a craftsmans hands

via Instagram The man, the myth, the legend......... Jools Matthews of @gulfstreamsurfboards who are probably making the nicest surfboards in the uk at the moment! diana and crossprocessed #film pic that's a couple years old now

#filmisnotdead #filmphotography #ishootfilm #toycamera #shaper #nofilter #handmade #craftsmen #lomography #portrait #120 #dianafplus #surfboard #shaper #madeinbritain

Pre-surf stokage

via Instagram

BGA and @if6was9surfboards pre-surf stoke at the gate. About 20 mins in @if6was9surfboards found a coverup from somewhere to hoots from the peanut gallery. #impressed. Lomo LCa x Fuji film

 #film #nofilter #outsideisfree #outside #ishootfilm #filmisnotdead #analog #lomography #lca #surf #surfcheck #surfer #logging #35mm #35mmfilmphotography #sprockets #coldwatersurf #chasingwaves

January 05, 2017 at 11:02AM

via Instagram Flat again today so here's a holga picture of a French fisherman post dawn patrol at #lasauzaie I always find it interesting how you rarely see anyone surfing the kind of boards I enjoy along this stretch of coast. It's mostly white thrusters, progressive longboards and SUP's. The surf shops are the same. It's like "sprout" never happened. :-) My Slimpig and the superchunk drew a fair bit of interest in the water. #film #ishootfilm #lomography #sprockets #35mm #holga #analog #analogphotography #surfcheck #fish #twinnie #vendee #surfer #nofilter #outsideisfree

January 02, 2017 at 04:33PM

via Instagram Pretty splendid dog walking weather. #sunset #nofilter #doodle #dogsofinstagram #labradoodle #beach #coastal #coastalliving #outsideisfree

December 30, 2016 at 04:40PM

via Instagram There's a slumbering winter point break round the corner #nofilter #outsideisfree #sunset #chasingwaves

December 27, 2016 at 07:36PM

via Instagram Hanging out at the ancestral home in the midlands today. This shot has to be a decade old. A tiny Saturday morning at Saunton riding a @joeltudorsurfboards Nuuhiwa that I eventually sold to @finshack 9'6 of moving sidewalk. #nofilter #surf #longboard #dropknee #outsideisfree #singlefin #log #nuuhiwa #devon

Safe flying tonight Santa!

via Instagram Safe flying tonight Santa! God Jul to all 🌲#nofilter #sunset #outsideisfree #beautifulsky #merrychristmas

Well groomed French beachie

via Instagram Well groomed French beachie #summer #outsideisfree #lesdunes #35mm #35mmfilmphotography #sprockets #film #nofilter #ishootfilm #holga #lomography #beachlife #corduroy

lunchtime

Whenever I travel to surf, it always strikes me how much easier it is to be a surfer in some other places - California and Hawaii are great examples. There's almost always a wave somewhere and generally there's going to be somewhere the wind is reasonably favourable or the bottomshape is strong enough to keep the wave quality ok. I honestly think people in these places wouldn't bother to get in the water in half the stuff we regularly paddle out in. Surfing is just "there" to take or leave as life allows. You don't need to be quite as obsessive as UK surfers often "need" to be

The
point I'm making is how "on it" you need to be to get any good at surfing here. Almost everyone I know tries to keep their schedule as flexible as possible, constantly keeping an eye on the tide and forecast hoping to create a slot of freetime at the right time.

I'm lucky, I work 5 minutes from the beach and whilst I cant always pick the perfect time to get there, I can find a slot most days there are waves. Then its just a case of having a quiver of the right boards in the mobile garage that my van constitutes and hoping the summer traffic isn't too bad.

Lomo LCa picture from just after a springtime liquid lunch

impossible instants

 

Loving the vintage polaroid experience so far!

Tumbling.....

Tickets for the second ever Somersault festival at Castle Hill in North Devon are well and truly out. It's a cracking line up this year and should be a whole heap of fun if last year is anything to go by. It really feels like they have built on last years success and this year they have, amongst others, Laura Marling, Passenger, Bombay Bicycle lub and Crystal Fighters as well as legends Jimmy Cliff and Norman Jay.

It should be good!

In the meantime, feast your eyars on Laura Marling's first album. It's a really beautiful record. Top pop fact is that her band at this time contained some of Mumford and Sons before they "made it"

exploring....

 

Amazing what you can find just around the corner if you keep your eyes peeled. This beautiful old stone bridge is hidden a couple of valleys over from my house at the bottom of a forest track. The late december light was beautiful and the frost was hard enough to solidify the mud. The only sound was my breathing condensing in the cold air and the babbling of the stream.

dawning

 

There arent many good things about dark mornings but seeing the sun rise is one of the few

launching

 

CP Milking the high tide left,  pic  Rob Martin.

So last weekend saw the opening of the new Finisterre and Gulf stream joint venture in Braunton. It's in the original GS shop but the space is now shared so you can lust after Finisterre's high quality clothes as well as Jools finely tuned surfcraft. It looks fantastic and i think there is a real confluence between where the two brands are coming from. Hopefully its going to be really mutually beneficial.

Opening night was a real fun evening hanging out with some local friends and meeting the finisterre guys. Most of you will already be aware of their clothes but if you arent they are really worth checking out! Clothes designed for surfers by surfers and ethically made. 

I've always thought of them as a kind of British Patagonia and like the american brand, they are moving into the wetsuit game next year. They have been prototyping some winter suits designed to be warm, durable and dry quickly at a reasonable price. All things that we need for cold water surfing that overseas brands dont always appreciate. They look great from what ive seen so far.

the skies.

Letting film expire before you use can do weird but great things! Talking of weird things, i just read this. Completely un surf related but intriguing in a strange but true x files kinda way!

continued

A few more from the iphone archive....

memoir.....

Seems a lifetime ago in some ways but it's only 6 or 7 years since I made a surf film with my mate Ross. Things have changed a lot since then and I think the internet has made the business model we used a little obsolete while the advent of go-pro HD cameras and cheaper more powerful editing software has raised the bar significantly.


I'm still quietly proud of it though.....

just like dunlop

 

Rare example of me on the other side of the lens, frame grabbed from Joel during one of those fading light, making the most of it sessions. Friends in the water bringing far more fun that it looked from the water's edge

Introducing The Konstruktor - The World's First Build-It-Yourself 35mm SLR Camera from Lomography on Vimeo.
Might have to put one of these on my letter to santa!

jewells..

 

Super fun weekend catching up with Jules on a flying visit from The North Face, spreading the SeaPea love, careering around lanes on indecisive surf checks and dodging the downpours. Some fun waves despite the wind. Jules take on the mini - simmons experience? "Looks like a comedy board but boy is it fast!"

Out on the bike too, our dry trails are well and truly gone now but getting both wheels sliding at the same time downhill through trees sure gets the pulse racing. 

Both on land and at sea, a little but of exploring can pay dividends!

all for one

 

Ready to log some tip time!

Here's a thing......... When you load your board on your car roof, do you put it fin first or nose first?

In the UK i'd say everyone goes nose first (with the exception of those kooks who stick it up through the sunroof etc!) and there would be some sniggering behind hands in car parks if you did anything else.

Cross the pond though and California is exclusively fin facing forward, at least if you want to swing into the car park looking cool and correct. weird eh?

Thankfully my boards travel inside a van so thats one less detail to agonise over in order to maintain my aura of hipster cool ;-)

Speaking of cool, Gulfstream now have a 5'2 SeaPea mini simmons available to demo, call them on 01271 815490 and get your shred on (brah!)