If you haven’t listened to Ben Howard or had the opportunity to see one of his amazing live performances, here is a small insight into his world.

For those who haven’t heard your music how would you describe it?
A sort of lumpy acoustic soup.

Your songwriting has been described as mature and honest. Would it be fair to say your nature is reflected in your music?
I try to be as honest as possible in my songwriting just so I feel it and believe it. As for mature, I think my friends would happily concur that I’m the child of the group most of the time. 

Why Newcastle as a tour stop and will you be taking some time off to surf these chilly shores?
We’re all big fans of Newcastle, my manager lives up here so we’ve spent a fair few times around the coast at Tynemouth. I listened to the Dire Straits album ‘Sultans of Swing’ relentlessly when I was a kid so maybe that’s why? There’s a possibility to get in the water, it all depends on how many beers we get through after the show!

You have support from Quiksilver and have played at some of their flagship events including this years Quik Pro France.  How did the relationship come about?
Through the Davies clan in the North East really. That was the original hook up, then Quiksilver thought I suited their style and everyone over there liked the tunes so it’s been rosy ever since.

Has surfing inspired your music and which if any lyrics are directly linked to your surf experiences?Although I try and treat the two entirely separately, life is always a blur and everything invariably inspires everything else. I write songs about what I know so the sea always creeps in there. There’s probably a fair few references in most songs.

You are currently on the ‘Old Pine EP’ tour, how has it been so far and where can we see you in the future?
The tours been great, really nice to do a little stint in the UK again. Hopefully we’ll be everywhere in the future. It’s great for all of us just to be playing music full time at the moment so as long as it’s sustainable we’ll be touring as much as possible for sure.

I heard there were extra dates added to some shows and tickets have been flying out the stores for gigs in your native South West. How does it feel to have this support?
It’s great to go home and have friends and family genuinely feel what you do. That’s where the luck with songwriting comes in, people either like it or they don’t and back home I guess I’ve been really fortunate. It’s a really heavy reassurance when the songs you write are taken up by people who live in the place that you write about.

You have released 3 EP’s, is there an album in the pipeline?
Yeah the albums almost finished. We’ve been recording at home all year so the records coming together nicely. It’ll be on the shelves when it starts getting a little warmer hopefully.

One last question… if you were stranded on a desert island with 5 albums/long players what would they be?
John Martyn- Solid Air
Willy Mason- Where the humans eat
Bon Iver- ‘for emma’
The National- ‘Boxer’
And probably Hejira by Joni Mitchell 

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

I only had a few days in Oz before flying to Hawaii, so without delay I was on the first bus to Torquay which dropped me right outside ‘Bells Beach’ backpackers. I arrived with only an hour of light left so it was a case of dumping my bag and grabbing a board. I ran down to the beach in my wetsuit stoked at the thought of my first Oz surf experience… and what an experience it was!!

I knew I would not have time to run along to Bells as the light was slipping away so I opted for the closer break of Jan Juc. I spent a couple of minutes watching the waves peel in then dropped down to the beach and paddled straight out… wow I had finally made it! I caught a couple of great waves, holding off on my wave lust… waiting for the third of each set which was bigger and packed more power. I couldn’t help wondering why no one else was in the water… maybe they were scoring an epic session up the road at Bells!? So there I was sitting on my board circling my legs, blissfully enjoying having the waves all to myself when I got this kind of eerie feeling… I’d never really experienced this whilst surfing… you know the feeling that something’s wrong! I looked around and couldn’t really think of a reason. There was just me out there and some guy on the rocks fishing. So in came the set and I took off on the third wave then paddled back to my position. The feeling quickly returned and with that I looked down to see this huge shadow move beneath my board… I thought WHAT WAS THAT… it can’t be anything I’m just imagining it I told myself. Then seconds later it appeared again and again, my eyes were like saucers… hell, get me out of here… SHARK!!! I wasn’t waiting around for the third wave of the set this time… I wanted the first no matter how small as long as it carried me straight to shore. So I lay flat on my board, toes curled tightly onto the back, arms glued to the rails, paddling with my fingertips… I let out a silent EEEEEEEEEEEERRRKK and rode the board on my stomach until its nose hit the sand. I quickly stood on the beach asking myself if this was for real whilst looking for a fin to appear… but it didn’t. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me… maybe it hadn’t… even so why did I wait to see that shadow 3 times before I reacted, I guess I thought maybe it’s a dolphin or something, I’m just glad I didn’t hang around for confirmation!! I made my way along to Bells Beach the next day but that feeling still lingered. I spoke to a couple of local surfers who told me shark attacks were very rare but not unknown. They said the chances are it would have been a curious reef shark. I was heading to Hawaii next and I have to admit I was feeling a little more apprehensive than normal but more about that next time.

