It looks like Saturday won't be the best day to whip the camera out and take shots. The Weather Channel is expecting a 100% chance for rain during the morning hours. It also looks like the swell got downgraded a bit but it still looks like it could be a little fun. I'll probably be there with surfboard and camera in hand but I'd rather get the surfboard wet instead of my camera.

Make sure you pick up an edition of The Folly Current Newspaper coming out this February (I believe). Some of my shots from the first swell of 2010 will be in there.

Counting down the days to the water housing arriving. If you see a guy out in the water with swim fins and a camera don't run him over. I will most likely take my camera and housing out in the water on a smaller cleaner day just to get used to it.

Mike C.

Looks like waves are on the horizon, not the biggest stuff but looks like it could be clean. As always I'll be shooting when the swell arrives. Again, I can't thank enough all of you who have been purchasing CD's, prints, and spreading the word. It makes me really happy when random people come up to me or write on the blog here, "I really like what you're doing." Thanks a lot guys.

Here are some photos of creatures and other things at the beach to keep you busy. Enjoy.

Mike C.


Pigeon of the Pier


Had to wash his mouth out after the crab. (See previous post)




Flat

***Apologies for not posting my pics to Flickr yet. I got caught up doing some management homework...lame. Photos will be up on the page in about 10min

FLICKR LINK (photos are not post processed and are of medium quality except a few)

Yeah... All the major surf forecast sites were calling for a more than decent day today. 4-5 foot fair to good conditions was the call but after checking the cam this AM I was slightly let down. The cam usually doesn't do it justice but I didn't think it was worth it. After talking to a few people who were actually surfing this morning my cam observations were correct; it just wasn't that good.

This afternoon 'just wasn't that good' either. It actually looked better yesterday than today. Very windy and drifty conditions. The winds just never turned all the way around. Can't get upset at the surf forecasters though. There were some plus sets rolling through as forecasted, but the winds weren't cooperating at all.

Ill post the few pictures I got today and check the Flickr page; I'll have the photos from yesterday up later tonight. The photos on the Flickr page for the most part are unedited.

Pics will be arriving in a couple of minutes....

Mike C.










hungry

Although it was pretty choppy all day there were a lot of fun waves to be had. Steep drops and fast sections made for a good time despite the multiple duck dive brainfreezes. I started shooting around 1 and got some nice shots. I like shooting around that time of day because the sun isn't directly in my face.

It looks like the winds might start cooperating tonight and give some semi glassy conditions tomorrow am. Hopefully the tide won't be too low. Low tide tomorrow is at 9am and high is around 3pm. Regardless we should have some fun surf tomorrow. If it looks good early (8am ish) I'll try and get out there before class to shoot a little and surf.

It was a weird weather day. One minute the sun would be out, the next minute we'd have some dark cloud cover. The photos when the sun was out are better than the ones when the clouds took over. The wind was also creating a little sea spray which caused some hazing.

Contact me for CD prices/session booking.

Mike C

Here is a little example of the editing I had to do in order for the shots I took Sunday to be acceptable. As you guys and gals know the fog was very thick all day. Usually the sun burns off the remaining morning fog but it stuck around. The sun shining through the fog acts as a diffusing filter that drains all the color out of the shots and leaves the photos looking blown out.

Look....



This is the original photo. Look at the white, washed out, blueish tinge the fog is producing.



Here is the same photo but heavily processed to "eliminate" the fog layer. The fog and the direct sunlight is still affecting the quality of the shot but it is much more clearer now. I told you I'd step up my editing skills!


I still have tons to learn about Photoshop and editing my photos to make them look the best. Seems like everyday I learn something new which makes the shots look so much better. Once again I can't thank all of you enough who have given me positive support about my blog and photos.

I have just a few requests left to edit and burn to CD. All CD's will be shipped out by tomorrow afternoon.

Waves are on the horizon.

Mike C.

Here are some sequences and extra photos from the last swell we had. A lot of editing had to go on to "eliminate" the fog from the photos.

For everyone who requested a CD of photos from me, they will be shipped by Thursday so you get them by at least the weekend. For everyone who is still in talks with me about CDs, contact me before Thursday so I have time to edit and ship them to you by the weekend.

MY WETSUIT CAME IN TODAY!

That's all for tonight.

Mike C.





This guy always finds a tube





Longboard shove-it!? Never seen it before.

This morning at The Washout conditions were semi-glassy (minimal bump) with waves running in the 2-3' range with occasional bigger sets. It looked a lot weaker than yesterday with that SW W wind on it all night. Definitely rideable but if you weren't out there you didn't miss much.

After taking some okay (lighting was terrible, direct sunlight in my face) photos at The Washout I decided to check and see what the pier looked like. I only got about 10 saveable shots from The Washout. The pier had a really nice looking longboard/fish wave in the 3' range. Super long rides and you could see the sets coming in from a mile away. Only about 5 longboarders out so lucky for you guys there's a lot of pics.



Overall I think everyone was happy with this first swell of 2010. Looks like we have some more chop/swell to watch out for by the end of the week possibly.

Tonight all the photos will be on my flickr page from both days.** See above explanation.

Pick up the next edition of The Folly Current also. Some of my best surf photos will start showing up in the upcoming weeks.

Mike C.
CD/Picture requests, Email for details.
mcassidy.cofc@gmail.com

WASHOUT PHOTOS BELOW








FOLLY BEACH PIER SHOTS BELOW














More from the pier coming******

The waves finally arrived with better conditions than I think everyone was expecting. The wind wasn't howling hard and the drift didn't look bad at all. A bit disorganized but there were some nice looking 4' sets that would roll through. There was some power behind it also. That was the good news. Now for the bad.

Folly wasn't very photogenic this morning. I got to the beach around 830am and was welcomed by a blanket of thick fog over the water. You could barely see the swell from the road, but you could hear it. The fog layer prevented any attempts to get an acceptable shot from the beach. So I went to the pier until the fog started to burn off. The pier allowed me to get some pretty good shots even with the fog.

Washout AM Fog


Folly Pier AM Fog

After the fog started to burn off at the pier I made my way back down to The Washout around 12pm but there was still a layer of haze making it very hard to photograph from the beach. Almost all the pictures that I took from the beach look washed out. It was like shooting through a layer of smoke. But it got minimally better through the afternoon. My editing skills have been stepping up a bit so I was able to cut most of the haze out but some may be a little miss colored from the fog/sun.

Hopefully the swell will linger around until tomorrow AM and I can get some good shots early. Well see. For now enjoy what I got today and if you have questions or comments email me mcassidy.cofc@gmail.com

Photos will be added throughout the day/night so keep checking back.

Mike C.


PHOTOS BELOW FROM THE PIER











ALL PHOTOS BELOW FROM WASHOUT




Deep


Haze Boost























Again these are just a select few. Email to negotiate CD requests.

***I think that's all for tonight. I have a couple sequences to edit and of course I'll post all of the shots from yesterday on my flickr page by tomorrow night. Tomorrow morning? Might be good.