Andy Haworth, of Ben Haworth fame, is creating a film dedicated to life and surfing in Devon, featuring some of the UK’s best longboard sliders, including Ashley Braunton, Phil Hill, Ben Skinner and Elliot Dudley amongst others.

The film documents the surfing community in Devon, through all of the seasons, portraying the beauty and welcoming nature of the Devon surfing life.

Please visit the web site for more information.

An 8 hour drive saw us arrive on the Isle of Skye in much need of sleep, it was dark so I decided to take a chance and turn down the nearest track, wondering if I had picked one of the great viewing points we had read so much about… as it turns out we hadn’t read enough… we woke to the sound of a cow just outside the van only to discover we had spent the night in a grave yard! It was time to hit the road again ready to catch the ferry to the neighbouring Isle of Uist. North Uist was mind blowing… soft white sand, turquoise water and empty breaks… we were stoked. A few days around Hosta and we were back on the ferry heading for the Isle of Harris/Lewis. The mini tornado which had hit Lewis the day before we arrived turning cars and lifting roofs, had cleared. Our first stop was to be the cliff break Valtos… feeling somewhat disappointed by the 3’ on shore conditions we decided to make some food then venture up the coast. We started chatting to a local surfer named Sophie who had just left the water. I was looking for the most amazing surf and wondered if Sophie would know exactly where to find it. Seems she did as we found our way to Dalmore and scored an excellent session. The next morning we checked the surf but it had dropped off quite a bit so we were on the road to Europie but it turned out to be small and messy…. as was Bravas, Arnol and Bragar. Long discussions lead us back to Dalmore in hope that the rising tide would work its magic but it hadn’t. My wave lust got the better of me and I went in anyway… sadly it turned out to be one of those… ‘’I wish I hadn’t bothered’’ sessions!? I was leaving the water a little disgruntled to say the least as this was our last day on Lewis, when I spotted Sophie on the beach waving. I walked over for a chat explaining how I craved one last surf before we started the second leg of our journey to Devon. Sophie and her friend Laura told us to hang around for low tide as this is when ‘’Dumpy Dalmore’’ is at its best.

We grabbed some food then I reached for my camera… awaiting the miracle. I watched as local surfers began to enter the water but the 2-3’ conditions were doing nothing for me. Then slowly but surely as the tide decreased the swell increased to 5’… I actually left the camera on its tripod and ran for my board! Was it coincidence that we had bumped into Sophie and Laura? Either way I’m glad we did or I could have been chasing waves all the way back to Newcastle. We left the water as it got dark and I collected my camera from the beach. I really should have been taking pictures but I didn’t, I surfed. I’ll never forget that surf, everything about it was perfect… clean punchy waves, stunning views and great company! I did however pick up my camera when we arrived in Devon, sacrificing precious surf time to capture the most amazing light as the sun began to set over the water… the question was… digital or analogue!?

I shot this photo digitally in the studio, as I wanted to create a surf silhouette against a red background. I set my camera to Manual, ISO 100, White balance to flash, shutter speed 1/125 sec and aperture f16. In order to create the silhouette, I photographed my subject against a light source creating a strong contrast between light and dark, emphasising the subject. I used a white scoop, x1 large soft box on low power purely as a modelling lamp, allowing me to focus on my subject (not slaved to background lights), x2 flash heads with spill kills and red lighting gels as my background lights (behind and to the side of the subject, aim for even lighting), x2 8’ boards either side of my subject to stop the flash light from filling in unwanted detail.

If you haven’t used a camera manually in the studio, all is not lost, in fact some of my favourite silhouette shots were taken during sunsets or sunrise with a LOMO L-CA. Position yourself so that your subject is between you and a strong light source and release the shutter. I enjoy Lomography’s care free… ‘Break all the rules’ approach to photography but I also believe in learning the rules before you break them. This will help you create the effects you want depending on the conditions you are shooting in. Or simply choose to be a true Lomographer… shoot without thinking and enjoy making happy mistakes.

