Namaste

DC- You vill punt!!

This was very much a case of cant polish a turd. He handed me the footage and muttered under his breath something about good luck.
Luckily Stent snowboards better than he films, and his inspirational chat is pretty damn inspirational.

Folly of Youth

Folly of Youth from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

What can you say about this, guess its a screw you to the rules of convention and safety. If you havnt read the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull then please do, Stu's surfing is a pure gutsy only live once full throttle expression of joy.

Coast to Coast

Stand up paddleboarders, "scourge of the line up, take too many waves, all Laird wannabees", blah blah craftist blah.

After having spent 10 days with Charlie Grey documenting his epic voyage across the country, my narrow minded opinion on paddleboarding has been shattered, and i have a new found respect for the sweepers.

Still probably best if they keep to rivers though. ha ha just kidding! x

PS- This is a personal graded edit as the official Wavedreamer version is au natural, and Ive just got a bit of a grading fetish going on.

Change of reasons

Were you ever good at those Rubix cube things? I was rubbish, never really had the staying power or brain capacity to figure it out. Once i got bored of being transfixed by its aesthetics it got tossed aside for something less challenging like a crayon.

Well ive been butting my head against a software plug-in called Twixtor, which creates amazingly beautiful slow motion, if you get it right. It can also be annoyingly confounding and uncooperative, which is what my first few weeks of trying to figure it out were like. A bit like that frikken cube malarky.

Then my whizkid buddy Lance shows me some key settings and presto, buttery smooth slow mo. Almost as good as having a wee after holding it in for 10 hours!

Here is the first application of it for me, hope you like.

Change of Reasons from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

o sea d

Just done a tee shirt print design for Wavedreamer called O sea D. Its inspiration was our obsession with all things nautical, especially waves and surfboards.
One of my current nautical obsessions is riding an Alaia, a replica of what ol Capt'n Cook first found the ancient Hawaiians frolicking on in the surf way back in the day.

I have some vague notions taking shape in my head about a movie on these and other various bits of wooden items that can be used to ride waves on, and i think this could be the start of a little idea Im calling "the wood n float"project for now.

I guess the appeal of these rudimentary craft is they allow you to just experience the joy of riding a wave without the attachment of needing to perform anything rad to feel you have had a good surf.

A bit like your first ever clean face ride.

I have been experimenting with some POV stuff, and i know its not Brian Conley in Mexico, but hopefully it can give you just a glimpse of what sliding along on a 3/4" thick piece of wood feels like.

Newsclip - National Trust winning trailer award

For full article click here.

Winner-London surf film festival - National Trust trailer

"The competition allows you to express what the National Trust means to you as a surfer and how the Trust is involved in a surfers life. ‘We’re on the front row of a surfer’s daily life – managing some of the world’s most unique and important habitats in a 760 mile stretch of coastline,’ says National Trust Water Sports Coordinator and former British pro surfer Robyn Davies."

Footpaths, peelers and caves from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

Wedding Vid

Ok, I know its not a formal wedding, more of a wedding celebration, but its my first foray into the realm of wedding video, and it was super fun. Thanks Tom and Emma for a rad party, and I hope you enjoy the vid.

ps- Best to set to 720p for HD and go big screen for best viewing. x

labour of love pt 2

"A craft is a branch of profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods."


"A craft is a vessel or craft designed to move across or through water. The name is derived from the term "craft" which was used to describe all types of water going vessels. The term craft has since been expanded to include all types of vessels which travel on water (watercraft), in air (aircraft) and in space (spacecraft)."


Diplock takes his craft seriously, and his craft bear testimony to this.

black n whites

Underpants on the outside.

As a kid I would spend loads of time fantasizing about being a superhero, using my miracle powers to fly, see through girls dresses and control time.

Then it was around the period i caught my parents helping "Santa" out by putting out my pressies, that my childish dreams came tumbling down, and the hopes of super powers faded.

But then...

Boom!

Enter time lapse photography.......and now, once again I have the power to control time!!

MWOHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA





Community Arts mural at the Youth Club Braunton, Devon from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

Job satisfaction

I love this job, I get to work with people doing some interesting stuff, and the camera seems to connect me to these people and experiences that I probably wouldnt if not for that context.

