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  • SUN28 Shot Up North Awards winning entry (2016)<br />
<br />
International Colour Awards 2015 - Nominee in "Nature" category<br />
<br />
“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 />
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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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  • 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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  • Powerful storm waves crash over Sennen breakwater at sunset, with the RNLI slipway in the foreground, South West Cornwall
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Wave jumping in big waves at Rhosneigr, April 2022
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Exploring waves with my pro camera
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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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  • It was a wishy-washy sunset with choppy but unimpressive waves, but I still enjoyed being in the sea anyway. Unusually for me, I've pushed the contrast a little on this frame to create more definition in the scene.
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  • Huge storm waves exploding with full force on the rocks at Silver Bay near Rhoscolyn.
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  • Set after set of beautiful waves rolling in from the Atlantic at Sennen Cove in South West Cornwall.
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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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  • 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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  • "In a way, this was ALL about the sea, the waves and movement, the sky played the role of illuminator only. I became transfixed by the recurring rhythms which occur where waves meet shore.<br />
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At first there is the obvious repetition of waves reaching the shore and dumping their energy. Then there is the apparent chaos of individual waves, which never form the same shapes, height or angle. But then, especially when using a slightly slower shutter speed on the camera, it’s possible to clarify just how much underlying consistency of rhythm there is below the choppy surface, influenced by the shape of the beach in relation to the speed and direction of the waves.<br />
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Although large sweeps of watery sheets seem to slide at all angles over the shore, certain strong lines of confluence emerge, where bodies of water meet bodies of water and the energy is consistently channelled in one direction, like standing waves. On what had been a solitary, dreary afternoon of being out just for fresh air, I had become extremely excited by my heightened awareness of rhythm within chaos, and I may now be able to use that to create perspective in everyday life!"
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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.
    GD001170.jpg
  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • After a wonderful sheltered swim in Holyhead Harbour, I headed for the West coast of the island to Trearddur Bay and Porth Dafarch. It's so rare that I can ever stand on Porth Dafarch beach and not see a soul, but today I was lucky, initially at least. High tide was slowly ebbing away revealing more and more huge swathes of orange sand, but the storm waves were deceptive and it was a mistake to wander casually onto the wet sand, as after every few waves at least one would come powering up the beach almost to high water mark. <br />
<br />
The gorgeous blue sky and sunshine of the morning was gradually being obscured by huge, watery grey blankets of cloud. Thankfully a blur of winter sunshine tunnelled through the vapour to create a wonderfully surreal illumination of the shoreline and waves breaking on the distant cliffs. By the time I’d created some images of this wondrous natural event many cars had turned up and the beach was back to normal, busy with crowds and dogs, my opportunity had been extremely lucky, I’d had glimpses of what this place might have looked like back in history.
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  • After a wonderful sheltered swim in Holyhead Harbour, I headed for the West coast of the island to Trearddur Bay and Porth Dafarch. It's so rare that I can ever stand on Porth Dafarch beach and not see a soul, but today I was lucky, initially at least. High tide was slowly ebbing away revealing more and more huge swathes of orange sand, but the storm waves were deceptive and it was a mistake to wander casually onto the wet sand, as after every few waves at least one would come powering up the beach almost to high water mark. <br />
<br />
The gorgeous blue sky and sunshine of the morning was gradually being obscured by huge, watery grey blankets of cloud. Thankfully a blur of winter sunshine tunnelled through the vapour to create a wonderfully surreal illumination of the shoreline and waves breaking on the distant cliffs. By the time I’d created some images of this wondrous natural event many cars had turned up and the beach was back to normal, busy with crowds and dogs, my opportunity had been extremely lucky, I’d had glimpses of what this place might have looked like back in history.
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  • A 2.5º COLD morning at the Rhosneigr beaches, and near windless in the brilliant morning sunshine. Even from the van I could hear the crashing waves in the distance & I was getting excited. I raced to the top of the dunes and just knew it was a photo morning, though a rushed one before getting back to work.<br />
<br />
I therefore decided to wear my wetsuit to allow me to stay in longer, and was glad I did as after half hour I was feeling a bit chilly even in my 3-2. I watched a large group of lady swimmers arrive on the far beach, and judging by the endless screams and laughs the cold waves were testing them out! <br />
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Sadly the waves decresed in size quite quickly as the tide ebbed but I was able to capture a handful of nice images before I headed back to work.
