As a surf photographer I’m naturally an earlier adopter of technology … to a point it practically bankrupts me on a regular basis. As cameras get better and more expensive I naturally burn all profit on the eternal hunt for a better image. So imagine the confusion, the resentment when the GoPro came along.
In a watery domain once exclusive to the surf photog there was suddenly people capable of getting epic shots. Naturally I dissed the first few generations due to terrible image quality, but now, now that quality has gone up I have to concede shooting pics with a GoPro is a great way to get into surf photography. They are not perfect, the small sensor size means they will never have the low light or high end quality of a DLSR but they are getting into a position where they are good enough for most. Getting a shot requires a few techniques which are natural to a photog but not to the average user. First off get a pistol grip, if you have the cash get one with a trigger, the biggest drawback of the GoPro is its size, you try shooting in a barrel with your meat hooks wrapped round the little box and there will inevitably be fingers and thumbs in shot, a pistol grip eradicates this totally and you’ll nail shots all day long.
Set the GoPro on Protune, to the highest quality and fastest burst mode, there is no way around it more frames per second equals way more chance of getting the shot. It’s the machine gun shot reality of shooting water, there is no skill in it, things move quick out there and speed is the only answer. With the GoPro 4 think about the size of the lens you use, essentially the three crop options allow you to shoot almost fisheye at the widest to around 35mm at the medium setting to about 50mm at the narrow. This gives you amazing versatility, and I love shooting with the longer lens options. Finally keep that GoPro straight, it’s the hardest thing in the water, but you need that horizon as level as is humanly possible, last thing you want to do is to start straightening and cropping in Photoshop.
The final tip is to swim deep and as big as your courage can handle, a GoPro like other wide angle lenses make things appear smaller than they are. A four foot barrel looks way smaller than it really is, so to get that epic fisheye shot you need to go big! Although I was an early hater of the small plastic cam, I have today I love it, as soon as I have the spare sheckles I’ll be adding one to my camera bag.
Swimming with something so small is fun, you get get into some crazy places and get good shots. One drawback to think of though, especially for us Northern Europeans is light, when you see epic GoPro shots they are almost always in pristine light, as I mentioned that small sensor still struggles in low light so pick your moments to shoot. I did toy with adding a screen on the back as well, not having a viewfinder, especially for longer lens shots makes life tricky, sadly this sucks too much battery at the moment, but sure those clever fellows will have that sorted soon as well. The best thing is it gets you in the water for way less cash, the joy of shooting no longer needs a loan or possibly illegal organ sale to become a reality…
Back in late winter 2015 surfer Micah Lester and photographer Tim Nunn headed out on a couple of cold surf missions. You’ve seen the results of that in the mag earlier in the year. On one of the trips they headed up to northern Norway, there Micah wanted to make a film, something a little more than just a straight surfing film, something that conveyed the reality of surfing in colder places. It’s especially poignant with Micah hailing from the Gold Coast, a place of crowds and boardshorts. Rather than shoot it with a regular surf film maker they brought along Mike Cunliffe, a fanatical surfer, but a filmmaker who hails very much from the broadcast world.
Mike’s background is in broadcast television and commercial shooting. He’s made high end science doc series for BBC4 plus several other BBC4 docs and docs for Channel 4, Nat Geo, Discovery. He also recently shot a comedy pilot for BBC having originally started out working on Channel 4 entertainment formats. Currently he’s shooting an ocean based series for ITV, which when out comes out you’ll see has particular relevance to us surfers from the south west and Wales. So before we settle in and watch the film we asked him a couple of questions about the thought process behind it from a surfing point of view…
Coming from outside of the traditional surf industry from a film making point of view, what’s your take on the average surf film, from both a surfers and film makers point of view?
I really enjoy surf films – at their best they’re pure film making outside of the bounds of the ‘normal’ parameters of commercial production – often someone with a camera driven to document what they love, usually for no financial gain – and technical skills become less important then the fact that they are there and are passionate – that’s very cool.
