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  • A large sea with a long range swell slammed the seafront at Trearddur Bay at the end of November. Cars parked in the car park were literally covered in wave after huge wave - and pebbles! I shot from within the van for there was also torrential rain and swirling sea spray everywhere. These were some of the biggest wave crashes I'd personally witnessed here at Trearddur, though I'm sure there must be loads more occasions like this.
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  • Cornwall, mid February. The weather had been stunning all week but the sea was still throwing some massive waves at the coast. Even in the relative shelter of the cove itself, huge granite boulders await further attrition from the advancing Atlantic swell.
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  • Available as unlimited A3 & A4 prints only
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  • Available as unlimited A3 & A4 prints only
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  • Ever since a kid I have loved Cape Cornwall and the vast sense of space you experience from the hill-top. Waves that would swamp a small fishing boat seem relatively harmless from this height but the fact they have travelled hundreds of miles of ocean is still quite intimidating.
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  • Available unlimited A1, A2, A3 & A4 prints<br />
<br />
One of a short series of images taken on a stormy winter evening. The storm was burning out but huge waves continued to batter the west coast of Anglesey. As the sun got lower in the sky, it back-lit the wave crests and spray from crashing waves. I huddled in the rocks at wave level to prevent the strong winds from blowing my camera lens away from the shot. The salt covered everything but it was a stunning and elemental opportunity.
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  • Huge storm waves exploding with full force on the rocks at Silver Bay near Rhoscolyn.
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  • Even as little kids, we would walk the two miles or so from our home on Penmere Hill to this spectacular and popular rocky point of Pendennis Head, just below the famous Henry Eighth Castle. Just below the car park where the ice cream vans prey, there are steep rocks which lead down to very deep gullies. At low tide some of the biggest are exposed and you can look down into deep bottomless chasms of seawater where you can often see huge fish below you. The swell could suddenly raise the water level to swamp your feet and although it used to scare us as kids, it was totally compelling!
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  • Even as little kids, we would walk the two miles or so from our home on Penmere Hill to this spectacular and popular rocky point of Pendennis Head, just below the famous Henry Eighth Castle. To us, the little fortified blockhouse was a castle in it's own right, and although signs have now been erected to prohibit climbing, we would always be finding new ways of getting onto the ramparts. This was pure magic, and this often stormy point still provides a Sunday viewpoint for hundreds of Falmouth locals.
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  • Wave jumping in big waves at Rhosneigr, April 2022
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  • Incredible early morning light in hidden coves in West Cornwall. The hard granite had been smoothed and rounded by a millenia of pounding by the force of the Atlantic Ocean which hits this coast full on.
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  • Mainland North Wales and the tip of the Llyn Peninsula as seen from the steep Southern side of the island pilgrimage of Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island), the legendary "Island of 20,000 saints" which lies 1.9 miles off the Llŷn Peninsula in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. Bardsey's been a place of pilgrimage since the early Christianity, but there are signs of settlements from earlier periods. It became a focus for the Celtic Christian Church, attracting devout monks, and it is believed that St Cadfan began building a monastery on the island in the sixth century.
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  • Huge storms rip up the kelp and churn it with the sand, the fronds disappearing into the sand but the stalks sticking up like strange sea worms!
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  • There was one particular location which seemed to be ‘going off’ in surfers terms anyway, a point where even the smallish waves were still powerful enough to slam the small cliff buttresses and send spray skyward, but this same spray was voluminous and very wetting and in itself is problematic for photography as the lens gets covered in seconds not minutes, and in this light every drop on your lens becomes a backlit orb ! I studied the short reef in front of me and calculated where the waves would cover, finding a dry pinnacle on which to set my tripod, an item of equipment that was imperative today. I stood smugly on my dry fortress and waited for the waves and light to work together and shot perhaps four frames of waves I thought would deliver the results foreground and background but then a white wall started to approach me ! My guts revolved as one exceptional wave stood out from the sets and it came from a different angle too. The speed seemed faster than the rest - it wasn’t - but in my fear it was ! There was nothing I could do but brace myself as it rose up over the rocks and simply pushed past me like a mini Tsunami reaching my thighs!!!! The force was strong [Luke !] but the tripod and my legs remained firm against the push and thank God, because if not I would have fallen backwards into a small gully and whilst I would not have drowned I would likely as not have injured myself and lost £10K of camera gear ! The wave exploded in laughter as it died in the shore and the next waves smiled at me as they strolled past. Thing is, I got the shot boy ! :-) MY Paramo Cascada trousers and my Asolo mountain boots meant that incredibly, I didn’t get wet at all, I could have been wearing a wetsuit !
