The next batch will be from mid afternoon and the pushing tide on Friday 3rd which although it wasn’t what you’d call really big, we still saw a broken board, a broken head and a snapped leash!

Back-lit Split Tone Mystery Surfer Shimmering Silhouette Saturday, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

September Swells Lighting up Compton Bay!

It’s the first solid swell since i got the Canon 7d, so as well as enjoying some proper waves myself, i made sure to hang around and take lots of photos too. The first two batches are shot into the early evening sun, so at times all i got was shimmering silhouettes (which is why i went for a few monochrome shots edited in Lightroom) but every now and then i got a little back-lit beauty too.

There’s a few shots of Joe Truman making the most of it and finding a little shade on a warm sunny afternoon.

Part Two (more from 2nd Sept) and parts 3 & 4 (more from 3rd Sept) will follow as soon as i get time to upload and look through all the shots i took (so maybe when the swell is over?)

The Psychedelic Surfer has left the building!, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

This ones for my friends Pacey & SJ who are travelling the world looking for waves and generally having a great time, missing you guys, come back soon and do some baby-sitting

It was shot back in February (when every day seemed to bring more waves) on the same morning as the ‘headless surfer triptych’. You can see that triptych and more from that day in the headless surfer blog.

Exit Strategy ( wipeout ). Dictionary of Image, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

Exit Strategy
Means of escaping one’s current predicament, typically an unfavourable situation.

That’s it now, the last batch of surfing photographs from the last big day, maybe we’ll get another good swell now that they are all gone.

You can also see the five previous photo blogs here

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/you-shouldve-been-here-yesterday/ (15 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/yshbhy-part-two/ (15 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/hands-up-if-youre-having-fun-yet-yshbhy3/ (9 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/the-swell-that-just-kept-on-coming-yshbhy-4/ (12 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/you-should-have-been-here-in-february/ (14 photos)

Been so long since we’ve had a decent swell to ride here (and photograph), and with summer almost here, its probably not going to pick up anytime soon, so i returned to archives for ‘that day’ back in February, and had a look at the shots that were overlooked at the time, I took over 700 pictures that day, so there’s plenty to choose from! I’ve also tried to keep the processing to a minimum, just the occasional bit of ‘punch’ and horizon straightening in Lightroom!

You can also see the four previous photo blogs here

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/you-shouldve-been-here-yesterday/ (15 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/yshbhy-part-two/ (15 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/hands-up-if-youre-having-fun-yet-yshbhy3/ (9 photos)

http://soul-surfing.co.uk/the-swell-that-just-kept-on-coming-yshbhy-4/ (12 photos)

Ahh Winter, the holidaymakers are all gone from our beach communities and now it’s just the waves and us.

There’s nothing quit like the feeling of being one of the only surfers in the water on a nice winter’s day in New Zealand. The serenity, the roar of the waves, and the chill of the water, all make for a great Zen-like state while waiting for the perfect wave.

Once on the wave, the freedom of riding freely without maneuvering around someone or cutting the ride short to avoid a collision is such a great thing and most certainly makes up for the chilly waters.

Often New Zealand gets a bad rap for it’s few popularized surf breaks as many would head to the land of OZ for epic surf trips. What most people don’t know is there are many great surf beaches in New Zealand and with it’s compact land area, you’re never too far from one.

While short boarders and long boarders still dominate the waters here, there is a new breed of surfing emerging and that is Stand Up Paddle Board Surfing or SUP Surfing. While the west coast beaches have pretty consistent surf, the east coast is a little less consistent so SUP surfboards are perfect for those small days that seem to plague the east coast for days on end.

For the soul surfer who loves to be in the water all year long and as much as possible, SUP boards can be yet another avenue for more wave time as they have the ability to catch the micro-lines that roll in on the east coast of New Zealand.

Another reason New Zealand is a great place to surf is the shear beauty of the landscape and beaches that surround the two islands. There is nothing like sitting out back in the crystal clear waters as the sun sets over Mount Maunganui without any huge high rise hotels ruining the view.

If you’re looking for a great surf destination, look no further than New Zealand and don’t wait for Summer down under, come experience soul surfing at it’s finest during the Winter in Aotearoa.

Theodore Kallmyer

SUP rider in NZ

Just a photo blog today cos i had fun shooting them, and as much fun as the iphone hipstamatic was for the Walk the Wight blog, i definitely needed the 7D for these next shots!