Surf films are massively influential, as surfers have historically been (and still are) a sub-culture that other people want to understand or emulate – so you get the Malloy brothers developing both a filmic style and a personal style that can now be pretty much seen globally (they make my favourite surf films by far) – they seem able to capture the essence of what it means to be a surfer and communicate it in film. I think pure edits of good surfing have their place too – massively so – they’ve become what binds surfers together globally – it seems a much smaller world in terms of surfing now, with Hawaiians surfing Ireland and Irish surfing Tahiti and we all see everything of consequence that’s happening surf and performance wise. I saw a great edit of Maui surfer Albee Layer and it was pure surf porn, but mesmerising, I watched it a few times, he was just so into his zone.
To put this film into context what was your thought process behind it, it is different to an average surf movie, so tell us what you wanted to achieve from it.
For me coming into making a film with Tim and Micah I didn’t really know what to expect – but I wasn’t interested in making a pure performance film – there seemed like more to tell. I hadn’t met Micah before, but knew he was that rare breed of style surfer and technical surfer, but it also turned out that he was a pro athlete at a particular stage of his life when he was thinking a lot about where his place was in the world. The vague plan was to capture the beauty of the surfing and try and be real about a cold water surf trip. So we have a shitty Ford Focus hire car and not a vintage landrover – we stay in a hut in an established surf camp not an army tent – realness that we hoped would chime more with the average surfer who quietly goes to Ireland or Scotland to surf cold dark waves under the radar. Getting there it was apparent that the location itself was as important as the waves, so I ended up probably framing the surfing much wider to give the waves some context and just shooting the landscapes and the light that Micah was experiencing in the water. Micah’s reactions to the place is what gave the film some glue. He’s a very un-jaded character and still sees the world with young eyes.
Technically, what are the issues of shooting in the Arctic?
Technically the problems are batteries not lasting in the cold and condensation in the lenses – though I got wise to this and started leaving them in the car so they never warmed up above 2 degrees.
More broadly not having an assistant – or actually not having a DoP and an assistant – I’m lucky enough to work with some really talented DoPs with my day job – and basically they’re just better at holding a camera then me – but that’s a budget question really – all film makers look back at their rushes and kind of wish that you had a certain lens or angle covered – though the flipside of that is that film making like this always reveals unexpected moments – so you just keep shooting until you see these moments.
What about gear wise, what do you use to shoot a short like this?
Gearwise – we used a Sony FS700 and shot in one of the Sony Log settings – the FS700 is a bit of a bitch ergonomically and has really had its day in terms of the actual look you can achieve – but it does have this ability to shoot at pretty high frame rates in bursts – so quite nice to be able to really enjoy some of the images of Micah surfing in slo-mo. I used Canon DSLR glass as well which worked well with Tim as he was using Canon and I could nick his lenses.
For a one man operation filmmaking like this, I would probably have preferred a Sony F55 – better shutter, image, continuous shooting at high frame rates – if we were a crew then probably RED and serious glass… the point gearwise though is its what you do with it – for instance Tim actually shot that amazing still of the Micah air with an incredibly cheap and nasty lens.
So it’s the first of November. The thermometers are very confused as is my slightly sunburnt skin. It’s supposed to be cold. Not 20˙C+. Indeed the November temperature maximum record has been broken today with Trawsgoed, up there in Welsh Wales, enjoying a Med’ worthy 22.3˙C.
Sure it might have started out as a bit of a pea-souper but once the fog burnt off a fresh pulse of swell was there for those of you that weren’t nursing monster sized Halloween hangovers. Wherever you surfed today we hope you scored and the arms aren’t too noodled and the nose ain’t too fried. Unfortunately for those T-Rex arms there’s no sign of the good conditions going anywhere so you’re just going to have to man up and keep on paddling.
These were shot in Kernow just a few hours ago… There are windows of tide and bank that just turn on and if you’re lucky enough to be in the right place then kegs are there for the taking.
Josh Ward is off to Indo soon. Not sure he needs to bother…
Ben Skinner finding some shade from the harsh winter sun…
Wardles again…
Some people didn’t get the memo about it being summer again…
It’s days like this that we live for, sun, barrels and good times… This is Skindog.