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  • In the same way as many people enjoy jumping and playing in the waves, I also see the waves as playing their own game, dancing in a regular rhythm across the shoreline and crashing against the cliffs. Waves are consistent and have a pattern but each individual wave is subtly different, with thousands of sparks of water shooting off unpredictably. As a metaphor for mankind, we generally dance to the same tune, but as individuals we may fly off in many different directions. Each separate journey makes the main wave look unique and exciting, but almost inevitably, we finally rejoin the main body of water, perhaps just in a slightly different place!
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  • Clouds built over the horizon but in the last of the sun they looked beautifully dramatic, textural and crisp. In fact there was so much texture in front of me that it was hard to find the minimalist simplicity I've been drawn to recently. For maybe ten minutes the world turned pink, the hue washed over the sky and infused in the gentle waves, even the wet sand threw it back skyward. I stood in the sea, in my walking boots, wave after wave lapping at my shins but amazingly my feet stayed as warm as the sunset colours. I studied the waves smoothing and cleansing the beach before me, back to perfection.
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  • No A1 prints left. A2 and smaller only<br />
<br />
"Clouds built over the horizon but in the last of the sun they looked beautifully dramatic, textural and crisp. In fact there was so much texture in front of me that it was hard to find the minimalist simplicity I've been drawn to recently. For maybe ten minutes the world turned pink, the hue washed over the sky and infused in the gentle waves, even the wet sand threw it back skyward. I stood in the sea, in my walking boots, wave after wave lapping at my shins but amazingly my feet stayed as warm as the sunset colours. I studied the waves smoothing and cleansing the beach before me, back to perfection.<br />
<br />
The expanse of Llanddwyn beach and the peak of Holyhead Mountain can be seen in the background"
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  • Clouds built over the horizon but in the last of the sun they looked beautifully dramatic, textural and crisp. In fact there was so much texture in front of me that it was hard to find the minimalist simplicity I've been drawn to recently. For maybe ten minutes the world turned pink, the hue washed over the sky and infused in the gentle waves, even the wet sand threw it back skyward. I stood in the sea, in my walking boots, wave after wave lapping at my shins but amazingly my feet stayed as warm as the sunset colours. I studied the waves smoothing and cleansing the beach before me, back to perfection.
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  • Storm waves batter the West coast of Anglesey near Cable Bay and Rhosneigr. It is rare for such large waves to hit this coast which did create a spectacle.<br />
 The burial mound (looks like a small hill) of Barclodiad y Gawres can be seen in the background <br />
<br />
The biggest waves I've personally ever seen at Porth Tyn Tywyn and I have walked, swam and surfed there many 100s of times over the last 20 years.<br />
<br />
On this particular morning I had gone there with the idea of body boarding what was reported to be a brilliant swell for Anglesey. The day was clear with a strong offshore wind and just a few rapidly clouds. I parked up overlooking the dunes and the sea beyond and I could already see wave tips higher than the dunes (foreshortened perspective of course) and I knew it was going off! I walked down to the reef and two surfers were being thrown about in the white water before finally getting out to the back where a strong rip was pushing them Southwards towards the bay of the burial mound, Barclodiad y Gawres. It was funny in a way watching these guys go for the surf but spend so much time just trying to keep parallel to the shore. At this point, I just knew that I was not going in! I have not body-boarded seriously for years and having had a bit of an epic attempt at Sennen in Cornwall in January in big seas it was all too intimidating for this surf-unfit body !<br />
<br />
Of course the upside to that decision is that I could guilt-freely enjoy taking pictures of the surf instead and it was just so beautiful and powerful to watch. Thankfully the offshore breeze was keeping most of the sea-spray off my lens for a change meaning that I could continue to shoot without minute-apart lens cleans. <br />
<br />
The light on the sea in the bay was sharp and intense, and the lips of the waves were backlit and sparkling against the darker sky in the background. I enjoyed studying the bands of light and dark as they created monochrome Rothko seas, large ocean canvases of abstract landscape. After an hour or
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  • Having done a picture delivery in Northern Anglesey, I was on my way back down the A55 when I decided to turn for the coast, just to get some fresh air. I found myself on the Rhosneigr road and my heart was light. Mine was the only vehicle in the sand-dune car park and pools of rainwater transformed the normally gritty rutted surface into rather beautiful patches of bright sky.The wind was bitter, still blowing in from the North West and today I only had trainers on, so no risky teetering about on wave washed rocks for me.<br />
<br />
