in, if only I didn't have leave to do a portrait session with our now-almost-forgotten ex-Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Not the real one, though, you understand. A lookalike, John Brolly , who has impersonated him in films, videos, and famously for Alison Jackson's classic set of faked photos. He has travelled all over the globe making appearances on the back of it. Work must be tough now Gordon has got in ! John now holds the unenviable position of Mock Mayor of the Quay, as part of the Golowan Festival . Sorry can't put up my pictures of him until after the magazine has published, but keep an eye on Cornwall Today. So preferring barrels to politics, I went back to the secret spot, and...

In case you're wondering where I've been, I've actually been here, sat at my computer, struggling to learn strange languages over the dark winter nights. The finer points of HTML and PHP are still miles away from my conscious mind, but the end result will be the new Ocean-Image website, which is readying itself for launch in the near (or not so near) future. Having learnt the equivalent of 'Dos cervezas, por favor' in these languages, I have been able to mould, shape and buff the new site into a multi-paged click-fest of visual pleasure, albeit at a snail's pace. The end, or rather the start, is now in sight (site, geddit?) and a bright new dawn of sumptuous oceanic photography will be upon us. The good news is that it will feature not only seascapes from yours truly, but also offerings from some of the UK's best and biggest names in surf and water photography. I have seen these pictures already, and believe me, there is a lot of pleasure to be had. Here...

Since it only snows about once every twenty years down here in the far south west of England, you have to get out and about with the camera quickly, as the snow tends to disappear quickly. This day saw me drinking coffee in warm, bright, snow-free sunshine on the south coast, and then sliding all over the road in a blizzard on the north coast about ten minutes later. I carried on to St Ives to get some 'surfers on a snow covered beach' type shots, only to find it also bathed in bright sunshine. Honestly, us Brits would have nothing to talk about if it weren't for the weather. Return to Ocean-Image

It's always the same - the drive to the surf is faster, more focused, and more stressful than the post-surf meander home. On the way you're amping to music, eager to get in the water and the road always seems to be full of the slowest and worst drivers on earth. Even when it's howling onshore mush, as it was on a recent jaunt to the south coast of Devon, surfers are just so super keen to surf'. Arriving rapidly in the car park for a surf, a touch on the brakes saw this vehicle slide down a waterlogged field and into a hedge, causing 'about two grand's worth of damage' according to the driver. Despite this hefty dent to vehicle, pride and wallet, he simply suited up and ran down to the beach with a smile on his face! Not sure if this mess was worth the smile, and freezing cold to boot, though some inside wedges were peeling away nicely. This little secret spot, a pre-visit internet discovery, dished up some interesting lefts, with a half decent looking bommie...

Spent a lot of time yesterday driving around in a WNW wind trying to find somewhere to shoot some decent surf. Obviously an impossible task, since it that wind blows out everywhere in this neck of the woods. Trying to get some shots for Jess, who recently started riding with Pure Blue Water . After yo-yoing up and down the coast, and dragging serial blog artist Alex Wade along for company, we managed to turn up a pretty decent wave at a certain lesser known spot. Luckily the spot doesn't really have a name, so I can't give it away. They both managed to get a few waves, despite conditions detiorating dramatically as soon as they hit the water, as so often happens. It's the surf photographer's lament to stand on a freezing beach watching others have a whale of a time, sigh. But I was pleased with one or two waves that I snapped in between the surf shots.

Yeah, new year's day, headache, so what's really New about that? My new year's resolution is going to be 300dpi. Predictions : The credit crunch will be the biggest hoax of the year. The surf will pump in the spring. I will be on it. Or photographing it. The new Ocean-Image site will launch. Have a good one. Ocean-Image.com