Joe Cockle Photography

A photographic diary of kite surfing in Cornwall

2012-02-03T08:31:00.000Z

West Cornwall has everything I could ask for as a photographer. My shots express my love of the sea and the county in which I live. There’s a stunning coast line, great waves (be it beach or reef set ups), blue water and also some great flat water locations. If you add in the abundance of riders who live here, it’s easy to see why I find it hard to leave. I often get asked why I don’t travel further up the coast. But why would I if the conditions are worse than where I live?

I spend most of my time working with close friend and professional kite surfer, Lee “Pasty” Harvey. Our aim this winter, every winter in fact, is to document UK wave riding at its highest level. We have world class locations within 20 miles of where we live and with an in-depth knowledge of the local coastline built over decades of surfing and walking the coast.

This winter has been one to remember among the best. As always in Cornwall, the wind has caused issue, but for once it’s not been a lack of it that’s been the problem, it’s how gusty it’s been. One afternoon we watched small waves roll in at Marazion while the wind speed ranged from 20-50mph. Our only option was to enjoy the view while other wave riders struggled to control their wind surfers and kites. It was a day of some of the most bizarre conditions I’ve ever experienced in the UK.

This article is a photographic blog of days spent looking for that one perfect wave. I’ve always said that if Lee’s willing to ride the wave, I’ll find some way of photographing it. This winter’s been ideal for living out that promise as it’s had many sunny days. At times though, the waves just haven’t been there. I’ve taken these opportunities to document some of the local freestyle kite surfers. There’s a tight-knit local crew down here with riders like Lee Tallon and Craig Smith pushing riding forward. If I’m totally honest, as a surfer I’ve never really understood freestyle. It looks like a whole world of hurt to me! But as I spend more time watching it and the stoke it brings to the riders, I’m starting to understand the discipline more and why they find so much joy in it.

Photography wise, my aim has always been to grab that split second of action that stands out: a massive cut back, a vertical turn in the pocket, big wipe out or massive jump. I want to show off the sport in all its glory rather than taking photos of someone riding the flats between the waves or little pops off a bit of chop. I also like to document the fun side of our lives; those early morning missions with stunning skies as a back drop, or the morning Lee decided a Santa suit was needed for a shoot at Praa Sands in the lead up to Christmas. The weather wasn’t the best, but it was worth seeing the looks on people’s faces as Lee was pumping up his kite on the beach... I was stood laughing at their looks of disbelief.

We have yet to have that one perfect day with big barrelling waves at a couple of our local reefs. But I see photos of Lee away on the KSP tour and know we have waves to that level right here in our back yard. The only difference is they break very rarely. But this makes us more focused to get out there and show the world what West Cornwall has to offer.

We’ve had some great times this winter, often surfing prefect waves with no one else in the water. Where else would you get perfect cross shore reeling waves without any other kite surfers on them?...Or days when everyone’s out at Marazion pushing themselves into trying new tricks that they’d never try without the peer pressure that comes from being around good friends, and the obvious laughter when everything goes wrong.

I’ll never get bored of the endless search for waves; travelling from beach to beach and spending time with great friends. That’s what winter has come to mean to me.

Free Style Kite Surfing

2011-12-04T08:41:00.000Z

Recently got back into shooting a bit of the free style kite surfing when there no waves at any of the local breaks.

Kite Surfing Porthleven

2011-12-04T08:36:00.000Z

Lee Harvey warming up at his local break before he heads off to Cape Verdi for the last round of the KSP world tour.

Porthleven surfclub surf comp

2011-11-21T14:56:00.000Z

A few photographs from a recent surf comp held by Porthleven surf club.

Mounts Bay Harriers Remembrance Day Run

2011-11-14T10:22:00.000Z

I spent yesterday photographing the wind surfing and kite surfing on Marazion beach around lunch time i noticed a large amount of people running along the beach. I later found out that it was mounts bay harriers remembrance day fun run got to give them a lot of respect as it was hard enough to stand up with some of the gusts of wind that day let alone run 2 miles along the beach straight into the wind on the return leg of the run.

PZ Astro vs Troon

2011-11-06T19:03:00.000Z

A few photographs from a Sunday league football match i watched today.

Lyndsey and Gary Prowse's wedding

2011-11-05T08:26:00.001Z

I had the pleasure of photographing Lyndsey and Gary Prowse's wedding on the afternoon of the 28th of October.They were blessed with great weather for the whole day. They wanted their photographs to be edited with a retro fill to them so people could look at them and would not be sure if they were taken yesterday or 10 years ago.