The recent gales and big tides had deposited tonnes of dead brown seaweed over most of the shelving beach, but the outgoing tide revealed a beautiful sandy stretch at low water mark. The waves had decreased considerably today but it was still choppy in the strong cold breeze and the waves though low, were still powerful enough to launch themselves explosively up the shingle. Yesterday in the blazing late afternoon light, there was a smoothness to the foam-covered beach but today, there was sharpness, a contrast and a new brooding weather front overhead. My fingers froze whenever I removed them from my shooters-mitts and I put two hoods on to keep my head warm. I negotiated my way up onto the reef via a series of bizarre-to watch, core-stabilised ballet movements, tripod over my shoulder and rucksack swaying heavily with each leap. I found somewhere I could stand securely and just watched the wave performance below me. <br />
<br />
The sunshine remained clear and intense for quite a while, even though the cloud front appeared keen to obscure it, and the light danced on the waves in a bright avenue ahead of me. Soon though, the light subdued and the rain started so I made my way back to the van and on to the gallery to work. I really enjoy these spontaneous moments when you find yourself excited and stimulated by someone or something unexpected. I felt alive and captivated, if only for a brief hour.
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  • Dusk in the West, at Aberdesach on the Northern edge of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales, facing out to the Irish Sea. The mountains of Gyrn Goch, Yr Eifl and Garn For are in the background. <br />
<br />
Clouds built over the horizon but in the last of the sun they looked beautifully dramatic, textural and crisp. In fact there was so much texture in front of me that it was hard to find the minimalist simplicity I've been drawn to recently. For maybe ten minutes the world turned pink, the hue washed over the sky and infused in the gentle waves, even the wet sand threw it back skyward. I stood in the sea, in my walking boots, wave after wave lapping at my shins but amazingly my feet stayed as warm as the sunset colours. I studied the waves smoothing and cleansing the beach before me, back to perfection.
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  • Though the sea never looked tumultuous and the swell height was rarely over two foot, the power of the explosion as the swell hit the rocks continued to surprise me. The stored energy in the waves was suddenly released on obstructions, rather than dissipated across long shallow beaches. In this shot, I love the way the wave appears to blend with the cliff and rise up to the cliff top. I always enjoy being on the beach after being in the mountains. I need to see the movement of the waves and hear their crash on the shore. Landscape always seems so much more vibrant on the coast.
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  • It was baking hot, so hot the sand burned your naked souls. The cool Atlantic Ocean was the only escape but standing at the waters edge the rip was clear and the water deep . As wave after relentless wave crashed on this exposed West coast I would have to endure the midday sun for a short swim would have become a long and dangerous drift. The place was beautiful and spectacular nevertheless
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  • In a streaming gale Jan and I crossed sand dunes to an almost deserted foam-strewn beach. The waves were heavy and fast and the wind was lifting and hurling foam creatures from the shoreline to the dunes, only avoiding splattering our faces thanks to slipstreaming! The sunlight was broken but when it burst through it was warm and rich, sparkling off the wet sand, backlighting oxygenated suds, waddling their way from the water margin. It was a bitterly cold air-stream sweeping down from the North, and poor Jan looked like a frozen rigid Chilli pepper in her new Paramo coat as I stumbled around on wave-soaked reefs. I was excited by the events in front of me but was ever conscious of my suffering slim companion. The spray was constant and when I looked towards the ancient burial chamber of Barclodiad y Gawres I could see horizontal sheets of spray contrasting with the brooding dark hillside. My lens was covered in spray within seconds and the thickness of salt meant that even specialist lens cloths were not effective at clearing off the saline coating - I accepted that today’s shots would be soft and droplet covered, and actually that no longer worries me these days, as atmosphere always beats detail. I balanced myself on a rock jutting from the pristine sand, ready to shoot the choppy sea but today again, I got caught out by one of those ‘tricksy’ seventh waves, which lifted to knee height which was already 18” above the beach, so this time I did get a boot-full of seawater but also a fun shot in the process - no award winner for sure but a great memory of a moment which had Jan laughing widely, even in her sub zero state :-)We walked on, my boot warming like a winter wetsuit and as I was already wet I resigned myself to further soakings as I haunched just an inch above wet sand to photograph a parade of the foamy suds. Finally we stood atop an isolated black crag in the center of this long sandy beach and we watched larger waves exploding over the offshore s
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  • Powerful waves slammed against the cliffs at Porth Chapel as set after set came rolling in. It’s hard to convey the size of these waves without human scale, but imagine 3 adults standing on top of each other on that wave smashed rock, and it gives you some idea!
