A Land of Lefts

Start off with the rainbow and the pigdog. Irelands number one shit hot surfer Mr. Cain Kilcullen, last I heard he was hunting for sponsors, so if anybody reading this owns a company get in contact with him.

Next up is my hero of th week (because of all of the posts with him in them) Liam Joyce a Kiwi living in Dublin for past while, here he is scholing Richie Fitz on barrel riding in Richies front yard.

And last but not least old reliable Hugopotamus (nice one Damo) about to pull in to a fairly meaty sized shack on the last monster swell we had.

The Long and Winding Road

It’s tough being a surfer especially one of the cool ones that travels alone seeking out new spots just for the hell of it. Nobody to talk to and share the stoke with, nobody else to get eaten first when that shark arrives, nobody to watch you get spat out of a barrel, nobody to snake or drop in on,  nobody to yell “outside” at, nobody to yell set “outside” to you. Screw that I’m strapping boards top my roof and getting surfer tattooed across my forehead.

I’m cool man.

Rise and Shine

This was a bit of a crazy day, it was a new enough wave that hadn’t been surfed at this size before. There was some crazy rips and sets were coming in all over the place, I just about managed to hook up with Joycey on this one as the sunlight spilled over the hill that had been blocking it all morning. There’s a bit of water splash on the lens, but I’m liking the shot regardless.

Making Honey

Sorry for the break in transmission, been crazy busy the past few weeks.
Trying to get Issue 3 of Tonnta together.
Have my one year review for my PhD, which is apparently a Very Important Thing.
And myself and my lady friend got engaged.
Yay.

Back to the Surf.

Here’s Liam Joyce stunning some beginners in no foot Dougie last summer. Those fins out mean it’s a radical maneuver.

Another from those Golden few minutes I got a few months ago. Not sure who the rider is.

 

Ollie Mac Fla making the most out of a section at everyones favourite Clare left.

 

Joycey again, same day, just as sick. Even if the rider doesn’t make it up after a turn like this, does it matter?

 

And to finish is Cian just about to get shacked this was one of the most fun waves to watch, he started off with a big carving turn bounced off the white water, raced it down the line a bit, then jammed his arm in and stalled up got a lovely few seconds in the green room before getting spat out down the reef from me. I was hooting and hollerin’ for ages after that. The spray as he was stalling looked amazing and it kind of comes across here but it was so much better being there, one of the times I would have loved to have a video camera with me instead of the stills cam.

Redecorating?

Amazing wallpapers available here http://surfermag.com/photos/wallpapers/

Was going to list out my favourites but there are too many.

Re-Up

Started watching series 4 of The Wire, still awesome.

Here’s a few from the past while, was trying to think of a story to link them but can’t.

We’ll start with a drop in. I’m loving everything that’s going on in this, most of the guys paddling up and over watching what the next one is going to do, except for Ruben getting that one last look in. And then Stef just going for it, already with an amazing barrel going on behind him, knowing that he’s going to shacked just down the line. That little glassy patch right in front of me. I love the way Stef is half in the wave still as well.

I know it’s pretty far away, but it’s kinda like something you might see as you’re paddling back out after your own wave, just Damo getting shacked (or just about to) but quite a sizey wave. Light was atrocious hence the B&W. this was actually a horrible session. It was my second time in the water that day and I’m pretty unfit at the moment and I was freezing. I’m not moving around as much as people riding waves so I tend to get colder faster. Or else I’m just a wuss which is more likely.

This is from the same session as above, before I got in the water. I just like the fact that the wave is so big that the two guys can fit in it above one another. It’s a weird scenario when you think about it, the fact that both these guys are in the water and Ruben is basically able to be looking down on another person. It seems so natural to all surfers but water that bends like this and goes to different levels is really an amazing thing, really goes against what we think about water everywhere else.

Damo again walking out across Crab on Christmas morning, just the two of us and it was smoking. Very similar to another shot I have of crab but that has two surfers on waves. I like the pulled back of Damo just going into the water on his own, if I was closer I think it would have taken away from the solitary nature of the shot. Crab has these great clints (or possibly grikes?) that lead the eye down to the water edge, then you might notice the surfer and then the wave beside him.

 Just a big ass empty. I love being an Irish surfer/photographer because of the smaller crowds but it mostly means I end up with way way more photos of empties than action shots. For a bit of perspective there’s a surfer in the water on the right behind the spray. Pretty sizey.

Finally here’s Damo just dropping into a nice one, it was so quite just the two of us out this day. You can almost hear the hiss of the spray from the light offshore landing around you  as the wave goes by.

 

Enjoy the weekend whether you get wet or not.

Awesome

I need to do this.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=1778399&server=vimeo.com&show_tit

 

Doesn’t work in Chrome for some reason. I had to use IE.

Line and lines and lines and lines and…

No matter how many times I see it I’m always amazed by the sight of proper swell lines marching in through Liscannor bay. I’ve tried to shoot them once or twice, but I’ve yet to capture it the way I see it for real. I love tearing back up the road from Spanish Point towards Lahinch and watching the swell pulse in along the bay, always gets me thinking, which spot is this going to break at? Will there be a person riding the wave as it peels in along or will it be simply another empty wave for the birds to flap over?

It’s cool to think about where the wave came from as well. I know this gets mentioned quiet a lot in surf articles, but I think I take a more scientific nerdy view of it. Thinking what kind of weather system set the wind in motion how long the wind was blowing for, imaging the wave gradually building as the wind keeps on blowing, the energy building and building until finally it hits those shallow waters and gets thrust to the surface where it collapses in on itself and maybe some lucky guy is up and riding just in front of it, racing the collapsing lip. Turning that wind energy into, well just fun I guess. I reckon I might just take my board out this weekend after all.

Honestly, we do get some sun.

If you look closely you can see a bootie and a bit of a board, spray makes it unusable for most things but at least I get to show all of you guys.

It was taken just after sunrise somewhere north of Cork.

Surfer is Kevin Smith.

 

On a side note to all other photogs, anybody using Lightroom?

Seems like it might be a goodoption for tagging/archiving as well as editing. Any thoughts anyone?

Walkabout

Woke up yesterday morning to see a full on snow shower out the front of the house, snapped this one before I went to work

 

 

I thought there was going to be loads of photo ops on they way into work with all the snow, but there was none in the city at all.

Managed to get this one of a building in college before my tutorial yesterday evening though.

Then got these two of the river as I was heading over to the car.