Taken at the Owl Centre in Muncaster, in the Lake district. A fabulous place to visit, run by the ‘World Owl Trust’, another group of people working really hard to help endangered creatures.

All the shots here are watermarked lo-res web versions, if you are interested in using hi-res images for any reason please visit the wildlife gallery on my website, I will make a donation to the world owl trust for any sales made.

©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
These images are not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

Anyway, something a bit different from me today, an iphone blog taken during yesterdays 2010 Walk the Wight, in aid of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

I walked the 14 miles from Carisbrooke Castle to Alum Bay, many walked the full 26 miles across the Island starting in Bembridge.

I saw that wind and rain was widely predicted in all the weather forecasts on sunday morning, and after last years drenching, I decided not to take the big camera (quite literally a monkey of my back) and have a go using the hipstamatic app on my iphone. It mimics the analog film results of the old plastic toy cameras, and if you shake between shots, it randomly loads different lens and film types.

I hope you like the results, and if you enjoy viewing, maybe you can visit the charity site and make a donation!

Walk the Wight is the largest annual fund raising event on the Island, over 12,000 people walk walk from one end of the island to the other in aid of the Earl Mountbatten Hospice.

You can find out more about the walk (and make a donation if you like) here…
Walk the Wight

I talked about being in the right place at the right time (photographically speaking) in the first part of the blog, and for many of the classic lake shots, early morning or late evening light shows them at their best, with the peaks lit up and reflected beautifully in the calm waters of the lakes.

But for the stone circle at Castlerigg i think the bright sunshine and cumulus skies were just what i imagined, and exactly what i would have wanted. I called the first shot ‘Sun Worship’ because that’s what it felt like to me (i’ve no idea what they were really worshiping).

And heavy brooding skies seemed perfectly apt for the menacing presence of Scafell Pike and the desolate windswept landscape surrounding the Hardknott Roman Fort.

Not too much more to say about the photos really, hopefully you’ll enjoy looking at them, simple as that. One more set of Lake Landscapes to come, and them maybe an Owl blog, and hopefully one day in the not too distant future, i’ll get to see some waves again.

So once again i’m posting non-surfing pics on my site ‘dedicated to surf photography’. But its been a really long time since i’ve seen good waves, i’m struggling for anything surfing related to blog about again, and I was up in the Lake District the last time the Island had a swell, so there it is. Maybe soul-surfing will evolve to just being my general blog site if the surf doesn’t pick up soon!

I’m also pretty sure my surfing time will be badly affected by the fact that my good friend and surf buddy ‘pacey’ (psychedelic surfer on fiickr) has gone travelling for a year. So i wont be getting those excited early morning phone calls on cold winter mornings telling me to get my ass out of bed because the bay is going off and there’s no one in! I hope he stops to think about that as he pulls into another barrel in indo or Oz the lucky #!$@#….

So back to the lakes, it was my first trip to this stunning part of the world, and the first time i can remember going anywhere without a surfboard or wetsuit in a very long time. The only thing that sweetened that pill beforehand was that I would be taking my new camera, and i’d get to try out the 7D on some seriously beautiful landscapes.

Of course visiting somewhere as photographed as the lakes comes with its own pressures, I’ve seen some truly amazing images from the lake district, and aside from having the right kit and the skills to use it properly, a big part of getting a great landscape is knowing where to be to catch the best light and compositions, and then of course having good lighting conditions happen whilst you’re there.

I could add that you need to be in the right place creatively speaking too, but i’m taking that for granted here, because if the lakes don’t inspire you, you’re not meant to be a landscape photographer.

Bearing that in mind, and being honest with myself, I dont think i’d call any of the shots I came back with anything really special. The trip reminded me that i’m still on a learning curve with photography, and I’m also certain that i need to be there a lot longer and at different times of the year to really even begin to see and understand the beauty of the place and appreciate the rhythms of nature and weather up there. It’s not all bad, I do like some of the shots, but many are lacking that certain something that you get when you truly know a place. I’m also wondering if i should pick up the paint brushes again, I’ve got a little itch somewhere in my mind, and maybe the problem i have with the photos is just that they’re not paintings?

So here’s the first batch of photos anyway, your thoughts and constructive feedback are appreciated, i’ll probably do a couple more photo-blogs from up there and then move on to something new, (I’ll also try and talk a bit more about the place and the walking / hiking / climbing in the next blog)

*Bonus surfing pic because i cant ignore surfing completely! this one is for Pacey, hope you & SJ have a great trip mate