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  • A 2.5º COLD morning at the Rhosneigr beaches, and near windless in the brilliant morning sunshine. Even from the van I could hear the crashing waves in the distance & I was getting excited. I raced to the top of the dunes and just knew it was a photo morning, though a rushed one before getting back to work.<br />
<br />
I therefore decided to wear my wetsuit to allow me to stay in longer, and was glad I did as after half hour I was feeling a bit chilly even in my 3-2. I watched a large group of lady swimmers arrive on the far beach, and judging by the endless screams and laughs the cold waves were testing them out! <br />
<br />
Sadly the waves decresed in size quite quickly as the tide ebbed but I was able to capture a handful of nice images before I headed back to work.
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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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  • A 2.5º COLD morning at the Rhosneigr beaches, and near windless in the brilliant morning sunshine. Even from the van I could hear the crashing waves in the distance & I was getting excited. I raced to the top of the dunes and just knew it was a photo morning, though a rushed one before getting back to work.<br />
<br />
I therefore decided to wear my wetsuit to allow me to stay in longer, and was glad I did as after half hour I was feeling a bit chilly even in my 3-2. I watched a large group of lady swimmers arrive on the far beach, and judging by the endless screams and laughs the cold waves were testing them out! <br />
<br />
Sadly the waves decresed in size quite quickly as the tide ebbed but I was able to capture a handful of nice images before I headed back to work.
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  • Brilliant morning sunshine backlighting crashing waves at Porth Tyn Tywyn, West Anglesey, North Wales.
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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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  • 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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  • Prints up to A3 size only<br />
<br />
Massive Waves from the Irish Sea, rolling into the small cove of Porth Oer on the tip of the Llyn Peninsula in North Wales. I'd been surfing in these waves shortly before!
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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 />
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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 />
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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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  • NOT FOR SALE<br />
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The warm sun broke the dark shadows and threw lines of light to the pounding heads racing to reach the shore first. They were white, massive and magnificent. In fact although I have seen much, much bigger waves here at the Cape, I had never really 'studied' the faces through a long lens, actively followed the faces as they rose up and teetered at the top. I have always been in awe of the waves in surf magazines and would still die to sit in a viewing boat at Pipeline or Jaws but here I was in the early morning light of Cornwall, watching and listening to these magnificent beasts rear up and hurl themselves at the coast, the noise loud, continuous and unforgiving. I just wish I had an even longer lens as I wanted to shoot just the faces, not the crests or the pits, so I have very unusually cropped one image here just to show you why! I need something like a 200-400 VR lens but by all accounts they simply don't deliver on results but maybe for this sort of subject I would have found it more than acceptable, answers on a postcard please!
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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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  • What a difference a season makes. In the summer this beach is busy with tourists, swimming, kayaking and paddle boarding on the water; families eating fish & chips on the sea front and dozens of walkers perambulating along the seafront, but in Winter, it feels vast, empty and exposed. The full force of the wind howls onto this beach from the Irish Sea and the mountains behind seem darker, higher and more ominous. The ancient hill fort s gradually being eroded away, now less than half the size of the original, and hardly surprising when you watch the waves relentless attacking the base.   <br />
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The wind was so strong that the sea became a conveyer of fast, foamy white waves that pushed far up the beach on every landfall. My feet got soaked as the water wrapped around my legs time after time but it was all part of the amazing experience of feeling connected to winter as much as the landscape itself.
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  • These huge, gorgeous granite boulders have been formed over years of pounding and smashing by the Atlantic waves. Though some are half the length of a grown man's body, these boulders are like toy marbles in the grip of Sennens biggest storm waves. Even the solid granite breakwater has been worn smoother over history due to the attrition by the sea's load.
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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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  • 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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  • Big Irish Sea storm waves slam against the limestone cliffs of Rhoscolyn Head, North West Anglesey
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  • Having fun with the big October waves storming onto Tyn Tywyn beach at Rhosneigr last week. I love the compositional luck of shooting the chaos of waves, bubbles, and reflections in these fast and difficult conditions, never knowing quite what will appear when I download the disc to the Mac. So many images don't work at all but every now and then a little cracker like this one smiles at me, and I smile back.
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  • The water was warm & clear (mostly) and I was in my element diving under the waves around the barnacled reef. There is so much luck with composition in this sea photography business, but amazingly this is full frame, and just worked for me, with beautiful light & colours even with waves crashing overhead.
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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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  • 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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  • 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 />
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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 />
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 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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  • Waves at Rhosneigr, West Anglesey at dusk. Gentle waves on a long sandy look soft because of motion blur.
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  • Absolutely beautiful conditions last night on the West coast of Anglesey where I did a long beach walk.  The weather over Menai was thunder and rain, but this was just at the edge of the weather front where low evening sunlight bathed the beach. On the outgoing tide the most perfect tiny waves pulsed towards the sand banks, backlit by the sunlight. It was like viewing a gigantic ripple tank experiment. The sun didn’t remain intense for long and turned to one of those hazy evening where sun disappeared behind a huge cloud bank, but it remained serene anyway and held a beauty of its own.