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  • The biggest waves I've personally ever seen at Porth Tyn Tywyn and I have walked, swam and surfed there many 100s of times over the last 20 years.<br />
<br />
On this particular morning I had gone there with the idea of body boarding what was reported to be a brilliant swell for Anglesey. The day was clear with a strong offshore wind and just a few rapidly clouds. I parked up overlooking the dunes and the sea beyond and I could already see wave tips higher than the dunes (foreshortened perspective of course) and I knew it was going off! I walked down to the reef and two surfers were being thrown about in the white water before finally getting out to the back where a strong rip was pushing them Southwards towards the bay of the burial mound, Barclodiad y Gawres. It was funny in a way watching these guys go for the surf but spend so much time just trying to keep parallel to the shore. At this point, I just knew that I was not going in! I have not body-boarded seriously for years and having had a bit of an epic attempt at Sennen in Cornwall in January in big seas it was all too intimidating for this surf-unfit body !<br />
<br />
Of course the upside to that decision is that I could guilt-freely enjoy taking pictures of the surf instead and it was just so beautiful and powerful to watch. Thankfully the offshore breeze was keeping most of the sea-spray off my lens for a change meaning that I could continue to shoot without minute-apart lens cleans. <br />
<br />
The light on the sea in the bay was sharp and intense, and the lips of the waves were backlit and sparkling against the darker sky in the background. I enjoyed studying the bands of light and dark as they created monochrome Rothko seas, large ocean canvases of abstract landscape. After an hour or more of outgoing tide, the waves noticeably reduced in height to the point where perhaps I could have gone in, but with a full CF disc I decided to head for hot coffee back in the gallery instead - wrong decision ? Probably ! :-)
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  • It was slightly nerve wracking walking out onto this old dissused jetty, with wave after wave splashing over my waist every second or so. It really felt as if I was walking on the surface of the sea at some points, and at others where the jetty had broken, I was walking IN the sea! My camera got soaked, my clothes got soaked but I enjoyed the experience anyway.
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  • Wave eroded low cliffs form smooth rounded boulders at Binigaus Beach, Menorca. Mediterranean waves crash over the rocks at sunset.
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  • The advancing tide pushed small wavelets across the expanse of wet sand, smoothing and erasing the signs of the day upon it. For the first time in the year the touch of water on bare flesh was not unpleasant but rather soothing, providing optimism for the summer ahead.<br />
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The gentle slopes of the beach formed wonderful curving wave patterns in the shallow water - and each wave reflected the sunlight at different angles creating a dance of light across the sea surface.
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  • It struck me as funny how the sea seems relatively impotent UNTIL the wave reaches the shoreline then unloads all of it' power vertically ! In this shot I am fascinated by the potent energy of the ocean beyond, as the out of focus wave is just one of many exploding at the coast.
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  • Wave jumping in big waves at Rhosneigr, April 2022
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  • Floating in dark water in Cemlyn Bay at sunset. Even at low tide the water turned deep quickly. The sea was cold and I gasped as each gentle wave rose around my neck. The brilliant sunshine kept me uplifted as the most subtle undulations on the surface reflected the warmth.
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  • Floating in dark water in Cemlyn Bay at sunset. Even at low tide the water turned deep quickly. The sea was cold and I gasped as each gentle wave rose around my neck. The brilliant sunshine kept me uplifted as the most subtle undulations on the surface reflected the warmth.
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  • At sunset, a standing wave, created where the 'Inland Sea' (a narrow strait of water separating Anglesey from Holy Island), connects with the open Irish Sea and the currents interact.
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  • I just love it when pure natural magic surprises me, on days at at times when I think there's nothing really exciting happening. It's so easy to be depressed by the bigger picture, when true joy is right in front of you.
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  • So beautiful & romantic in the warm afternoon sunshine, but a frightening place to be in the depths of winter when huge waves pound over this granite quay. People have lost their lives from this quay.
