Only had time for a really quick surf at lunchtime, and no photos either, but i did get back in the evening to shoot a few SUP’s enjoying some low tide sunset action, and Paul has also shared a few more from sunday so i though i’d do a part two for this blog!

So, first of all, a few more of me from sunday..

Date: Sunday 25th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfer: Me (Jason Swain)
Photographer: Paul Blackley

Then a few more taken by me of the Monday…

Date: Monday 26th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfers: Paul Blackley, Dave and Elliot Gray
Photographer: Me (Jason Swain)

Although unfortunately i didn’t get any photos myself, as I was too busy surfing on the Sunday. I was lucky that my good friend and excellent photographer Paul Blackley was there with his big lens to catch a few for me. And I was able to return the favour the next day by shooting a few of him nabbing a few fun sized ones on the Monday

Date: Sunday 25th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfer: Me (Jason Swain)
Photographer: Paul Blackley

Date: Monday 26th March
Location: Compton Bay, Isle of Wight
Surfers: Paul Blackley, Dave and Elliot Gray
Photographer: Me (Jason Swain)

But it has a certain something that i like, the quirky englishness of the way she’s standing there in her stripy pink wellies! and the way the long shadow anchors her to the corner of the frame.

It was hastily arranged (in a few hours) with the first willing female i could find in reaction to a request from a potential client who was on a deadline, i don’t think it will come to fruition with that particular customer, but I thought it was worth giving the shot its moment in the spotlight here.

Massive thanks to Sally for being game to turn up at short notice and wade about in a very cold english channel (the boots came off a bit later) whilst i tried to figure out the best way to deal with shooting almost directly into about a billion megawatts of direct sunlight.

Mustang Sally – Lady Surfer, originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2012 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

This and the other photos on the site are all ©2012 Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Real waves on their way though, there’s a nice big deep low pressure system in the North Atlantic heading our way soon!

The Surf on the Isle of Wight is head high (if you squat right down), originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

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©2009 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

This and the other photos on the site are all © Jason Swain with All Rights Reserved. The image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer. Please contact me via email photo@jasonswain.co.uk if you want to use it in any way or license it for your own project.

Returning to a familiar theme for this blog, and probably for most people who ever done a bit of Isle of Wight surfing too, the old ‘you should have been here yesterday’ routine.

Over the last 20 years I’ve built my life next to the sea and the West Wight in particular, with the simple (and now not so secret) aim of leading a quiet life and surfing whenever possible,  as well as trying to avoid hearing that dreaded sentence so often heard in Isle of Wight surfing circles ’you should have been here yesterday’ as much as possible too.

But sometimes life has other plans for you, and after a few weeks of niggling broadband complications and lots of support calls and emails (involving a long boring story of telephone exchanges being upgraded to ADSL+, a ten year old router not being able to keep up with the change, and then a mystery line fault that pretty much seemed to me to have lots to do with a very windy and rainy night)  i couldn’t really be out when the engineer was finally scheduled to come and test the line and put me out of my misery.  I wanted to but couldn’t really hang a ‘gone surfing‘ note on the door and hope he would come back later (why don’t BT introduce that as an option when you sign up?)

Of course the only time-slot available on the morning of Friday 16th December, coincided with the biggest swell in weeks, and of course it was also the only day the wind blew offshore after endless days of howling onshores.

So, the day after triple overhead clean sets were reported as being ridden at my local break (from reliable local sources, who wouldn’t exaggerate the conditions) Saturday morning found me at Freshwater bay bright and early, full of hope and excitement for what i might find. Inevitably the classic conditions from the day before were long gone, and to be honest what was left looked pretty unappealing out there with the wind now blowing cross-shore and the swell not really doing it with the sets barely head high.

BUT… remembering my last blog and how i ended up kicking myself for passing up what turned out to be the last waves for a few weeks, this time i didn’t hang around in two minds and encouraged by a couple of hungover locals, pacey & sam, who turned up for a look too, decided to get in there and blow away a few cobwebs anyway.

The good news is that the swell picked up a bit and although it certainly wasn’t anything like the classic conditions of the day before, we had a few overhead sets, and a few bumpy but fun rides, and of course, its always better to have been in than sat around thinking about it.

After a quick surf and to make the most of the morning, i grabbed my camera and headed up onto the cliffs and got a few shots from a different point of view (away from my old favourites of the cabbage patch or right in front of the albion hotel) Whilst Andrew Court, Matt Harwood, Ian Pacey and James Ranson made the most of what was left before it really did get a bit windy. Even managed to get a few shots of some local birds and a random fishing boat in the line-up to complete this little episode of Isle of Wight surfing.

My reasons seemed sound enough at the time, I’d surfed some amazing waves the night before (so only about 12 hours previously) and for most of the previous week (November was an epic month for surf this year on the South Coast), and as the swell had dropped off so much, i didn’t want to erase and replace the great waves i still had in my mind, with the little tiddlers on offer in front of me.

In my defence, i didn’t completely waste my time, at least i took a few photos, managing to catch a few rare photos of Paul Blackley surfing, the even more rare sight of Pacey on a longboard, the quite common sight of chris court falling off a SUP and  few nice ones of a puppy playing fetch on the beach, but looking back at the pics now…. just stop thinking about it and get wet and have some fun, you never know when the winds gonna turn, and its been blowing onshore pretty much ever since.

Another treasure found languishing in the archives, bringing back memories from a fun day at Porthcurno beach in Cornwall, without doubt one of my favourite places in the world.

Still no sign of the littlest soulsurfer yet, but we must be getting closer, if you don’t hear from me for a few days, i may just re-appear a little frazzled with a whole new subject for my shooting, although i’m not sure if baby shots are really my style, guess we might find out about that in the coming weeks.

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©2008 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved
This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

I know pride comes before a fall, and i do try to keep a good sense of perspective on any ‘success’ i might have with my photos, but i will admit to being a bit ‘chuffed’ (thats english for happy for my global friends) when this popped through my letterbox at the weekend.

I’d been asked to be in the magazine quite a few weeks back, but had no idea what sort of size the image would be, so it was a really nice surprise to find a double page spread inside.

The mag itself is billed as a “digital lifestyle magazine” and looks like a pretty good mix of product review, how-to articles and interviews with photographers (i’m not on the payroll

Digital Photography Enthusiast Magazine

Empty wave at Porthcurno

OK, this is not my story, but its a pretty good day for isle of wight surfing so i wanted to cover it here, and the first thing to do is to get the right people credited for the words and images.

Thanks to Paul Blackley (my partner over at wight surf history) for putting this story together, and thanks to ‘the Newquay Surfer’ (http://www.newquaysurfer.org/) for allowing use of the video, and thanks to Annemarie Hughes (http://www.annemariehughes.com/) for allowing use of the images.

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Lights, Surfboard, Action (take #2 split tone), originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

Surfing backlit waves at Compton Bay on a late summers evening.

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©2010 Jason Swain, All Rights Reserved

This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.

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Shadow Puppet Surfing in the Green Room., originally uploaded by s0ulsurfing.

Looked to me like joe was making shadow puppets with the backlighting, any ideas what creature he was making? could be a crocodile?

Last weekends swell seems a lifetime away already, there’s been no decent waves since then, and there’s none on the horizon, we’re definitely having a boom-bust cycle with surf this year!