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

*update…. All i had to do was have a moan and the waves came nice swell the last few days!

The only plus side i can see is that i’ve got a lot more work done in the last few weeks, and ons of the things i’ve achieved is (get ready for the shameless plug setting up a spring promotion on my www.jasonswain.co.uk website where you can purchase any of the surfing or wave prints from my galleries.

Get 25% off all photo products (prints, cards, canvases etc) in my spring promotion.
Use the coupon code ‘SPRUNG’ at the checkout to get your discount! The offer runs to the end of May 2010.

A few examples of how the prints look when framed…

Time for a bit of blatant self promotion and cheesy sentiment, so if you’re offended by either of those, look away now.

Thank you Flickr.com ….

I’d like to say thanks to all the people who follow my s0ulsurfing account on Flickr and who having seen my pictures from around the island over the last few years said that i should be working for the tourist board. People mostly say nice stuff to each other on Flickr (its like the opposite of magicseaweed), so i don’t like to get carried away with any praise, for many its a social network first and serious photographic appreciation second, but many of my contacts on there are awesome photographers, and i do value their judgment, and their words. So without getting carried away, i also know that sometimes i can produce decent work, and the feedback I get is genuine.

So encouraged by those words, I eventually wrote to all the various parties responsible for isle of wight tourism, mentioned the comments and suggested that they might like to use some of my photos to help promote the island. And to cut a long story short, the good people at the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce (who are now responsible for publishing the islands tourist guides) responded positively,  and a few meetings later, here it is, my photos are in this years official 2010 ISLE OF WIGHT accommodation guide.

60 of my images have been used in total, including the two on the front cover, and you can take a look yourself at the interactive brochure here http://www.gowight.com/brochure/

I’ve followed the debate about the merits of the brochure design over on the ventnorblog website (http://ventnorblog.com/2010/01/18/interest-in-tourism-guide-strong/), some islanders have liked it but its not been universally well received here, some dont like the colours and feel of the cover, but personally i think its a great piece of design by the talented local designer Aaron Rudd, and the IWCC report that its creating lots of interest and orders are strong (which is what really counts).

Not all of the images are mine, but i think there are 60 from me, 3 from my good friend Paul Blackley and the remaining 26 are from either Steve Thearle or Tom Stroud. I’m talking about the ‘editorial’ images here, the ones used to illustrate island locations, not those of the hotels etc.

So thanks again flickr, this wouldn’t have happened without you, and i’m writing about it here on soul-surfing because following on from the positive coverage that island surfing got during the ‘wight surf history‘ exhibition, its a surfing image that’s made the front cover, and some people reading might recognise Andrew Swinton posing on his longboard on a lovely summers evening at Compton Fields last year.

Summer longboarding

A collection of surf photos from around the Islands coastline. The Isle of Wight Surfing Gallery showcases some of the best waves the Isle of Wight has to offer as seen through the eyes of West Wight photographer and surfer Jason Swain. Most of the action takes place along the South-west coast of the Island and the local breaks of Compton Bay and Freshwater Bay and features a whole host of local surfers.

Please allow a few moments for the images to load, click on any image to be taken to my portfolio website where you can download files or purchase prints.

This Wave Photo Gallery contains a slide-show of wave photographs from around the UK coastline. It features some of the best waves the Isle of Wight has to offer as seen through the eyes of West Wight photographer and surfer Jason Swain. Most of the action takes place along the South-west coast of the Island and the local breaks of Compton Bay and Freshwater Bay but you will also find beautiful waves from further afield including lots of images from Cornwall.

Please allow a few moments for the images to load, click on any image to be taken to my portfolio website where you can download files or purchase prints.