Not too shabby for lil ole Kernow…
The happy face of a man who knows he’s going to pull into same drainers…
A few images from today. One of those days where if you were somewhere on the west coast you’d be sliding into some watery goodness. Bizarrely warm for the end of October as well. Best thing is there’s no end in sight … got a good few more days of swell, sunshine and offshores in the bank. Autumn eh? Can’t beat it.
Filipe Toledo (BRA), 20, has won the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal over tour rookie Italo Ferreira (BRA), 20, this afternoon in an amazing final contested in solid six foot surf at the iconic Supertubos in Peniche.
Stop No. 10 on the 2015 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Men’s Championship Tour (CT), the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal delivered substantial upsets in the WSL Title race and high-drama scenarios with local wildcards and new generation athletes reaching finals day in front of capacity crowds.
Toledo started his final with a bang, claiming the event’s second perfect 10 point ride for a combination of two aerial maneuvers and transitional floaters to launch his assault towards a third event title this season. In a combination situation halfway through the Final, Ferreira took his air game to the next level and launched into a huge aerial for a near-perfect 9.93 that put him right back into the battle for first place.
Toledo kept building momentum and confidence and improved on his back-up score with another two-airs combination to increase his lead over Ferreira, ultimately clinching the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal title. With a third victory this season, Toledo climbs up to second on the Jeep Leaderboard, only 200 points behind current WSL No.1 Mick Fanning (AUS).
“I have no words, I’m just so stoked,” Toledo said. “I had a crazy two-weeks here, I hurt my back right when I got here after France. France was such a bummer for me, but it made me think about everything and put my mind in the right place and now the results are showing. The Final to me is the best heat, I don’t have anything to lose and I just go for it.”
One of the most in-form surfers throughout this whole event, Ferreira fell just short of a first ever CT victory in the final against Toledo, but proved to be extremely consistent in the various conditions on offer in Peniche. Current leader in the Rookie of the Year race, Ferreira nets a career-high result and vaults up to 6th on the Jeep Leaderboard in his inaugural season amongst the World’s Best surfers.
“I just want to thank God for the amazing moments, and thank everyone who showed up here,” Ferreira said. “I can’t believe I just made my first final, I’m so happy. I’m super excited to go to Hawaii and am going to do my best there.”
Brett Simpson (USA), 30, equalled his career-best result with a 3rd place in Peniche, defeated by event winner Toledo in their Semifinal bout. Simpson had a solid campaign in Portugal, defeating giant killer Frederico Morais (PRT) for his spot in the semis among other big performances. This result will propel Simpson to 26th on the CT rankings, giving the Californian a shot at requalification in Hawaii.
“I think just getting through some heats was a big confidence boost, maybe especially that first one with Parko (Joel Parkinson) where I was behind,” Simpson said. “It’s pretty fatiguing surfing these conditions day in and day out. I physically felt great and my surfing has been there for a while, I just wasn’t making a lot of those close heats. I’m super happy with this result. I will probably need a huge result in Hawaii to re-qualify, but at least with this event I’ve given myself a chance and I’m excited about that.”
In a re-match of last year’s World Junior Championship final, local wildcard Vasco Ribeiro (PRT), 20, took on Ferreira in the semifinals, but this time Ferreira was on a roll and Ribeiro couldn’t find the waves he needed to overtake the Brazilian. Ribeiro’s path to the semis was exemplary, having defeated Jeremy Flores (FRA), Michel Bourez (PYF) and Adriano De Souza (BRA) on his way to an equal third for his first time competing at the highest level.
“It’s amazing, you can’t be sad with a semis result in your first CT ever,” Ribeiro said. “I want to thank everyone who came here to support us and thanks Moche for the opportunity. This for me was just a taste of what the CT is, this is where I want to be. There are a couple more events to go this season and I hope I can keep the ball rolling.”
