Raves & Rants . . from Penzance

Alright so it's a bit of a maudlin title but death is something that lives with us all our lives. A taboo subject worth talking about, it seems to have been all around me recently. Constant reminders of wars ending lives on the news, or multiple pile ups and recently the thought that a health improving marathon may result in your demise has bought the subject to the forefront of my mind.  Perhaps those factors, perhaps the friends I saw today headed to a funeral dressed in black, perhaps encroaching age. Whatever, today I have death on the brain and am thus persuaded to write down this thought about my own bit of mortal coil shuffling. It's a thought that I've had for quite a while now, a plan for my own funeral, one that I've been finessing, and this may seem odd, since around the time I first saw the inside of a barreling wave many years ago. It's quite simple and goes like this: It's six to eight foot with a light offshore breeze at my local break. It...

I love getting in the water to shoot surfing, it gives such a fresh perspective on what is really going on in the water.   Today was also fantastically bright, which helps with getting faster shutter speeds to freeze the action.  Porthleven today Freezing was the buzz word today, with a near zero air temperature and blocks of ice for feet after a long session swimming about in the water ensuring that hobbling across the barnacled reef afterwards was like stepping on red hot knives.  But a brilliant blue sky day with sparkling clear light and some great colours. More of the shots here :  Porthleven Today Return to Ocean-Image.com

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

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...