Ali

Most recently, thanks to the superbly monikered illustrator/designer Diggy Smerdon, I’ve been introduced to the work of Ollie Howe. I’ll let Ollie do the talking…

“I’m thankful to have grown up in and around the sea in South Devon. When I was about 14, I got hooked on bodyboarding. I had a great pack of friends to surf and hang out with locally down here and up in North Cornwall, but as soon as I was able, I began travelling in search of the images I had spent my youth staring at in magazines. Many great waves and cultures later, I’m now pretty happy riding any kind of board in any kind of wave – I still love bodyboarding, but I’m equally happy hopping on a fish, shortboard or log, whatever suits the wave.

I’d always been pretty amazed by skate, snow and surf photography, but growing up I was too busy actually doing one of those three things to take time out to document them. In the last couple of years, though, I’ve grown to love capturing moves on film just as much.

As far as inspiration goes, I’m always stoked by the people I hang out with at home. Everyone’s into everything, and they all respect each other’s different styles and chosen ways to ride. Heaps of my friends cross over from skateboarding to snowboarding, longboarding to shortboarding, riding bodyboards to fish.

I think that my photography is influenced by people like Alex Williams, a great local photographer who etched the path for most of the newer guys – guys like Mickey Smith, who’s capturing incredible images that just keep getting better. Appreciating other genres also helps keep things fresh, and I try to incorporate ideas from skate and snowboard photographers like Newsome, Brittain, Kosick, Barash and Blotto.”

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[Rick Kenyon: South Devon point] This is one of Rick’s favourite surf spots; problem is, it's a bag of crap more often than not. But on those rare days when it does what it’s meant to, he's always on it, riding whatever suits, from Bonzers to 9'6 planks, always the deepest and always loving it.

I’ve decided though that one of my biggest is for the North Devon link: that seemingly mundane 50-mile stretch of road from Tiverton that leads to the treasures of the North Devon coast.

On my past few trips I have become the passenger on the journey (Little Cribby has finally passed his test and the little brother has pestered the parents to insure him!) and I have begun to realise what a beautiful drive it is, and to recognise the emotion I have come to attach to this stretch of rather patchy tarmac.

It winds through the lush open greenness that Devon has to offer, passes through woodland, penetrates the fringes of moorland and offers some spectacular views as it rises and falls with the vast landscape.

Yes, the road is fraught with design faults – why the hell it wasn’t dual carriageway baffles me to this day – and during the summer, the endless trails of grockles and their godforsaken caravans holding up the traffic can dampen even the most intensely stoked surfer, but that’s what love is… you take the bad with the good, because you know that whatever jams you become stuck in, whatever frustrations you experience and whatever pheasants you hit along the way, the end result is a Cheshire-cat grin, a rolling blue ocean and some much-needed salt-water therapy.

The North Devon link – not man’s most perfect creation, nor the crowning glory in how my road tax is being spent.

But I love it all the same.

It’s 50 miles of road that give me hope, make me relax, and allow me to banter with friends; and its all topped off with the excitement that fills me on that final incline, and the stoke I feel as we hit the brow of the hill and can finally view what we came for – peeling lefts at Putsborough.

I’ll miss it in Oz; it’s as much a part of my surfing ritual as my warm-up routine or the last-minute can of red bull to kick start my session.

For me it symbolises the journey surfing takes us on. In the end we ignore all the bad stuff that happens along the way – as long as we get in the water, life is good.

So here’s to the North Devon link! Cheers!

The majority of my university work focused on the world within surfing and I’m constantly striving to capture the essence of the culture that we’re involved in – whether you’re a local, weekend warrior or simply a surf ‘widow’ (as my girlfriend calls it) the world of surfing is unique, and there’s something about it that keeps us all coming back for more.

My surf photography has taken me to some extraordinary places and I’ve met some wonderful people along the way.