Reigning WSL Champion Gabriel Medina (BRA), 21, had a mathematical shot at leaving Portugal with the Yellow Jersey had he won the event, but his Peniche campaign was halted in the quarterfinals by a lethal Ferreira. With an equal 5th today, Medina jumps up to No. 4 on the Jeep leaderboard and will be a strong contender when the World Title race resumes at Pipeline next month.
“Conditions were tricky and I couldn’t find the right waves,” Medina explained. “I can’t wait to go to Hawaii, I’ll be surfing in the Triple Crown too. Like I said I wasn’t thinking about the World Title, but to be back in the race feels great. I’m heading home now and will train and do a QS at my home break to get ready.”
Frederico Morais (PRT), 23, saw his Portugal dream run stopped for a mere 0.08 in his quarterfinal matchup against Simpson. Despite the frustration of losing in difficult conditions, Morais looked back at an amazing event in Peniche, and this learning experience might see the current QS No.55 carry momentum into the all-important Hawaiian leg of events coming up.
“It’s been an incredible event for me, a fifth place is just unbelievable, especially considering as a wildcard I had to go against the very best surfers in the rankings,” Morais stated. “I’m stoked with the way I surfed and the maturity I displayed competing against those guys. I will definitely get a huge confidence boost from this, but the QS are very different events, and contested in different conditions. I’m keen to hit the water again, next time will be in Brazil and I’ll see how I go there. I can’t wait to be on the CT full-time, it’s definitely my dream and I’m working hard towards it, hopefully it will come sooner than later.”
Following the completion of the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal, the World Title Race heads to Pipeline, Hawaii for the final stop in the 2015 Samsung Galaxy World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT), the Billabong Pipe Masters from December 8-20. Heading into Pipe, six athletes remain in a mathematical position to clinch the coveted WSL Title with the following scenarios:
* If Mick Fanning finishes 25th/13th
Owen Wright & Julian Wilson will need a 1st;
Gabriel Medina will need a 3rd or better;
Adriano de Souza will need a 9th or better;
Filipe Toledo will need a 13th or better to clinch the World Title;
* If Fanning finishes 9th
Medina will need a 1st;
De Souza will need a 5th;
Toledo will need a 9th;
* If Fanning finishes 5th
Medina will need a 1st;
De Souza will need a 3rd;
Toledo will need a 5th;
* If Fanning finishes 3rd
De Souza will need a 2nd;
Toledo will need a 3rd;
* If Fanning finishes 2nd
De Souza will need a 1st;
Toledo will need a 1st;
If Mick wins the event he will clinch the World Title.
The Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal will run from October 20 – 31, 2015 and be LIVE via webcast on WorldSurfLeague.com and on the WSL mobile app.
I had been California dreaming for months and departure day had finally arrived. After months of contests, training camps and hard work, Team GB were finally gathering at Heathrow and checking in all of our overweight surfboard bags. There were 15 of us in total, including coaches Chris Brown, Damo R. Beverage and Gwen Spurlock. We all had three or four surfboards rammed in, making 60 surfboards in total, apart from Liam who must have had about ten boards and a dead body in his, judging by the weight of it.
Team spirits were high and we were all raring to go and compete in the World Junior Championships in Oceanside, Southern California and to leave the grey, dreary English weather behind and get into some hot, dreamy Californian sun and waves. What we did not know is that we had a little surprise send off waiting for us at the airport: fellow Geordie funny boys Ant and Dec were there filming (not us, unfortunately). With the blink of an eye, Peony and Emily were organising a photo shoot with them, whilst the rest of us pretended we were too cool, but secretly took selfies with them in the background.
Once we had offloaded all of the surfboards at great expense, and got over the excitement of Ant and Dec, we went through security (surprisingly no one’s bag got searched – I once left an FCS screw driver and some duct tape in my hand luggage and the airport security staff thought I was a terrorist disguised as a surfer) and boarded the plane. After a long flight, several movies, a few hours kip and a few disturbing smells (the poor guy sitting in front of Kitt had to cover his nose with a T-shirt), we landed at LAX. Half of the team went straight to the hotel with Kitty’s mum whilst the other half waited with the boards and Damo and Chris sorted out the rental mini-van. An hour later, not having slept for around 30 hours they arrived back with the van, only to find that it wasn’t quite big enough for all of us and the 60 boards. Poor Damo had to take one for the team and wait at LAX for a further 4 hours while Chris and Gwen chauffeured us to the the hotel and then returned to pick up Damo, who was snoozing on the side walk by this time.
