Ocean Artwork » Kirra

Living on the beach

admin — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 13:41:17 +0000

I just recently moved from the high rise Ive been living in to a classic little place opposite the beach.

One of the great things about that is when the conditions are right, I can just grab my housing and walk out the front door in my wetsuit and shoot a few … pretty cool

These are some of the little beach breaks out the front yesterday 20th June 2010.

The swell keeps coming … and coming. More photos from the Super Bank and Snapper Rocks to Kirra April 20th

admin — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 21:20:35 +0000

The swell keeps hanging around… It seems like the waves havent got under 3 feet for over 2 months now.
There were great waves over the weekend . I didnt pick up the camera on the weekend but had a great surf at Duranbah and surprised myself by picking up a few nice peaks in the school holiday crowd.
Shaun Harington was out there ripping on an old brown board. I saw him on one wave, backdoor the peak taking off pigdogging goofy (switchfoot) and then switch foot back, while in the tube and come sailing out in his normal stance … natural. Nice move Hazza!!
That one wave had me wishing I had my water rig out there…
Monday,this morning a brand new swell arrived this from the south.
Along with it came 20 knot winds.
I got down there pretty early, to check it out. Its been a while since Ive shot anything from the water so I was pretty keen to go for a swim. Unfortunately the conditions were less than ideal for water shots.
Duranbah was huge and out of control…The wind was howling offshore and the sweep was horrendous.
Shooting from the water is always a hit and miss situation and the odds were I would only score a few good ones with a 2 hour swim, so I opted for land based photos.
I shot 200-300 pics (the beauty of digital) These are the pick of them. If you see a photo of yourself here, or you were out surfing I may have a photo of you. If you think this is the case then contact me by clicking here.

Ocean Rhythms – Surf movie Classic a film by Steve Core

admin — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 11:05:00 +0000

Ocean Rhytms is a classic old surf flick shot in 16mm by 70′s surf photography legend Steve Core. With incredible vintage footage of MP, Rabbit and P.T in their primes.
these guys were the original Cooly kids

Steve has recently had the movie remasterd to digital and its now available on DVD .

You can purchase a copy by clicking here on Ocean Artwork
or check out Steve’s new site UtmostSpirit.com.

Below is a the original review published in TRACKS in 1975
written by the one and only Martin Tullemans

Steve gets it all Flowing.

Ocean Rhythms is not only a current up to date look at hot radical surfing – it is a refreshingly entertaining surf movie: something very different from the stereotyped overseas formula for a surf flick. Certainly it is not as slick; without the mandatory Pipeline water footage and other effects which we have been accustomed to from the Hollywood of surf footage: Hawaii.
It largely owes its popularity to the fact that it is about Australian surfers surfing their own waves and ripping tem to its. You can’t help but get the feeling that was expounded years ago; that we’re tops now! For once a surf film maker has given an audience what they have been wanting; an honest in depth surfer’s movie featuring Australia’s best surfers on their favourite home surf breaks.
Definitely value, this one, as there is a variety of surfers and great surf breaks filmed from unreal positions as well as photographically stimulating approaches to keep you hanging on the edge of the seat. There is some Bells footage in there, an unreal reef sequence with P.T., Rabbit (the bunny in the burrow) and Ian Cairns where the film’s maker Steve Core was able to get a look straight down the length of the tube that is pretty full on.

Terry Richardson at his home break blowing people out with his cutbacks into the tube as well as some Bali material of a short trip. Rabbit rips up Duranbah, Burleigh, Kirra and carves great hunks at Uluwatu, often sliding into deep caverns and attempting radical moves which he pulls off frequently.
There are some crowd loosener-uppers tacked on to the opening moments in each half of the film of a zany W.C.Fields slapstick and a Woody Woodpecker enhancing the entertainment and assisting as valuable cutaways to keep you interested as pure surfing is a bit heavy to sit through continuously.
Michael comes on in the second half riding some outrageous tubes at Kirra and Burleigh which he carves up casually with a fierce radical aggressiveness that completely put his true ability in clear perspective.
Peter Crawford’s individual surfing style and ability on his circus machine at Dee Why and the incredible backside moves of Col Smith complete a well balanced overall picture of contemporary Australian surfers.
The coke contest section is a great statement of the radical surfing of the times, with everyone ripping, slicing, shredding, powering and generally going for it something fierce.
Martin Tullemans

A few shots of the Super bank off Big groyne Kirra Monday 6th April

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 13:20:38 +0000

Theres been a lot of talk about Kirra being back…..

Well Im here to tell you that’s all a load of crap.

There’s still billions of tons of sand filling in the break that was once the infamous Kirra.

Sure theres been some great waves out in front of the Big groyne lately, courtesy of cyclone Jasper. But the reality is if you went any further down the line, from Big groyne, it was almost impossible to take off without Jetski assistance.

Sure you can call it the ‘best Kirra in years’ but the truth is the spot where Shane Beschen scored his two perfect 10′s many years ago is still well and truly buried.

There have been many photos floating about in the last few months.
and so many photographers covering its incredible.
So you can imagine my surprise when I ventured down there on Monday to fire a few off and I was the only photographer there.

Heres a sample.

Surf in Italy??…Naaaahhh..Maybe??

admin — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 12:27:30 +0000

A few years ago if anyone had told me that there was good surf in Italy, I would have laughed.
That was before I met a guy who gave me the lowdown on whats happening in the way of surf in Italia…. Paolo D’angelo
Paolo is 3 times Italian open surf champion.
The last time he won was actually a few years ago, in 2003.
He’s been living in Australia, married to an Aussie girl for quite a few years now.
He surfs the Gold coast points regularly and is out in the water every chance he gets.
He reckons most Aussie guys would be surprized at the quality of surf available in Italy, especially on the island of Sardinia, which has very consistent surf and is right in the middle of the Mediteranean sea.
Paolo has a small factory around the back of Kirra where he works on his high performance boards and does a lot of ding repairs.
And he’s a dam fine surfer.

