So far this autumn/winter hasn't really delivered on the swell front. That is untill ten days ago.
The last ten days have seen me get in the water to photograph four times, we have had a run of good swell and I have managaed to find just enough light to get out and take some photos of the local guys enjoying the run of waves.
We started off the run of swell with a great weekend wave at Bantham, it wasn't too busy [well by Bantham standards] and the sun was out so I had a great time swimming around getting some great shots of everyone enjoying a fun sized swell.
It was a nice way to get back into it as I hadn't photographed from the water since August when the waves were small and the water much warmer. It was good to nail a couple of solid shots and I know some of the guys were really happy with the shots of them that I got.
The next session was the following weekend at a more secluded spot somewhere on the South Coast, if was great to be out at this spot as I hadn't been out there for a while and not when it had been this size. There were a handful of surfers out enjoying the early morning and waves, as well as a couple of groms out really surfing amazingly on the fairly shallow reef, showing no fear taking the bigger sets of the morning.
That morning I had made the drive with a bodyboarder friend of mine Birky who loves this spot and has surfed it for a few years. He had a great time on the shallow sections where the wave really kicked up and got a lot more critical. The only highlight shot from the day with him in is of him paddling out and nearly blocking my shot a of grom.
The next day I got in at Bantham in the afternoon with what felt like every surfer in South Devon. It was absolutely packed and a bit of a mental one really. I was dodgying surfer and boards left, right and centre. I ended up moving from my normal Bantham position of on the rip to further along the beach where it was a little less crowded. The weather was also not on my side with it being pretty dark and cloudy. But even with the crowds and low light I still had a fun swim, grabing a couple of great shots and one particular shot really telling the story of the session.
[clickToTweet tweet="It was a bit of a Kookfest at Bantham that day. @WR_Photography #DevonSurf #Surfing" quote="It was a bit of a Kookfest at Bantham that day."]
The last session of this swell was back at the secluded spot with many of the same faces as a few days before. It was around the same size but a lot less frequent, with long waits between the bigger sets. When the bigger waves did roll in there were some nice ones to be had. With the reef giving them a great shape a little shallower in the two bodyboarders where grabbing the smaller ones which were sucking up nicely on the reef.
It was a great 10 days of swell and so nice to get back in the water after such a long time not shooting from it. If you would like to see all the photos from the four sessions click the link below which will take you to my sessions gallery where you can check out all the images from the four days.