The hotel was pimp. It had a jacuzzi, nice big rooms (everything in America is big) and even free big cookies on offer at the entrance. Everyone was totally stoked. We got settled in, sorted out the rooms and fell asleep, amped for our first Californian surf in the morning…
We got up, had a big breakfast and headed out into the Californian sun wearing boardies and flip flops. As we were walking down to the beach in the 90 degree heat, the over extended palm trees were peering over us every few square feet, creating shadows on the pavement. Every single motor was either fast or an insanely big petrol draining machine. Kit knew the names of them all. The locals were so friendly and polite always saying “Have a nice day” or “Where are you guys from?”
The British, on the other hand tend to just walk straight past you or drive like lunatics shouting at people. We didn’t quite realise how good the surf was until we saw the ocean. All I heard was expletives. The next two hours consisted of surfing our brains out. The surf was 3-4 ft, as clean as a glass sheet, with little peaks popping up everywhere with the occasional barrel thrown in too. The white water was so white it almost hurt your eyes looking at it and then of course you had the bronzed Californian girls wandering around the beach in their shoe string bikinis. It would have been a crime to not have a cheeky glimpse or two. With such perfect conditions, no wonder the standard of surfing is so high in California. Even the fat old bloke you know that stands outside your local pub all day with a pint in his hand can probably do five turns to the beach. After a fun first surf in pumping waves, we headed back to our Best Western hotel, starving and sun burnt ready for some food and a jacuzzi sesh. I remember Liam saying “It’s a hard life being a surfer” as we were sitting in the jacuzzi, surfed out, stoked and full of food.
Day two consisted of the team generally acclimatising and doing as they pleased: chilling, surfing, sunbathing, sitting in the jacuzzi, eating and playing on Tinder. After day two, the reality of the contest started to loom and training began in earnest. We were up for a dawn before breakfast every morning, had three surfs a day and did stretch sessions regularly. It was going well, everyone was shredding and getting on well as a team. There was a few little niggles but Damo, Chris and Gwen were doing a fantastic job managing everything and keeping all of us rugrats under control.
The day before the contest started Team GB took part in the famous parade of nations. We all were in team kit, looking nice and smart (thanks to Surfdome) getting photos with the rest of the teams and the Head of the ISA Fernando. It was super exciting and interesting to see and meet all of the other teams from all over the world ranging from countries like Hawaii and Brazil to totally land-locked countries such as Austria.
This year had the highest number of teams ever to participate in The World Junior Championships (36 teams). Even Norway had a team which was being led by Dane Gudauskas. We all paraded down the road parallel to the beach in the exhausting heat waving our flags around and singing British chants. We then all went into the outdoor amphitheatre which was situated right next to Oceanside Beach. All of the teams sat down, melting in the 99 degree heat, except the Team Captains (Emily and I). We had to go onto the stage. Emily poured sand from Croyde Beach in the ‘mixing of the sands’ glass bowl, while I waved the Union Jack on stage. The team captains from around the world congregated on the stage waving their flags in unison. This was the Opening of the World Junior Championships. It was a proud moment, I must admit. I felt honoured to be representing Great Britain.
Contest morning had arrived. Everyone looked as if they were feeling the nerves even if they didn’t admit it. Knowing that your heat is on live webcast for the world to see is rather nerve racking. Also the beach and pier were packed with spectators. Even Jordy Smith was down one day supporting the South African team. Everyone had their boards and suits ready and was down at the the contest site. Throughout the comp, Team GB were on the beach supporting their team mates in their heats, waving our flags around, cheering them on and greeting them out of the water, whatever the result. Everyone was in at different times throughout the day although sometimes there could be two different team members in at the same time on different peaks, on the north and south sides of the pier. The coaches would generally watch from the pier, together with the resident pelican, as that was the best vantage points, especially if they wanted to watch two heats going on at once. It was also a great spot for them to be I they needed to contact us and tell us we need to change positions/plan etc. We all surfed our first heats and overall it was a successful day. We still had most of the team still in the main rounds of the contest and a few out into the repechage comp.