I guess as surfers we know there are sharks out there I just didn’t think they would be interested in me. The chance of being killed by a shark is so small apparently that it’s not worth worrying about. Nevertheless since that day I have become fascinated with sharks and soon learned the basics when it comes to avoiding any unwanted attention whilst surfing:

Check one – Don’t go in the water at dusk or dawn… feeding time!
Check two – Don’t surf alone!!
Check three – Don’t surf where people are fishing… throwing bait!!!

Strangely I have since convinced myself that, when it’s my time to go I’m going to be eaten by a shark, which obviously amuses my friends. So I’ve chosen John Williams- Jaws theme as my funeral song and I’m going to have “I told you so” engraved on my headstone. On a more serious note I have since dived with sharks whilst in Oz and I agree that we have little to fear. Sharks should be understood, respected and protected, they are critically important to our oceans and the balance of nature.

The surf here in Tynemouth has been pretty flat over the last couple of weeks so I decided to visit the Outer Hebrides (which was truly amazing, again I’ll tell all in my next blog… or I’ll have no room left for photography).

I wanted to photograph a still life close up under tungsten lighting at night, which requires a long exposure (with a cable release), so I used a modified Holga 120N for this shot. It’s easy enough to make basic modifications to a Holga, such as adding a cable release for long exposures or fitting a 52mm filter thread then attaching a close up lens.

So, I needed my Holga (complete with cable release and a 52mm +3 close up lens), tripod, light meter, a roll of Ilford XP2 super 400 black and white film and my living room light. If you feel like giving this a go, simply place your object on a suitable surface, position your tripod and camera at the correct focal distance (in this case 12’’ from the camera) and take a meter reading. If you haven’t used a light meter before, hold it at the subject position and point the meter towards the lens to take your reading. This will read the intensity of the light falling on your subject (which in this case was from a standard light bulb). I used a meter rather than simply pointing and shooting this time because my photo would have been totally underexposed with the available light. Holga’s given Aperture of around f11 and shutter speed of 1/100 sec would not have been adequate this time, I wanted to use the bulb exposure which allows you to hold the shutter open as long as you like.

I set Holga’s focal distance to the portrait image (which would normally focus at roughly 3’) and changed the shutter speed to the B (Bulb) setting. Selecting an aperture of f11 on the light meter, I took a reading. The result= 5 seconds at f11. A shutter speed of less than around 1/60 sec would blur my image if the camera was handheld (due to camera shake), that’s why I used a tripod and cable release. I pointed Holga in the direction of my Shark asking him to smile, opened the shutter with my cable, releasing after 5 seconds. The B&W film (Ilford XP2) I used can be developed at the majority of labs, as it is processed in C41 chemicals the same as colour negatives.

If you are new to photography I recommend that you understand how Aperture and shutter speed determine your exposure. Aperture or f-stops (e.g. f8, f11 etc) are mainly used to control depth of field (what is in focus), whilst the shutter speed is used to freeze or blur movement (e.g. 1/125 sec or 2 seconds etc). Aperture measures how wide the lens opens when you press the button and shutter speed determines how long the shutter stays open. This may not sound logical but a small f-stop number lets in a large amount of light (E.g. f2.8, f5.6 etc) whilst a large f-stop lets in a small amount of light (e.g. f16 or f22). Shutter speeds are easier to understand, as slow shutter speeds allow a large amount of light and faster shutter speeds allow a small amount of light. Basically, the combination of these two settings effects the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor which= Exposure. If your photo is too dark it is underexposed as you haven’t let enough light in, when there is too much light it is overexposed.

I appreciate that this may be a little heavy and no fun for some. If so… live for the moment and say bye bye to the tripod etc, grab Holga, turn on her flash and hey presto you have light. Better still jump in the water with a Frogeye point and shoot camera… I just wouldn’t recommend using your flash around sharks!
Frogeye, Fuji Sensia 400 slide film cross processed.