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  • Powerful storm waves crash over Sennen breakwater at sunset, with the RNLI slipway in the foreground, South West Cornwall
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  • I couldn't get over the sheer numbers of gulls that were diving into the sea as huge waves crashed over the reefs at Trearddur Bay. They didn't seem perturbed when engulfed in spray or emerging from the surf. I can only assume that the fish were quite bemused by the ocean above and were easy picking for the gulls
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  • Exploring waves with my pro camera
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  • Stormy weather and incoming waves on the huge long beach at Dinas Dinlle, North Wales. The mountains of Yr Eifl can be seen on the Llyn Peninsula in the far distance.
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  • Waves Crashing against the rocky granite coast at Cape Cornwall, St Just, Cornwall. The Brisons offshore stacks can be seen in the distance. Years of relentless attack by the Atlantic Ocean has rounded much of the hard granite stone shoreline.
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  • Huge Atlantic waves roll in from the West and rear up over the reef at Cape Cornwall near St Just, Penwith, South West Cornwall. These waves were approximatey twenty feet tall and absolutely packed with ocean energy. White horses can clearly be seen in these gigantic walls of water.
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  • Huge Atlantic waves roll in from the West and rear up over the reef at Cape Cornwall near St Just, Penwith, South West Cornwall. These waves were approximatey twenty feet tall and absolutely packed with ocean energy. White horses can clearly be seen in these gigantic walls of water.
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  • Huge Atlantic waves roll in from the West and rear up over the reef at Cape Cornwall near St Just, Penwith, South West Cornwall. These waves were approximatey twenty feet tall and absolutely packed with ocean energy. White horses can clearly be seen in these gigantic walls of water.
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  • Huge Atlantic waves roll in from the West and rear up over the reef at Cape Cornwall near St Just, Penwith, South West Cornwall. These waves were approximatey twenty feet tall and absolutely packed with ocean energy. White horses can clearly be seen in these gigantic walls of water.
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  • SUN28 Shot Up North Awards winning entry (2016)<br />
<br />
International Colour Awards 2015 - Nominee in "Nature" category<br />
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“Early morning light passes through choppy Atlantic waves wrapping around me on this steeply shelving beach in South West Cornwall. It gives the impression of being underwater whilst the waves crash above the surface”<br />
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I’ve been back to this beach many times and haven’t been able to shoot anything like it again. I was completely alone on the beach and the sea was choppy and the waves powerful. This is the most amazing naturist beach I’ve ever been to in the world, so as is only right and correct, I was in my birthday suit as I took this!<br />
.<br />
I was using a heavy Canon 1DsMk3 and 100-400 mm lens to get this shot, nearly £7K of gear in the Atlantic ocean! What would have looked really crazy from the cliff-top was a little naked Jack-in-the-Box crouching down at the lowest point of a sand-cusp to shoot through huge waves as they rose in front of him, and then him standing up rapidly to keep the camera clear of the back-wash which went ribs-high trying to pull him back out to sea! This was one of my craziest shoots ever, but I am delighted with the result and yes this IS my all time favourite and I have No.1 of 10 hanging in my home.
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  • Huge storm waves crash over Penzance Harbour wall at night, backlit by the high pressure sodium floodlights
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  • Waves Crashing against the rocky granite coast at Cape Cornwall, St Just, Cornwall. The Brisons offshore stacks can be seen in the distance. Years of relentless attack by the Atlantic Ocean has rounded much of the hard granite stone shoreline.
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  • Huge Atlantic waves roll in at Porthcurno Beach in West Cornwall.  I took this photo from the steps of the Minack Theatre built into the cliffs above this yellow sand cove. The last of the evening light can be seen on the sea surface as the white horse gallop into shadows nearer the shore.   The waves were powerful and the water crystal clear as always here, and the title and metaphor matched exactly what was going on in my mind at the time.
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  • Sometimes when drowning in dark waters, a light shines so brightly that it hope swells & waves of new ideas roll in. I've needed to see this brightness for a while now, and my creative brain is energised by it.
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  • Waves at Porth Ceiriad near Abersoch, Llyn Peninsula, North Wales.  West Anglesey at dusk. Gentle waves on a long sandy look soft because of motion blur.
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  • Such beautiful sunlight but quite an unnerving position down there in the gully. The waves appeared regular but every now and then rigue waves appeared, crashing over the large boulders in front of me and blasting spray over me and the camera.<br />
<br />
I’ve visited this arch many times over the years but after hearing of the recent collapse of the Azure Window arch in Gozo, Malta, I felt the urge to revisit our own wonderful coastal feature here at Bwa Gwyn.