Recently I got to go with one of Wavedreamers athletes, Nick Thorn, to cover him paddling across the English channel to France.

It was a fun day out, I got to record Nick tackling one of his crazy challenges, and have a sneaky beer on French soil.

I also get to work with a talented young musician in the form of Bastie Latham who made the track for this video, Enjoy.




Nick Thorn Paddles across the English Channel from wavedreamer on Vimeo.

Paradise found

Ever had that feeling when you standing in the Q at the fun fair about to get on a ride so cleverly designed purely to scare the crap outta you, and really wondered what the fuck you doing in that Q and shouldnt you be nowhere near this crazy deathtrap that you sure was probably not serviced in the last 15 years, the guy operating it looks like he is still tripping at a Gratefull dead concert and im sure i just saw a loose bolt fall off it, but you standing in this Q anyway and the next thing your balls are in the back of your throat and it feels like your face is twisted 180 degrees around your skull, any mundane thoughts instantly displaced with a high octane shot of A grade adrenalin.


Then it ends and your all giddy, your alive, you love everyone, the colors are bright and the world is a beautifull place.


Going to Hawaii was exactly like that for me, before i had even got out the airport.


Here are some pics shot with my beloved 35mm.

Im a lucky man......

.....my wife is an amazing cook, and i love to eat, a match made in heaven. My cousin Marc is a lucky man too as his wife loves to cook, and he also loves to eat. So when Pauline, Cuzzys wife, talked about coming down to Devon to work on food styling shots for her portfolio with us you can understand the levels of excitement i felt with the thought of the 2 of them loose in the kitchen for a weekend.
We got some great pics, and here is a 'taste'.

Pop art

Lovin the GoPro  at the mo, as you can probably tell. This photo was snapped in a rock pool one of those perfect sunny Sundays a little while ago, and is of my leetle fwend Poppy and her leetle fwend.

meet Jason

I can thank my friend Jason Hearn for lots, we have shared loads of good times together, in and out the water, and he always seems to have a swell [and barrell!] magnet attached to him. He also loves to charge and is pretty damn committed to getting good waves, a fellow surf nazi if there ever was one.

Jason is working on a surf movie called The Africa Project and its gonna take the surf world by storm, i literally cant wait. Its going to be incredible on so many levels. Click here for more info.

One of the most recent things i have to thank Jay for, besides inspiring me to want to create beautiful movies, is getting me onboard for a filming gig he had going on with Redbull to celebrate Jordys 2nd pace finish last year on tour.

Thanks again Jay, and I look forward more good times.

Im a kook.....

......compared to my brother, who is a much better surfer than me, and actually still has loads of hair and is super skinny. Life can be a bitch. I drink beer better than him though.

Anyways here is him ripping on a day i would struggle getting to my feet.

The tune is by a crazily talented musician called John Fairhurst, and his own vid to this tune is well worth checking out.

A labour of love

Another Wavedreamer project, a promo piece for Gulfstream surfboards, true craftsmanship in the age of disposable product mentality.

Also producers of one of my favourite boards, Purple people eater the 2nd.

Dude, you scratched my Crystal.

An old hippie once told me that Baggy point in North Devon lies directly on a ley line of the earth, and a ley line has some sort of mysterious properties.

I dont know if this is true, but I do know that every time I come away from there i feel as if i have just had a truly magical experience.

Not sure if  this video will do her any justice, but if you see me wearing any tie dye, it might help you understand why.

if a tree falls and no one heard it......

.............did it really fall?

My friend Andrew charges waves that scare the shit out of me, and being a consumate professional, he generally tries to get these moments recorded so he can gain exposure for himself and his sponsors and therefore get paid more money to go get more big waves blah blah blah, its a bit like a dog chasing its tail really.

Anyways, here is a wavdreamer project I worked on for Andrew to help him in his quest to carry on putting himself in situations that would quite honestly terrify me, and hopefully see him avoiding a career in plumbing.

ANDREW COTTON PROFILE from wavedreamer on Vimeo.