They say procrastination is the thief of time (i’ve always loved that phrase) and they are probably right. Most of us always look at the surf when we get to the beach (despite often having spent a fair amount of time checking a variety of webcams beforehand) but i think sometimes you can look too long.

Especially  if it is small or cold or massive or onshore, too much time looking can just allow that element of doubt to creep in, is it rideable? is it too big a paddle? am i feeling a bit tired? Usually you are actually better off just changing and going in anyway, if you’re like me you will rarely regret it. Take this pair for example, watching a succession of (admittedly occasional) very loggable sets come through before going home again.

The next few days were flat. Moral of the story, make the most of what you’ve got and never drive away from clean waves without getting wet first!

I posted this on my blog, Adventures in Trim last week and it provoked a couple of interesting comments so I thought I would re-post it here along with the comments themselves. Hopefully KK & Rebecca wont mind me using their words & it might provoke some more discussion. Incidentally Rebeccas blog is worth checking too if you have five minutes spare!

Here’s the post in full:

It’s been with a certain sense of mild amusement that i’ve watched the gentrification of Watergate Bay over the last few years. It’s gone from being a slightly overlooked end of Newquay to a kind of middle class yuppie enclave where the London set come to take the waters without having to be bothered by the great unwashed masses that clog up the town beaches. Where the farmers market is Jamie Oliver branded and the flats & holiday lets are well out of most peoples price range.

A palpable excitement in the air, the carpark filled with happy faces and anticipation. Often it means seeing people for the first time in a couple of weeks, especially in winter. The air is filled with the sounds of van doors closing, wax being rubbed onto boards and friendly banter as everyone gears up to hit the water, sure of fun waves in good company.

By that i mean, sure i spend large parts of my life thinking (obsessing if you ask my wife) about riding different waves or different boards. I spend hours checking online forecasts, webcams, swell models, wind models, tide times, discussion boards, blogs.I put miles on the clock driving to beaches, sometimes at leisure, sometimes stressing to squeeze a quick shot of stoke into a boring work day. There’s plenty of time spent shooting the breeze with fellow locals – who scored where, who’s ripping, who’s riding what. The minutes hurriedly shivering in and out of wetsuits or leisurely changing in the sun, depending on the season, mount up as the months pass by.

 Finally my surfing had been given the chance to improve, feeling confident, it was time to head out back. I wanted bigger waves and nothing was going to stop me… well nothing except my wave selection!

I guess I had a lot to learn, I took off on the first wave that came my way. Big mistake, that wave sucked me up then drilled me head first towards the ocean floor. I was going so fast my eye lids turned inside out, all I could think was… I tried this eye lid trick as a kid and found it impossible… the spin cycle kicked in and eventually spat me out. N.B to myself- don’t go on a 90 degrees wave, selection is key. Needless to say my next wave was far more enjoyable!

Indo allowed me to be in the water all day every day, taking my surfing to the next level and destination… Australia. Bells beach was waiting as were the sharks but I’ll save that for next time.

As for the swell here in Tynemouth over the last two weeks, it’s been a case of four days on four off which I’m certainly not complaining about having enjoyed clean 4-5 foot sessions.

The question is… will it last and what are we doing during the flat spells. Well it seems a lot of us are heading to our local skate park to surf the concrete waves and photograph the sick tricks.  On the 22^nd August 2009, Panama skatepark in Whitley bay will host ‘Panamodium’ a competition which claims to give instant skate relief!

I dropped by Panama last week with my Holga 120CFN medium format camera to take some ‘doubles’.

Loving the 6×6 format, I loaded Holga with a roll of 120mm slide film- Fuji Velvia 100. This produces twelve square photographs with a red/yellow cast once Cross processed (XPRO).

Cross processing, simply involves using a roll of slide film and developing it, as if it is color negative film. Intentionally processing a film in the wrong chemicals (usually your slide film goes through a process called E-6 but you want to process it in C-41).

I Xpro my film because I love the unpredictable colour shifts, crazy contrasts and increase in grain but I realise this is not for everyone. It took me some time and a great deal of film to understand that, the largest differences in the results of your cross processed photographs, in terms of colour shifts are to do with the film you use and indeed the chemicals/lab you’ve  persuaded to develop your film (not all your local labs will XPRO).

 Each film has an obvious difference in the color cast which is produced during development. Here are a few  examples but I suggest that experimentation is the way forward… and it doesn’t have to be too expensive as the colour shifts you get from expired film will only add to the XPRO effect.

• Fuji Velvia 100 shifts towards reds, magenta and yellow.
• Fuji Velvia 50 and Sensia 200 and 400 shift towards blue and green
• Kodak EktaChrome is very green.

So now that’s as clear as mud… back to doubles, which are simply multiple exposures (taking two photos on the same piece of film).

Unlike the majority of cameras once you’ve pressed the button, you’re forced to wind on before you can snap the next shot… not Holga! Holga allows you to take multiple shots on one frame, producing cool combinations and truly unique shots.

So choose your subject and take a couple of shots before you wind onto the next frame (the number can be seen in the red window on the back of Holga)

So as you now know, I got the image I wanted for Panama Skate Park by firstly photographing the graffiti then the guy skate boarding, without winding onto the next frame. I have to be honest, Holga can be frustrating at times but she can also rock your world! I hope this has inspired you to give it a go. I’ll be back soon to share more of my surf adventures and photography techniques.

Ali