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  • Morning light over tiny waves in showery weather at Traeth Bychan beach, East Anglesey. A cloud shaped like a jumping figure hangs in the sky.
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  • January 2004, Big seas lashed the west coast of Anglesey, and strong waves pushed their way into the small cove at Porth Nobla, under the ancient burial mound of Barclodiad y Gawres.
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  • What a stunning light as late winter sunshine burned through a hole in blankets of dark grey cloud overhead, backlighting spray coming off the  fast sets of waves.
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  • This was taken during a two hour outing to Anglesey's West Coast one Sundaty afternoon during serious gales and stormy weather. The seas were huge for Anglesey and were breaking over the clifs, the strong winds sending plumes of spray into the air and dousing the land with salty foam. As the sun dropped in the sky, the light became more and more intense until it created a theatrical floodlight, backlighting the spray from the crashing waves. The wind was blowing so hard I had to almost sit on the tripod to keep it steady and the lens needed wiping down every few seconds. It was fantastic to ne in these conditions alone on the cliff top because it generated an enormous sense of scale and vulnerability whilst perched there. At this time of year, when the sun setsm, the light diminishes rapidly so I had to tread careful over the wet cliff tops to get back to the van. It was an invigorating evening.
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  • "Beautiful the beach may be, but faced with the full surge of a very deep Atlantic the water at this beach ranges from chilly to brass monkeys! On a sunny day it lures you in, the white waves, the glass clear water and the rippling light on the sand beneath, but there are few who stay in this water more than 10 minutes and God forbid naturists start wearing wet-suits ! :-) "
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  • Storm waves crash over the headland at Cable Bay on West Anglesey.
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  • A last minute decision to head for the North Anglesey coast didn't deliver quite the drama that I'd hoped for, or the waves. Nevertheless the gentle, moody, subtle light and smooth, delicate ripples on the ocean offered some wonderful opportunities nevertheless. I wore my wetsuit whilst taking these images but after half an hour of near zero physical activity in the sea, waiting for the sunset, the chill set in as soon as the sun sank over the horizon.
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  • Banks of cloud kept obliterating the sunshine but eventually the sun appeared and sparkled off the warm sea where I floated upon remnants of gale-blown waves.
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  • On an incoming tide with heavy seas rolling in from the West, I took a bit of risk to get this shot, clambering onto wet rocks where huge waves  were crashing all around me. The light was fleeting due to the cloud cover and I had to leave the rock as big rollers started splashing right over me. This was the last colour frame before the  sun disappeared for the rest of the evening
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  • As the Atlantic Ocean pounded against the tiny quay at Sennen Cove, a handful of daring individuals jumped off the quay as the huge waves crashed above them
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  • On an incoming tide with heavy seas rolling in from the West, I took a bit of risk to get this shot, clambering onto wet rocks where huge waves  were crashing all around me. The light was fleeting due to the cloud cover and I had to leave the rock as big rollers started splashing right over me. I grabbed this last frame as the  sun disappeared for the rest of the evening.
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  • Embers of an evening fire in the sky, illuminated gentle sets of peeling waves rolling towards the beach at Hell's Mouth in North Wales.
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  • I have to be honest, I normally steer well clear of Trearddur, normally populated by hundreds of beachgoers, jet-skis, power boats, 4x4s on the sand, boat trailers and sailing dinghies. The small bay is surrounded on all sides by a hotchpotch of architecture, some interesting, some ghastly, but either way is not a place of peace, tranquility and natural landscape that I normally seek for my imagery.<br />
.<br />
However, during this lockdown I was able to witness a little bit of history, for even on this beautiful blue-sky day there were only a dozen people on the whole beach, and most kept close to the promenade. For the short period of time I was there, looking to create new images for a loyal customer, I had a small sense of how lovely the bay itself actually is, without the crowds. Long foamy pulses of Irish Sea waves pushed themselves up the broad sandy shore, licking their way around the stumps of petrified forest that I'd never seen before and never knew existed.<br />
.<br />
In the distance a dog walker wandered into the burning light and the call of oystercatchers could be heard over the sound of the waves. The virgin sand was mostly unspoiled by footprints and if it were not for the urban skyline I could have imagined myself on an ancient beach, nothing more than a stretch of coastline where the beautiful predictability of high & low tide were all that mattered in the world.
