Matt Stansfield Photography: Spot M

I had an eventful day on the north coast yesterday. I travelled once again to spot M, it was going to be my last opportunity with the late tide times and with a bigger swell forecasted I was hoping for some good waves to document. Driving down I knew Aaron was already en route and on arrival Buckle and Hawkens were gathered in the car park with a few others about to get ready to go in. Worried about missing any action I rushed down and bumped into Aaron who was walking back from a pre surf photography session to kill some time as the tide was still too high, you can see some of his photos HERE. Looking at the beach the wait wasn’t going to be too long.

The surf was a heavy 4ft+ with a slight cross shore wind which wasn’t affecting it too much. I decided to shoot with my land gear and was pleased with the decision not to water shoot,it would have been a lot of swimming with the amount of water moving and probably not as productive.

The shoot didn’t get off to the best start when I decided to walk out along some rocks at the water’s edge to scout out a shooting view point, only to get soaked by a crashing wave. Maybe it was a sign of things to come.

Sure enough, after waiting 10 minutes, people started getting in and the session really kicked off with Aaron Dinham, Alex Alen, Ben Chandler, Pete Kingwell, Craig Langmead, Damian Prisk, Taylor Prisk, Hilly and a few others I didn’t recognise all getting some good waves. There were also a fair few people filming and shooting including KBB Matt Hawkens, Sam Buckle and Corsey

After about 20 minutes of getting some nice photographs the heavens opened and it was a scramble to get the camera’s sheltered. Luckily I had an umbrella to keep mine dry but it was a hindrance to say the least to try and take shots at the same time. Maybe thirty minutes later, and after getting completely soaked, the rain eased off and we were able to continue shooting for the remainder of the session before the light finally faded. 2012 has gone off to a great start, hopefully it will continue!

The the full collection will be uploaded and on-line HERE tomorrow. A few highlights below.