Lots of new images to look at.

Here are a few storys from one or two. Its always nice to hear the story behind an image.

This is Tom Lowe on a moody evening at Rileys. The light had been jumping in and out of the clouds for a couple of hours during this session and managed to peak out for the last hour or so. It was amazing. Some of the craziest colors iv ever seen. It may not look like Tom is very close to me in this shot but im shooting with a fisheye lens and for anyone that doesn’t understands, its a super wideangle lens that lets you get really close while getting loads in the frame. Tom is about 3/4ft away from me and when he is doing his thing and Im trying to get a shot and stay out of his way it gets mad. Love that moment though. That ” Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh Shit!” moment as a surfer is pelting it down the line towards me and Im sinking through the face.

Its terrible to say but Im not sure what this guys name is. He is from a crew of Portuguese that came over for prob one of the best runs of swells iv ever experienced. They really lucked out. This was the second wave in a big set. The first wave was rode by Piran Skajarowski. The lip of this wave was heavy and pretty close to me in this shot too.

This shot is one I really love and for a couple of reasons. I was out by myself this day. It’s a strange feeling swimming around in the massive Atlantic by yourself. I always get eery feelings when I think about what could be underneath me or swimming close by. I love the light in this one and how it’s reflecting off the face. Coming back in from a solo swim with shots like this is really special. I was the only one who saw this and I captured it on my camera!! This wave is also one of the closest to my home and I feel I have a good connection with it, even though its scary as hell to swim around. I don’t title my images but if I did this one would be called “Home”.

Hope you enjoy the new images on the site. Feel free to send me A msg through the Contact page letting me know what you think. Id be delighted with some feedback.

Cheers!!

D

This is Limerick model Louise Cooney

The judging box during a surf comp in Lahinch last weekend.

SeaSessions are coming to lahinch!! Get down, across or up to Lahinch for it! Its going to be a super fun event.

Il be shooting both the surf and the gig side of things so that should be fun!

Got my latest cover framed for the bedroom. So happy with my two iv got so far. There both pretty good!

A big blog will follow but for now have a good long gaze into this one.. 

This winter has been super special. It wasn’t the best winter for surf consistency but when there was waves it was pretty amazing. I spent a good lot of time in Bundoran this winter and it has been great. Its good to get to know a new stretch of coastline.

Here are some shots from a recent trip up there.

This is a shot of young english lad Ed Smith. Such a little legend of a kid. Blackspot Right doing what it does.

Brice Le Comte drop knee bazza. I love the mountains in the background.

This shot is of Strandhill beach. I haven’t been there in years so went for a day trip. Some great waves there too.

Although it looks like I got loads of waves up there this last month I did go through some rough days in Bundoran and even though I am one to keep the positivity up at all times I was finding it super difficult when we kept waking up to absolutely crap waves for about a week in a row. I turned to games of jenga, lots of cups of tea, cleaned my camera gear several times, went on facebook, tried to train, went back on facebook and so on. This went on for a few days but it all clicked together on the last day. I was keen to go home but Thursday looked like a big Mullaghmore day so I stayed. Little did I know that it was going to be a day I would never forget.

This is definitely the biggest wave I have ever seen and I feel honored to have witnessed and taken photos of it. It was the perfect end to a trip.

My picture was entered into the Billabong XXL awards competition.

For those of you who don’t know The Billabong XXL awards are the biggest big wave surfing competition in the world. They have been running for a good few years now and has seen the top big wave surfers take on the challenge of trying to ride the biggest waves our oceans can provide. It has also seen some absolutely amazing photographers submitting insane photos from all corners of the world. The award ceremony is held in California in May

This is by a long shot the proudest iv ever been of myself. Its put my name in the pot with some of the world best surf photographers and is just so so mind blowing to think they will be looking at my photo.. haha!! Madness! So now we wait and see if the picture gets nominated. Im not too worried about that. The fact that its in there is enough to make me so happy.

To put a cherry on top iv landed myself my second cover as well. Its been a mad week!!

Big thanks to madman Andrew Cotton for going on this huugee wave. He’s crazy, Im much happier and safe behind the lens.

Here are some shots from recenlty:

It was absolutely spectacular to see the sleeping monster that is Aileens wake up like that again. It is one amazing wave.

In other news I have got my fisheye lens in the water now. So hopefully I can try produce some interesting shots with that piece of kit. Also I have got myself a week off now so im going to go on a bit of a road trip and hopefully get in the liquid everyday. Just waiting to check where the swell is going to be and im there. Happy out!