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  • I have to be honest, I normally steer well clear of Trearddur, normally populated by hundreds of beachgoers, jet-skis, power boats, 4x4s on the sand, boat trailers and sailing dinghies. The small bay is surrounded on all sides by a hotchpotch of architecture, some interesting, some ghastly, but either way is not a place of peace, tranquility and natural landscape that I normally seek for my imagery.  <br />
<br />
However, during this lockdown I was able to witness a little bit of history, for even on this beautiful blue-sky day there were only a dozen people on the whole beach, and most kept close to the promenade. For the short period of time I was there, looking to create new images for a loyal customer, I had a small sense of how lovely the bay itself actually is, without the crowds. Long foamy pulses of Irish Sea waves pushed themselves up the broad sandy shore, licking their way around the stumps of petrified forest that I'd never seen before and never knew existed.<br />
<br />
 In the distance a dog walker wandered into the burning light and the call of oystercatchers could be heard over the sound of the waves. The virgin sand was mostly unspoiled by footprints and if it were not for the urban skyline I could have imagined myself on an ancient beach, nothing more than a stretch of coastline where the beautiful predictability of high & low tide were all that mattered in the world.
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  • So beautiful & romantic in the warm afternoon sunshine, but a frightening place to be in the depths of winter when huge waves pound over this granite quay. People have lost their lives from this quay.
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  • Waves on an incoming tide in bad weather at Porth Iago on the Llyn Peninsula, North West Wales.
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  • In the summer the hillsides were transformed from dull, earthy, bracken-covered slopes into lush, green carpets of grass and ferns. The shallow waters immediately off the shore reflect vivid turquoise, green and blue light- waves from the clear sunlight, creating an incredibly welcoming picture of this normally imposing coastline. After taking this shot, I went for a refreshing swim in the crystal-clear waters, and if had not been for the slightly cool sea temperature, I could have been abroad!.
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  • "I’d enjoyed being alone in the gale-force winds on an almost deserted Llanddwyn Beach, sun shone one minute, showers the next. The relentless buffering from the gale invigorated me, made me feel alive, forcing oxygen into my lungs. As I was almost blown back towards the beach entrance, dusk seemed to have sprung upon me also. The skies were dark under weighty clouds and latent squalls. I turned back towards the island and the most beautiful delicate light was creating a huge bi-coloured yellow and white cross, Llandwyn being flagged in the centre. The waves on the outgoing tide were still forcing their way up the shore but the hard, wet sand bore the reflection of the shifting Heavens above, and everything felt perfect”
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  • Loved the textures and patterns created by the advancing waves at Porth Swtan (Church Cove) - the solidity of the hard, isolated boulder acted as a wonderful juxtaposition to the ever changing nature of the sea.
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  • Clean white surf breaks on Broad Beach, Rhosneigr and pushes waves and foam curves up the beach at sunset.
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  • This may not be the most dramatic of Welsh coasts on South West Anglesey, but the jagged reefs and Westerly waves provide endless variation nevertheless. It still surprises me just how rough the rocks are, after millenia of erosion from the sea
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  • From a short series of images taken after a very wet rainy day. I had gone to the beach anyway and started walking in the drizzle just to get fresh air. I played with my iPhone taking numerous fun pictures with some on-board software but as I was playing, the skies broke a little, and holes of daylight swept past, briefly and teasingly but the effect on the wet sands was awesome. The rain had meant most visitors had stayed away even the dreaded dog walkers and their sand destroying pooches ! I was alone and totally in the zone. After dark I ran through the waves for the sheer hell of it.  Full story will be on my blog at http://www.glynsblog.com  © Glyn Davies 2010 - All rights reserved.
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  • Waves at sunset, crashing into the small rocky cove at south of South Stack on Holy Island, Anglesey, Wales,
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  • We trudged through soft wet sand towards the coast, and apart from one couple passing us on their way back to the lane, we found ourselves alone on an empty beach. <br />
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On the retreating tide a tumbling river carved it’s way towards the sea, backlit by the low winter sun.  Waves formed upon the surface and in a surreal moment of observation, they appeared to be flowing back upriver towards the dunes - strangely hypnotic and utterly wonderful.
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  • As the sun dropped, giving way to a magenta dusk, I suddenly became aware of a brightening half moon over Snowdonia. The darker became dusk the more brilliant appeared the moon and it shimmered on the retreating tide. <br />
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The shift of colours between the moon-cool blues and the pink after-burn of the sunset was simply beautiful, gently mixed by the ripples from small waves. There was a confusion of colours and patterns yet within it all, a minimalist simplicity of form and composition. I was like a kid in a candy shop.
