Oktober Projeckt: Surf

One photo every day in Oktober; scroll down for latest image.  Click to engorge.

I haven’t taken many photos lately. Much to my shame: Work and other commitments have got in the way of ‘my essential contentment of futile wanderings’ with the camera. So, to try to re-ignite the flame ( & justify the purchase of some new kit), my plan is to go back to my roots; Surfing. I plan to shoot a foto of the ‘surf’ every single day through Oktoberfest; the best month of the year for surfing in North Devon. Waves only, no Lundy, no autumn leaves, no starry-eyed Bambi’s  – just waves, ocean & surf. Strap yourself in for self indulgent meandering of Oktober 2016: Surf surf surf. Who knows I might even dust off the 600mm f4 for an outing…..

Oktober 1st. About an hour before sunset. Onshore three foot high-tide mush (18ºC water temp). Nobody out.

Oktober 2nd. Free parking along the front (since Oct. 1st) and plenty of beach goers taking advantage of some warm autumnal sunshine. Including Josh Witts. Main beach low tide two to three foot, drop wallet.(Lundy Island in the background, you can just make out the castle, old light & Millcombe house).

Plus One: Willy’s Rights (same day). Named after Willy ‘Wombat’ Watts, who used to live there with his wave-hogging twin fin circa 1970/80’s.

Oktober 3rd. Evening slice, Archie Willis. Swell picked up this afternoon from half a foot to solid three foot. Plus on sets. Offshore.

Insta Plus: This pic from the same session seems to have become a hit on my Instagram feed (esterspears).  Solid Gold Easy Aktion

Oktober 4th. High tide, dropping back, dropping swell but Still a few fun ones to be had.

Oktober 5th. Wind dropped and it became surfable for hour before Sunset.

Insta Plus One. Not Will Griggs but Josh Witts seems to be On Fire.

Oktober 6th. Last of the swell hanging in there against the strong offshores, caught this six inch runner at high tide this morning.

Oktober 7th. Grey skies all day with a chilly easterly, dull and flat for fotohoggery. Swell was long period, so there was a lot of hanging around. As usual I had a small window to shoot & thought I had today’s capture in the bag after a short stroll over the sand dunes; with a line-up shot of a three foot set on main beach. However this shot, full of melancholy & lost summer opportunities jumped out at me, even better in a smooth black and white (reminds me of a Kodak T-max 400 type mood..anyone?). Cant think of a name for it  but still love it.

Oktober festival 8th. Good luck to all the competitors and staff at the British National Surfing Championships this weekend in Perranporth. Especially to Nick Rees (ORGANniser), Pauly Jeffrey (Contest Director) and head judges: Mike Durkin & David Renyard. Double peaked frothing wonderstokeland….. It’s the first British I’ve missed since 1988 (apart from one in 1984) and I’m not feeling sad but lucky…. haha. Mainly,  Because I have the privilege of walking Ms Kathleen Spears down the isle to be married to Mr. Benjamin Reuth. So many feelings but So looking forward to this celebration of love and happiness.

Obvs I’m not gonna shoot tomorrow. So here’s a shot from a few days ago. If you’re on Instashit check out the hastag #benandkathleen for live updates of the shenanigans.

Oktober projk  fill-in shot : Coming soon…. Here it is. It’s got everything: rule of thirds, a sunset, a surfer (not surfing)  and lots of “soul”. It’s got moire clichés than Donald Trump at a cat show.. (btw those black dots are heron guls not sensor dust. Unlike like rest of the content of todays post).

Oktober 11th. Hellava few days…… The Projeck is not broken. The view belongs to everyone.

Oktober 12th. Set of the day, on sunset.

Oktober 13th. Flat ocean morning walk.

Oktober 14th First day of the BUCS British Universities Surfing Championships. Team members cheer on a female competitor. Fistral Beach 1′ calm/slight offshore.

Oktober 15th.  Free surfer. Little Fistral. 3-4 foot offshore.

Oktober 16th.  Moon set at dawns crack this morning, Fistral Beach. 2′ High tide

Oktober 17th.  Onshore, 2-3 but long paddle, classic Wooly. A lot of effort for not much reward. Taken all the detail out of this one in post processing to reflect my tiredness after a stimulating but exhausting weekend.

Oktober 18th. Days of onshore chop had produced a lunar landscape on the beach, it’s like Walking on the natural satellite of Earth. 3′ onshore mush-burgers.

Oktober 19th. Really small and messy tonight, unsurfable 1 foot. Everyone is talking about a potential long period swell for tomorrow, imo expect the occasional 3 foot sets on the push tomorrow afternoon…. Tonights pic Ray Bird.

Oktober 20th. Mr Neil Clifton. Low tide, four foot sets, light winds.

Oktober 21st. Dawn patrol. Still plenty of surf for the early birds. 2-3′ clean, occasional bigger sets.

Oktober 22nd. Last remnants of the dying swell lap upon the shore of death.

Oktober 24th. Flat. Flat. Flat w/ strong, cold nor-easters.

Oktober 24th. Still flat apart from the occasional small zipper that was definitely surfable if you had the time. Grey and rain. It’s half term and the last week of the RNLI lifeguard season.

Oktober 25th.  It’s been like summer today; half term crowds, atrocious driving, sunshine and small comers ideal for belly boards.

Oktober 26th.  It’s gone onshore. At last. Flat and fun for the tourists.

Oktober 28th.  Fog this morning, grey all day with just an occasional peep of the sun, small week onshore sloppy surf.

Oktober 28th. Grey day, no light – no surf. No photo.

Oktober 29th.  Another grey lifeless day. Slight increase in swell. Waited all day for some light but none inspired. Took this about 20 minutes before dark at ISO 3200 on the 7Dmk2. Wish I hadn’t bothered really.

Oktober 30th.  Lovely, still, warmish day today and a surprise afternoon bump in the swell. The first day of Winter.

Oktober 31st.  The clocks have inexplicably changed time, so it was dark when I got home from work. So here’s a shot from yesterday of the end of Baggy Point; taken from a fishing trip on Choppers  new boat “Madness”.

Click on the pik to make it bik

Canon 5D mk 3, 7D mk2, 24-70mm EF f2.8 L ll, 70-300mm EF L IS f4.5-5.6, 600mm f4 IS L