More surf shops have gone than come over the last few years in Devon, which maybe a good thing, particularly in recent times. I believe Gulf Stream have lasted the course because they just look after you. I’ve had a few boards from them over the last ten years or so, and I’ve always felt like there’s a craft to their approach. And they makesome fine-looking sticks too. Next time you’re in Wooly or Braunton, drop by and have a chat or better still take a look at the new GS web site.

Devon shapers Gulf Stream

A little while ago I rolled into the car park half an hour before dusk, not expecting much, not really expecting a rideable wave if i’m honest. Sea breezes were still blowing and at first sight they were crumbling barely knee high waves. Seconds before I turned tail and headed home, a set came through, hit the best bank on the beach and a familiar silhoueted figure carved it up smoothly with tip time and drop knee.

Decision made, I scrambled into my suit and paddled out anxious to wash off the grime and suncream after a day of shed clearing and visiting the local dump. The sets were infrequent but there were  few to share them with. When they came, the waves were still a mushy waist high at best but with just enough shape to allow some fun logging, the bank marshaling the disorderly bumps into decent shape, the breeze slackening as the sun dipped towards the horizon. The small righthanders were playful and teasing, demanding fleet of foot and light of touch but rewarding with stolen moments of ten over and dropped knee. Kick outs with smile lost in the fading light.

As i sat waiting, alone with my thoughts, it struck me how personal the surfing experience is, how little the experience of each wave is shared no matter how many there are in the line up. How the feel and the feelings engendered are different (yet the same) for each of us, modified by board choice and local conditions. For me it’s the little things i love, the perfect imperfections. I’m drawn to the edges of things. The warmth of the sun on your face, the glow of the sunset sky, water drawn over  soft rails,  making the most of a flawed wave. It’s in the subtle grace of good trim, the weightless feel of a well placed noseride, the sweeping swing of a well timed cutback and the addictive momentum of a well timed fade as you take off. Grace in adversity, good style making economy of movement more powerful than wild action. It didn’t need to be six foot and perfect, i didn’t need to be here yesterday, i just needed to be here now.

The light was gone all too soon and I wandered out in near darkness, spent but smiling, storing my little packets of stokefulness like a squirrel mindful of the uncertainty of my next meal but content with an appetite sated.

I began to realise there was something quite special about the cold, hard British surf coast but only after I started photographing it did I realised this.

I always ventured down to the Devon coast to escape into surfing, making the best of the winter we experience. Most of the time I’m battered by a cold wind, while struggling out of my wetsuit off and wishing for a warmer climate. But this brutality defines us and our coastline as uniquely British.

These photos take in the Devon coastline as it is, granular, cold and at times a little bit spooky, but at the same time sublime and beautiful.

When I’m photographing Devon I always use film, in particular in the bleaker winter months. Film seems to allow me to bring the subject to life with my own style. By using black and white stock, and adjusting the exposure time down, I find I am able to capture a very honest portrayal of our coast. These photos are from a series exploring the struggle and passion of surfing in these austere months; contrasting the beauty that is uniquely ours.

I don’t believe it was a conscious decision to start surf-related photography, the ocean is one of my loves and the majority of my work has some relationship with the coast and ocean. Visit my web site here.

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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!