Drift have invited me to blog my trips, general surfing banter, thoughts and pictures – so hopefully I can bring you some tasty treats to keep you all going while you’res tuck in the office and show you that the internet has more to offer than Facebook…

I’m working on a body of surfing portraits at the moment to highlight the broad range of people in the line-up, so if you get approached in the car park post-surf make sure you smile – unless its glassy and firing then I’ll see you out there (look out for the curly haired longboarder on the balsa single fin).

www.cstevensphotography.com

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I took this shot back when I was in college, bunking lectures, throwing the tent in the boot and heading to the coast with my friends at the slightest wiff of swell. Stood on the dunes post-surf and with a glorious sunset silhouetting my half-cut friend I think this epitomises that point in my life. A little touch of photoshop adds a bit more flavour!

As part of my morning ritual, I checked the conditions, and glanced outdoors into a gale. The charts made forbidding reading, and conditions were set to become grim as the squall approached. I left home knowing that it was to be big and rough – severe gales and 10-12ft sets were the news, and I would be capturing the spirit of the storm, if not on my board, with my camera.

As I approached Croyde, all that could be seen were close-out sets rolling almost to the horizon, which indicated straightaway the likelihood of finding a sheltered spot – pretty much nil. The tides were against me at all the spots I could handle in these conditions, and I could think of only one place to go – my secret spot.
The path to Lynmouth revealed a lorry, spun round by the approaching winds, and all manner of uprooted flora. On arrival it became apparent the swell was wrapping around the point all the way, and 10ft sets smashed their way into the shoreline. I headed up the incline to find some elevation and capture this singular event on film.
As I returned to my wagon I noticed a beanie-clad figure waving wildly at me. Nicky Lloyd, also searching for – and failing to find – a rideable wave. Lloyd is a laid-back scene guy and one of Second Skin’s team riders, he is as keen a searcher as I could hope to meet. I was glad he was with me. He doesn’t have many bad days and had a bit of a plan – he suggested somewhere just along the coast.
We’d come this far with no reward; I knew where he meant but I had never seen this spot working. In my experience it systematically failed to produce any goods. But today was a different kind of winter’s day, and I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen a storm like this. Maybe we’d get lucky.

We took to the road together and drove for a few hard miles. I jumped out of the wagon, as excited as a first-timer. Adventure always yields discovery, and as we approached we could see a right-hander churning against the storm.
“How big do you think? It looks kinda small…” But we didn’t really care about size, we’d found a ride.
There were only two spongers out, and they seemed to have been pushed right around by the rip. Lloyd announced his intentions, quickly changed while making colourful reference to the temperature and, with that, we were in.
It seemed small and confused to start with, but as the tide pushed higher up over the pebble banks, the wave we hoped for roared into life. Strange bowly sections and doubling-up faces meant we occasionally took a visit to the rocky bottom. We didn’t care. The rewards of a fast, racy section and linking a six-foot floater could have given us enough pleasure to last all day, but we couldn’t endure it. The wind was biting, and it sent me into a blurred abstraction of white noise. Somehow I had ended up in a rock-strewn moonscape looking at surf perfection.

This left I’d found was miraculously unaffected by the gale that was stripping North Devon of virgin soil. I’m recording a real surf rarity. I know this as a middle-aged lady picks her way across the rocks to ask my profession. She explains that she has lived here all her life and never witnessed the scenes like these. After some time we drew a small gallery of faces on the shore line, some watching us, some simply watching. Ultimately, we shared our discovery with several locals who knew of this spot, and refugees who had joined the search.
Clockwork lefts found their way to me, linking move after move.
After the cold had finally drawn our day to a close and we could make no more use of our discovery, we made our way home. We had found something special, but no-one would believe our tales until we produced the shots of the day.
Some time ago, surfing in Sumatra, somebody told me to walk for 10 minutes and I would find Nirvana. ‘Damn right!’ I say as I show them the photographs.

www.extremeboardshots.co.uk