Langland Yesterday

Heres some more shots including a couple of the lifeguards being put through their paces when a strong rip kicked in at the Rotherslade side of beach,  not helped by a sudden wind shift to the north west. Not shooting the late evening glass off as had to surf myself this happened just prior to a thunder storm from hell with three  forked lighting strikes on The Sand Bar. Later Guts paddled out on his SUP with kevlar paddle to act as a lightening conductor he always puts the safety of other water users first.

Si Tuckett

Si Tuckett

Baywatch

Si Tuckett "again"

Langland Lightening Lifeguard

Well today was a busy day for all concerned the title being fitting to the rapid response of the local lifeguards when two girl swimmers got caught in the rip and were being drgged out to sea.  Fair go to two surfers one of whom is Si Tuckett who were first on scene to assist untill the rescue board was paddled out in 3/4 ft breaking "closeout" surf and an extremely well executed response from our local baywatch beauty.Heres some shots of the surfing action will sort through the rescue pics and post the appropriate ones tomorrow as its now five past midnight and I'm up for a dawnie this morning.

Si Tuckett

Chris Saunders

Si Tuckett

Shots from my Archives

Having some 12,000 digital shots safely backed up on a tidy little device called a western digital hard drive it is a tough one to decide which shots to post so Iam just gonna put up what I like and hope you enjoy them too. Not being able to jet off to exotic locations or even a quickie to France or Eire. I am gonna be posting totally home grown shots of everyman and his dog literally. Heres a quick insight to how I got started and hooked on surf photography, well some ten years or so ago I had a shot of the best pub in the world the hedonist venue of the King's Head Hotel at Llangennith, I sent the shot to wavelength mag under the pseudonyn of Alun Jones just incase my mates got wind and took the inevitable piss. Anyway the shot was published with a little write up nothing grand but it was written by info supplied by me and I got a cheque for £10 who's the loon now as I could not cash it so its in a tin of oddand sods kept for properity should I become super famous filthy rich and adorned by skantily clad super models who digged my shots as this was never going to happen shooting with at first a basic canon eos 1000 slide and film slr and using sometimes two 2x coverters on a dodgy 100-300mm lens with the biggest appeture being well at home in the black hole of Calcutta. I did get some results but wasted money on slide and film.

I then got a canon eos 33 4fps wow that was the dogs bollocks when used with a second hand ex evening post reporters 70-200mm f2.8 with a 1.4 x deep throat extender that had nothing to do with the film. I started getting the odd shot published so with the advent of digital that has totally revolutinised photography I dug deep and got a nifty canon eos 20d 8.2 mp and 5fps then went mental and bought a £5500 400mm f2.8 bad boy getting a good run of shots in Pit Pilot and the odd shot in Carve and Wavelength mag. My first proper shots in PP of Lloyd Cole John Williams and Tom Calcutt Tidy the benchmark was set get out on The Gower Everytime there was waves a shoot but not an easy task being at sea 2weeks on and two weeks off when the swell always came in the day I shipped out also being the father of just born twins I had other priorites but still managed to start a data base of local talent. More to follow in the mean time heres some more shots from this summer.

Not a Shot Fired in Anger

Being busy trying to get back to sea for the last week I have had no beach time and the weathers been shite so thought I'd post some shots from SAS Gennith Beach Clean up earlier this month. Dont forget to follow my other blog to. 

My daughter Izzy with part of trawler net washed up on beach . Nets are a tough one as bottom trawls often become stuck and have to be discarded for the safety of crew and ship especially in rough weather.

 My son Fin finding alternative use of net

No excuses

Andy from Surfers Against Sewage explaing to the kids the environmental impact flotsom ,jetsom and beach waste has on local flora, fauna and marine life

Some of the rubbish collected being separated bagged and weighed ready for proper safe environmentally friendly disposal.

If you want to take part in next years clean up with the SAS at Llangennith look out for dates on Facebook or SAS website closer to Aug next year.

Man's Best Friend

Local B&B owner and buisiness entrepenuer  Paul Gill and his surf hound Flynn. A legend in his own lifetime, Paul is reputedly the first person to paddle out at Thurso East, has surf break named after him and a proven surfboard shaper, a mine and wealth of surf knowledge but has definately signed the official surf secret spot act of 1968 . Has more road trip time than all the other surf photogs in Wales put together, with a room full of slides to prove it and the ability to quietly nip out and come back four days later with some epic now digital shots usually of Chris "Guts" Griffiths his long time friend. It was a pleasure taking this photograph.

The Bar

The sleeping giant that is Langland Sand Bar. A brilliant name for a board snapping wave that sucks dry over solid  reef with an ugly  lump of rock right in front of the take off zone to remind you that there is no room for error very good to experts only and not for the feint hearted. Summer shot of The Sand Bar about to rear its ugly head on an ebbing spring tide.

Grom Fest Inside Crab

Its great being a 4ft grom with the surf nearly always overhead, a perpetual smile, innocent exageration of conditions and always stoked. Shot taken of local langland grom crew developimg into a friendly tight knit crew egging each other on and pushing the limits on The Gower. The boys making their way back from a 3ft solid moderate onshore session at the imfamous Island.

Intense Sunset Llangennith

Summer Reef Set Up

Swansea Marina at Night

Helvetia Wreck Rhossili Bay

When The RIP Was Too Stong To Swim

Having borrowed a fish eye from John Lewin and Domed port from Ben Wyeth two fellow Gower surf Photogs from Tonnau Mag "A rumoured relaunch possible this year" I was stoked to be able to shoot super wide but first session was a nightmare with a super strong rip, managed to bag a few of Mark "Kook" Jones but failed to keep position long enough in the ever shifting peaks. Heres a shot from a rockpool I took while waiting for the boys to finnish their session.

Recent Water Shot from Some Mid Summer Swell

Being at a loose end on the day of probaly the best swell to hit The Gower Coast this summer I set about documenting this occasion. Getting up at 0350 and returning home at 2300, three water shoots one land shoot and a surf at various locations I felt like I had just run a full kit BFT the following morning. This is a shot of Chris "Frenchie" French taking time out from delivering our daily bread. Chris is one of The Gowers veteran short boarders with an illustrious career in competition surfing with some notable trophies on his fireplace a bottom turn likened to Tom Curren and can often be seen pulling in at The Reefs.

As The Sun Set Llangennith 21/08/09

Heres a shot of my departing veiw

Onshore Llangennith 21/08/09 "cont"

A beautiful evening to be on the beach but a pain to keep salt off lens, roll on some autumn groundswell with offshores. Could get some throw back from ex hurricane "Bill" it lavished the Eastern Seaboard of the USA with waves and  a nice associated low pressure system building in our swell window expect to see some bigger surf on our shores later this week. Heres a nice sequence of Hurley Boy and SDF team rider true Llangennith local Nick Reid

On Shore Llangennith 21-08-09

Rolling up late evening and being 3/4ft onshore I decided to shoot not surf as did not think arms would cope with paddle so left it to the younger crew with some good surfing from Nick Reid, Rob Miles, Tom Hayman, James Jacket and Stuart Beale.