The days of tension went on. The heats were intense, competitors were hanging on by a shoe string in the final minutes to make it into the next round, whilst some were were getting clipped in the last minute and getting knocked into the reps or out of the event completely. It was mid-week and overall it was looking successful. We had a few guys knocked out the contest completely that had a bad run and hard heats including myself but the majority of the team remained in the contest until at least day four. Could this be the best we have ever done at the worlds? Will we improve on our ranking from last year? We were still yet to find out. The next few days got tough. People gradually starting to drop out of the contest. The most important thing for me was to try to motivate the remaining competitors, keep team spirits high and to keep everyone smiling throughout this dramatic period of highs and lows. At the end of the day, result or not, we were all still in California surfing everyday having fun with our buddies.
Towards the back end of the week we still had several high fliers left in the repechage contest. We had Liam, Peony, Ellie, Emily, Arran, Jake and Eno. They all surfed extremely well throughout their heats, although all got narrowly eliminated except for Peony and Ellie. Both had spectacularly made it into the repechage semi finals. Peony got the furthest any British girl has got in the under eighteen girls (13th in the world) and Ellie got the furthest ever out of the under sixteen girls (11th in the world), so everyone was super stoked with their results.
The next day was finals day. Obviously everyone is keen to watch finals day and see what the standard of surfing is like and see who is going to be crowned as champions of the event. We were not surprised to see the standard was phenomenal with full rotations and heat totals of nineteen plus going down by Italy’s Leonardo Fioravanti. It was amazing to watch! I was personally super impressed watching the u18 Boys final but also with how good the girls were. They were doing full power turns, top to bottom surfing which would blow most blokes out the water easily. After the finals were finished we had the closing ceremony where all finalists were presented with their medals and team positions were announced. As they read up the list of teams we were stoked to hear that we had came eleventh place out of thirty six, beating teams such as Brazil, Barbados and Mexico. This was the best we have done in quite a few years now so everyone was stoked with that. The Americans won overall and the French came second.
Our last day consisted of fun surfing at relatively uncrowded Trestles which is always a bonus then going to some of Kitty’s mums friends for a BBQ and chill out in the jacuzzi. We spent a lot of time in jacuzzis throughout the trip, they seem to be everywhere you go! As always, Trestles was nicely lined up, with plenty of perfect waves to be had. It’s always a nice feeling as you cross over those well known railway tracks to see what the waves are like. Anyway with some nice burgers cooked to perfection and smiles on everyone’s tired, sun bleached faces we headed back to the hotel to pack our stuff for departure the next day. It was a trip of a lifetime with amazing people and it was a great honour to have been the boys captain. Anyway I’m off to Thurso then Bali, Cheers!
Louis Thomas-Hudson (<<<thats his Insty Facebook here) Your author and Team Captain Louis a long way from Tynemouth
Peony Knight
The colourful but oh so long opening ceremony
Liam Murray-Strout
Kitty Brewer
Kitt Innes
Jake Elkington
George Hudson
Eno James
EmilyCurrie
Ellie Turner
Charlie Rio
Arran Strong
Louis would like to thank O’Neill, Rapid 9 and Tynemouth Surf Co for the support and Team GB would like to thank Surfdome, Plusprint, Calypso Soft Drinks and Robie Robes.
Team GB Under 18 boys
Charlie Rio
Arran Strong
George Hudson
Louis Thomas-Hudson (boys Team Captain)
Team GB Under 16 boys
Jake Elkington
Liam Murray -Strout
Kit Innes
Eno James
Team GB Under 18 girls
Peony Knight
Emily Currie (girls Team Captain)