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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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  • Gentle waves crossing at Broad Beach, as they bounce of the nearby reef at Rhosneigr, Anglesey, Wales.
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  • A large and constant river flows from open farmland on Anglesey, past Aberffraw village and out to the sea at the expansive and sandy Aberffraw beach. The wind blowing up the beach creates small standing waves in the river as it rushes against the wind.
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  • A large and constant river flows from open farmland on Anglesey, past Aberffraw village and out to the sea at the expansive and sandy Aberffraw beach. The wind blowing up the beach creates small standing waves in the river as it rushes against the wind.
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  • Storm waves crash over the headland at Cable Bay on West Anglesey.
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  • Wave jumping in big waves at Rhosneigr, April 2022
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  • Fascinating how even small waves contain so much energy when funnelled through narrow rocky channels. It was mildly intimidating as each wave rose in front of me ready to pounce!
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  • Gale blown winter surf on the outgoing tide. Every now and then a rogue wave would power up the beach and blast through the gaps in the rock to meet my feet, but as the sun dipped and the light disappeared, so did my waves.
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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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Gentle waves flow around the rocks 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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  • 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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  • 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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  • Subtle moments of brighter light at sunset after a wet, rainy day at Silver Bay, Anglesey. The advancing tide created a powerful backwash of waves.
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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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  • 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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  • In the failing light, remnants of the old jetty stand proud against the powerful rise and fall of the sea. The waves and sky did their best to suck everything away from the beach but these small objects cling like limpets to the shoreline.
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  • Waves pushing shorewards from the Irish Sea, at Rhosneigr, West Anglesey, at sunset with rich colors in the sky and splashes of water and movement of tide
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  • Storm at Sennen Cove, West Penwith, Cornwall, where Atlantic waves broke over the small harbour wall on the South side of the wide bay. Cape Cornwall headland near St Just can be seen in the background.
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  • Sunset over Mallorca and waves on the Mediterranean sea, seen from Binigaus Beach, 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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  • Storm waves crash onto the reef just 1 mile West of Land's End, the most South Westerly point of Cornwall and indeed the British Isles. This large and treacherous Longships reef is marked by the 35meter high "Longships Lighthouse" (1795) who's light reaches 15 nautical miles.
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  • Storm waves crash onto the reef just 1 mile West of Land's End, the most South Westerly point of Cornwall and indeed the British Isles. This large and treacherous Longships reef is marked by the 35meter high "Longships Lighthouse" (1795) who's light reaches 15 nautical miles.
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  • Cofete - A most spectacular beach at the Southernmost tip of Fuerteventura in the Canaries, towering volcanic cliffs and perfect sandy shoreline. However the Atlantic breakers and powerful tides around the peninsula created incredible rips that made swimming just impossible, especially on this day. We decided to sleep in the shade of a huge cliff and to our shock we were woken by the sound of crashing waves that were no more than 15 feet away from us, as the tide seemed to have risen rapidly, almost cutting us off completely from the main beach and safety. We made a lightening fast exit!
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  • Brilliant sunshine backlighting gentle waves sweeping over the beach at Silver Bay, near Rhoscolyn, Anglesey.
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  • A piece of driftwood jammed in the sand at Silver Bay, Anglesey get washed by incoming waves in the cove at sunset, during stormy, wet weather.
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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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  • Amazingy for midday, on an outgoing tide, the most beautiful expnase of virginal sand was revealed - sparkling rivulets os sand pools running away to join the sea cut perfect curves through bright surfaces and delciate waves gently slapped the shore.
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  • Waves pushing shorewards from the Irish Sea, at Rhosneigr, West Anglesey, at sunset with rich colors in the sky and splashes of water and movement of tide
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  • There was nothing set up about this image. The wood was actually there, partially embedded in the soft sands of Silver Bay as the waves washed over it on the incoming tide. In the background a gentle sun illuminated the rear of a heavy blanket of rain cloud, sending a pink glow into the air. The shift between the warm and cool ends of the spectrum were subtle and delicate, absolutely beautiful.
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  • Waves on an incoming tide  flow around large granite boulders on the shoreline of the Atlantic Coast at Sennen, West Penwith Cornwall.
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  • The river Mersey was flowing very fast out towards the Irish Sea, the sounds of wind waves slopping against the dockside. Clouds were shooting across the sky in the opposite direction and the gulls were playing in the visual turmoil of it all. I love the Mersey.
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  • Waves pile foam crescents on the high tide mark at sunset in Winter at this West Anglesey beach near Rhosneigr
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