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  • An expansive and sunny promenade on the city sea front at Las Palmas in Gran Canaria. Lots of lovely wide seats so sit on whilst enjoying the view of the Atlantic Ocean waves.<br />
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Most of the waves crashed against the sea wall without any drama, but occasionally some would just slap the wall at the right angle and send a surprise salty shower over the unwary!
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  • A Curlew stood near motionless at the tip of the reef.  Between jagged arms of rock floated four large seals, only their loud exhalations of breath betraying their position but then unavoidably noticeable.<br />
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As I gingerly navigated the serrated rocky reef I startled an Oystercatcher that then screeched off across the calm sea.  Other than the sounds of wildlife there was just the gentle splash of near-invisible waves around me as I crouched low to photograph the rising full moon. The dark water came in behind me, silently, and my camera and me nearly became part of the sombre depths.
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  • We’d started out early that morning from Swakopmund, in thick fog, heading for the coast. When we arrived at our location there appeared a glow of light from the East and before long bursts of sunshine illuminated the beach, contrasting it against the dark fog behind. <br />
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The air was chilly, even in the African summer, but the gentle waves of sunlight were a welcome warmth.  The roar of the waves on this exposed Atlantic coast was relentless but strangely familiar after many days in a heatwave in the Namibian desert.
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  • At first I didn’t even know it was there, but as I stood on the dark wet reef in the lee of bad weather, an apparition appeared in the sea before me.<br />
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As the tide began to drop, an underwater world was slowly revealed. The volume of water flowing backwards over the structure created a loud sucking sound above the crashing of the waves on the rocks. Trying to maintain my balance on the slippery rocks, a weird sensation developed inside me, that I was in fact being enticed towards the circular portal opening at the edge of the ocean.
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  • A Monday evening. I'd gone out to catch some surf but it was seriously blown out in some very heavy gales and was just mush, so I took some shots instead :-) The very low evening sunlight was blitzing the coast with an amazing intensity, as powerful in it's own way as the pounding waves. Where the waves were smashing over this set of rocks the plumes of spray were being backlit turning them a rich orange/gold. However, as you can see from the foreground I was basically IN the sea, with no tripod so for the first time in my memory, I have deliberately cropped the original a little to show just the bits I wanted. Theoretically it would have been easier for me to change lens but the sea spray was so intense that I didn't fancy a £5K sensor covered in salt water - so there you go, probably my first ever forced crop! :-((((
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  • Gentle waves flow around the rocks at sunset at this rocky point at Porth Tyn Tywyn, Rhosneigr, West Anglesey.
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  • From stormy weather, wind waves and surf crash over rocks into a rockpool at sunset at this rocky point at Porth Tyn Tywyn, Rhosneigr, West Anglesey.
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  • Even in the chaos of waves and clouds, wondrous patterns, textures and predictable repetitions can lead to exciting compositional balance within delicate scenes.
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  • Land's End in a Winter sunset. Short bursts of sunlight under blankets of winter storm clouds. Deceptively calm seas nevertheless created large waves as swell reached the cliffs.
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  • Successive storm waves during bad, gale driven weather, create piles of wind blown foam on the incoming tide at sunset in Winter at this West Anglesey beach near Rhosneigr
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  • Cape Cornwall headland near St Just projects into a treacherous stretch of Atlantic Ocean here in South West Cornwall. In the cove to the North of the point, huge granite boulders have been rounded and smoothed over eons and await the powerful waves each high tide.
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  • Cape Cornwall headland near St Just projects into a treacherous stretch of Atlantic Ocean here in South West Cornwall. In the cove to the North of the point, huge granite boulders have been rounded and smoothed over eons and await the powerful waves each high tide.
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  • A blonde woman relaxing on a golden yellow sandy beach in the summer at Caneiros, Algarve, Portugal, watching the Atlantic waves crash on the shoreline with a limestone sea stack in the distance.
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  • Waves and pebbly beach at dusk at Binigaus Beach and the tiny islands of Platja de Binicodrell, on the Mediterranean coast, South West Menorca.
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  • Sunset over Mallorca and waves on the Mediterranean sea, seen from Binigaus Beach, South West Menorca.
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  • The Scillonian, part of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, gently heads back into Penzance after its crossing from the Isles of Scilly. There was such calm that evening and hardly a soul about as the moon rose higher in the sky. Over the gentle sound of the waves all we could hear was the throb of the steamship engines.
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