If you want to check out some of his shapes or you need a board repaired you can find him here.
Unit 2/46 Ourimbah rd. Kirra phone 0405424113

In search of Michael Peterson a Review by Martin Tullemans

admin — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:26:21 +0000

The release and premiere of the movie ‘Searching for Michael Peterson’ truly struck a bottom turn in my heart.
It was not your usual pump up the hydraulic plumbing macho fluid stuff.
Sure the rip tear and lacerate of ‘MP’ the father of modern high performance surfing was……. oh yeah baby!!!…. Show me the money!!! But it also had a humanity and respect for Michael’s condition that set it a cut above.

Jolyon Hoff the producer needs to be applauded and congratulated for the sensitive rendering and the depth of historical research he went to.

I might take a walk on the wild side here myself. My mate and ‘brother in arms’ MP….. we used to hang out, play chess and rap at his factory where he rented me a small room for my darkroom work in 75/76.
Michael had a much stronger strain of a mental condition that I myself have had to learn to manage with discipline and application. I only have bipolar disorder which quite a few highly talented and respected surfers and artist’s high profile people have.
I regret to this day that I could not convince my film associate Chris Bystrom to get medicated. He had three major things go wrong in his life before his untimely head on with a semi trailer.
Michaels condition paranoid schizophrenia; we knew nothing of at the time. We just knew he was as quiet and introverted as a ‘library bookworm nerd’ on land and did a complete out of the closet Clark Kent to superman switch once he hit the surf.
From my own experience, mental conditions are handed down the family tree line of some emotional pain or hurt of the parent/ grandparent/ great grandparent that has not been trashed out through the heart centre
releasing it.

I could have given you the standard reportage of the play by play film story rehash but I have just come back from a week of tai chi and meditation in the Noosa national park..I did not want to clutter your minds with more of the usual information overload rehash bash.

The reason Michael Peterson is so revered is he followed his heart and walked the talk. This is highly unusual today as in this entertainment world we let the great actors and general James Bond cats walk our own talk for us.
In Michaels day to be a surfer was really going against the grain as society still had be straight and conform to normal rules from the post second world war fallout and baggage. Michael’s behaviour if you read Sean Doherty’s book will reveal the clues on the things that caused his body and mind to be afflicted with the fear at every turn and step. If you do have such a condition as some of us big monkeys that swing from surfing’s tribal tree do.
Join us get medicated, and manage it. No shame be game. After all, they nicknamed MP the MONK for the long gangly killer ORANG UTANG paddler arms and the primitive psych out vibe that THE MISSING LINK was capable of.

We all owe a debt to Michael for BUSTIN DOWN THE DOORS of plain average surfing performance and showing us a standard of excellence and possibility.
A man of vision and courage!!.
His buddy and mate from 75 /76; MARTIN TULLEMANS surf photographer from 72 to 2003 on active tour of duty.
Now merely a pelican or sea eagle gliding and sliding on the winds above the jackals , hyenas, lions, tigers, kelpies, pure bred Aussie mongrels and barrel chested, pot bellied, chook legged, wave hogs on long lumber thrashing it out on the hydroscape.

BEFORE YOU GO FOR A SURF THINK THESE WORDS ‘SORRY MATE’, SHARE AND SOUL THEN MAYBE LIFE WILL BE A BEAUTIFUL WORLD AND A PARTY ONCE AGAIN IN THE WATER

MARTIN TULLEMANS

Check out more of Marty’s classic photos below and in our shop.

Click here to Purchase this print

Click here to purchase this print

Photos from Snapper Rocks, Greenmount, Kirra February 3rd 2009

admin — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 20:31:26 +0000

I finally managed to get in the water at Snapper on Tuesday…of course I missed it!..
The day before on Monday it was absolutely pumping through the beach at Coolangatta, kegging right down past big groyne at Kirra.
There wasn’t much current so I swam / drifted all the way from Snapper Rocks down past Kirra…
I got a few pics of the surfers on the way through Rainbow, but got down to Coolangatta beach pretty quickly.
It was pretty spooky and sharky down there as I was on my own …swimming….( a man was attacked by a Great White less than a kilometre from here only a few weeks ago), but I hung in there and tried to get the shot.. I didn’t want millions of surfers cluttering up the picture!
I was after the classic ‘in the tube looking out’ shot …….looking out of the barrel into the sunset. So I had to get away from the crowd
Unfortunately I didn’t get what I was after, the waves weren’t big enough, but scored a few nice ones anyway.
So as the sun was setting I decided to make the swim to the beach, over the deep, sharky gutter between me and the shore.

So here I am, lying on my back kicking my fins and making good progress across (in my mind) the shark filled channel….
I don’t mind being on a board at this time of night but when your whole body’s immersed in the water, you tend to feel a little vulnerable.
I was shitting myself! Every ripple, every ‘darker than normal’ shape in the water …was a potential prehistoric predator…..coming to swallow me whole!!!!!!..
Then all of a sudden a surf boat came smashing over a wave right near me.
Slapping me back in to reality.
They obviously hadn’t seen me and I was lucky they hadn’t run me over…
Aaaaah the perils of shooting the Super bank!!!
It was almost dark when I got to shore, relieved, legs like jelly; I started the long walk back to Snapper and the car. …..