D

I spent a LOT of time on my laptop editing, emailing and all that but I was lucky enough to get in the sea a few times to keep my eyes alive and even ventured into the Queens on a Saturday night to take some photos…

Here are some from a pretty heavy session that went on at Rileys featuring all the regular crew including standouts (in the red corner) Shamble McGoldrick and (in the blue corner)Sean Meehan.

I think the shot above this is the biggest wave at Rileys that iv swam beside. Absolutely blew me away watching it.

Heres two shots of me taken recently. One is by the great James Skerritt.

This shot was taken by young Northern lad Christian Mcleod. I had just been ran up the reef by a wave on my way out. My back took a bit of a scratching.

I passed a little reef on my way home and the light had got amazing. I was lucky enough to jump in the water and get some shots as the sun dropped.

I got destroyed by this wave in the photo below. The second lip seemed to compressed me onto the reef and then scoop me back up and do it again. Cool shot though.

This is a little session on another sunny day. John Buckly have some fun on the bodyboard. Ollie Flaherty free falling onto shallow water.

Next up was the MashUnit Tour in the Queens Nightclub. So much fun shooting this and so many funny shots.

Check out the Facebook Album here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.235161363235684.56633.100002254665947&type=1

Then I had a wedding fair in the Auburn Lodge in Ennis. Next one is in the Armada on Sunday if anyone would like to pop in and say hello.

So that was my last few days. A good variety of events.

Looks like this week is going to be pretty similar. Cant wait!

Iv been busy in the water and also busy getting ready for three weekends in a row of Wedding fairs. Lots going on.

Here is two sequences of me that have been taken by different people over the last few months.

First up is a few photos from a little slab in Spanish Point where Tom Gillespie swapped his bodyboard for my camera so he could take some shots of me.

This was my second time on a bodyboard. The first had ended in me losing my bodyboard  on my first wave and getting washed around an island so I was slightly nervous even though the waves were small.

So here I go.

So I didn’t get any cover shots this time but it could have been worse. At least I managed to stay on the board.

The next sequence was taken by Lyndon Wake. After spending a few hours shooting the boys using the jetski to tow at waves and try some airs at Tullan strand in Bundoran I decided I wanted a go. Now although I am a newbie to bodyboarding I am actually a reasonably average surfer so was keen to try something. Unfortunately I made a fool out of myself.

The first two actually look like there might be a bit of potential for me.

Then it goes horribly wrong.

Ya thats not what I pictured in my head was going to happen at all.

I have to put this up so theres at least one photo of someone doing something good on a wave in my blog. Here is a shot of my favorite french man Yann Mestelan doing whats he is best at while I stay nice and fixed BEHIND the lens.

So its been almost 15 days since we rescued Clive and the news is in from the Vet.. If anyone does not know what im talking about please watch the video below first..

http://vimeo.com/35019086

Clive recovered well and was released back into the wild to live a happy life. Here is the vet in Ballyshannon that preformed the surgery.

This news has made me happy!!

Here is a link to a cool little interview I did recently with Donough Cronin

http://westcoastsurfer.com/index.php?/page/articles/_/features/interviews/the-truth-about-a-grom-r110.

After writing a lot of random words on a whiteboard then wiping it clean and going through that process a few times I have finally came up with a couple of cool projects that will run through in the next few months. However being a great fan of cryptic messages i’m going to keep it to myself. All I can say now is they hopefully will be at least worthy of a look.

Now here are some pictures…

This is James Skerritt giving his clips a quick review on the back of his camera. James and I spent a pretty awesome day together a few weeks ago and both got some great stuff. I love hanging out with James and he is actually a nice guy underneath his extremely fowl language and extensive use of one bad word in particular that will never be seen on this blog.

This is Liam Grant, surfer, comedian and entrepreneur of the great http://www.lahinchsurfexperience.com/.

Liams 21st in Galway earlier in the month was interesting. He loves bananas.

Zooooom!!!

Fergal in a pretty comfortable spot. Another day in the office for this lad.

Donough Cronin on a little punchy drop. Love this backdrop. It was pretty horrible this day. Donough just got DC added to his sponsor list and also is in the process of buying his first car. Exciting times for him!

That is all!

Life in the Liquid… Series no.010 has just been put on the site. Check out the series so far HERE. Really loving this project. Is pushing me to get in the water more and more and I cant stop. Today was one of the best days iv had all winter. Amazing light and really nice waves.

Spent some time with the supernatural human that is James Skerritt too. He is one funny funny character, check out his work here.

Here is one snap from today that I really like .

Its not the best quality because of the light but its more about the wave than the image itself.