Porthcawl

Porthcawl, a small seaside town on the south coast of Wales. I had visited the place many times as a child on days out with the family and had fond memories of the place. Like most seaside towns, it has seen a decline in the last couple of decades but looks like some serious investment is bringing it back to life. As a child I wanted to visit it to play on the wide sandy beaches or visit the funfair with its rickety old wooden rollercoaster, eat a knickerbocker glory in the ice cream shop and walk along the long victorian promenade that paralleled the beach. However, today I was visiting for a different reason……waves, big big waves!

I had been keeping my eye on the forecast all week and over the weekend the winds were SW and blowing hard (oo er) up the channel (blimey!). I had seen images before from the harbour wall at the western end of the seafront, with spectacular waves smashing over it and the little lighthouse at the end of the wall and wanted to try my hand at it. So, on the Sunday I journeyed over to see my Dad and Stepmum in Cwmbran, staying at theirs overnight and leaving early the next morning to head the other 40 miles to Porthcawl. I did take a diversion along the way, trying to get a sunrise shot at Cardiff bay, but the weather was having none of it and I left there disappointed and virtually empty handed, with this image below being the only one I reasonably liked.

I arrived in Porthcawl just after 9.30am and about 30 minutes before the high tide and I was instantly excited when I watched a huge wave crash over the harbour wall, sending seaspray high into the air. It looked like my planning had paid off.

I rushed to get my camera gear from the boot and headed over to the promenade wall. I didn’t remember the massive stone blocks that lined the edge of the promenade as a child, back then it was a cast iron railing that guarded against the sea. Now, these stone blocks were all along the wall and I guess the upgrade was required due to global warming? They would prove to be very useful in protecting me later thats for sure!

I took stock of the surroundings as I hadnt been here for a very long time and this section had seen some remodelling. Looking at the harbour I knew I needed to be the other side of it. As much as it was exciting to see the water crashing over the wall, I wanted to capture the power of the sea slamming into it on the opposite side. A short walk and I found the spot I needed to be in. My initial idea was to be on the beach, hugging the edge of the harbour wall but this idea was instantly dismissed when I realised the tide was up so high there was no beach! I had to settle for shots from the promenade instead but that wasn’t really an issue and actually proved to be very useful.

At this point I should mention the wind. Now I can remember the hurricane of ‘87 and the winds we had leading up to that. I have fond memories of being on the school rugby pitch, leaning into the wind and trying to stay upright against its force. THIS wind was nearly as strong! I am by no means a small man, but even I was getting shoved around like I was in a mosh pit at a Metallica concert! Very fun but it meant getting a shot was going to be tricky. To compound this I was almost shooting into the wind which meant spray was a constant issue on my lens. And finally, on occasion the fifth or sixth wave would come crashing into the stone wall along the promenade and send a great splash of water over everyone too close to it ( me at least once!)

So with all this to deal with were there actually waves to photograph? Well, yes, of course there were! I was treated to an hour of some of the wildest, dramatic and fun photogrpahy I have ever done and came away a very happy boy. You can see some of the images I got that day in my coastal section of my protfolio but here is my favourite from the day, Poseidons Roar.

Poseidons roar. If you look with a bit of a squint you can see the face.

The trick I found was to use the stone wall as a tripod and a shelter. I was like a sniper, ducking down behind my cover, cleaning the lens then listening for the next incoming wave to roar in, leaping up, finding my target and firing off a couple of shots before ducking back down to avoid the return fire of the sea! It was immense fun and I was joined by a couple of other brave souls with their cameras. We couldn’t talk as the wind would snatch our words and scatter them but our slightly crazed grins each time we got something was enough of a communication to know we were all in the same zone!

I left after about 90 minutes, worn out, elated and pretty wet. But I had over 800 images on my memory card to sift through and an eternal memory in my brain of a fantastic session with my camera and something I can remember fondly for many years to come (hopefully!).

Until next time dear reader!