Olivia and Harrison

2011-10-16T14:44:00.002+01:00

Snatch the Wax dj's

2011-10-10T09:19:00.000+01:00

Being work with a local DJ collective doing some profile shots and also some graphic design for there flyer's here a few examples of what we've come up with so far.

The Newlyn Project

2011-10-10T07:47:00.000+01:00

Well taking a walk around my local fishing port I was surprised at the number of different industries that rely purely on fishing for there survial, with fish stocks dropping in many area's throughout the world it makes you wonder just how long thhis small fishing port in Newlyn Cornwall will survive.

It's amazing how the most simple of things like a fishing net or crab pot can make a great photograph the little details that we seem to miss as we go about our everyday life.

Mean Machine Maut Thai Kick Boxing

2011-10-04T10:35:00.002+01:00

Lucy Pain winning her championship belt.

TouchGloves fighters.

This was my 1st real time taking photos of kickboxing at a live event i had a great day and enjoyed the whole atmosphere even though the fighters were going all out to knock each other out the moment their bout was finished they were off to share a beer and chat about the fight. Its great to see an event run this way and although I'm not totally happy with all my photos I enjoyed the whole day and the atmosphere of it.

Anyone one interested in starting kick boxing should check out http://www.touchgloves.co.uk/ a great family run gym in Penzance Cornwall. With the number 1 ranked female fighter Julie kitchen as one of the instructors with 13 world championship belts to her name.

Joe Way Paddle for Life

2011-09-17T12:13:00.000+01:00

I attended the the http://www.joeway.co.uk/ paddle for life this week an amazing event that only aim is to raise money for charity and to inspire people to get involved with fund raising. A great turn out with 200 people paddling and nearly 500 on the harbour wall at Newquay watching the event.

The Jubilee Session's

2011-09-05T08:18:00.003+01:00

I photographed the second of three of the recent Jubilee Sessions in Penzance Cornwall, I am in no doubt that this has to be the best venue that i have ever been too within the UK. Open air pool right next to the sea in one of the most beautiful towns in the county the only thing lacking was the massive crowd a venue like this should have!! I'm not sure people realise what a gem they have here and how if it could turn into one of those summer venues people would travel 100's of miles to viste. You could imange a Sunday afternoon session with bar and BBQ's people chilling out in the sun or in the pool with life guards on hand if anything goes wrong local dj's pumping out the tunes well everyone partied and spent time with friends and family i think sometimes we need to look at other parts of the world to see how things really should be run.

Stanton Warriors

2011-09-04T18:15:00.000+01:00

Stanton Warriors played at Sound night club in Penzance on sat 3rd of sept a great night with full dance floor i had the pleasure of taking photos of the night and the chance to enjoy the music in the company of friends.

Penzance Paddle for Life

2011-08-30T16:03:00.000+01:00

August bank holiday saw the 1st Penzance Paddle for Life raising money for St Julia's Hospice in Hayle Cornwall, the event was a great success and hopefully going to turn into an annual event.

Annie Mac L2

2011-08-16T08:39:00.001+01:00

Radio 1 DJ Annie Mac at L2 nightclub in Truro.

Snatch The Wax warmed the building up before Annie played her set and also brought the night to a close with a great back to back set.

Film Crew documenting my photography

2011-07-22T10:10:00.000+01:00

Spent yesterday with a film crew from Outset Cornwall filming me doing a photo shoot with the Knights from The Red Glove building them a portfolio for up coming events. Heres a copuple of photos from the day.

Pirates of Penzance

2011-07-06T21:48:00.000+01:00

Penzance recently set the world record for the most people dressed as pirates in one place, what a great day with some amazing fancy dress outfits.

Bass fishing photos

2011-07-04T09:14:00.000+01:00

These are a selection of photographs from a recent trip to Padstow.

Female Kickboxing

2011-06-22T16:35:00.007+01:00

Penzance has one of the best gym's for training for kick boxing "Touch gloves" this family run gym produces champion after champion just click on the link below if you fancy giving this sport a go. Its not all about the contact sport kick boxing is a great form of fitness and can be enjoyed by one and all no matter what your level is.

http://www.touchgloves.co.uk/touchgloves/touchgloves/index.html

The Pasty Cup

2011-06-20T09:13:00.000+01:00

Kite Racing came to Penzance this weekend with the 1st annual Pasty Cup racing across the Mounts Bay. The event was organised by top British kite surfer Lee Harvey. Anybody interested in trying this exciting sport should check out his website http://www.pastyadventures.co.uk/ for great prices on starter lessons.

To few baby pics from a shoot yesterday.

2011-06-19T07:06:00.000+01:00

Freya Harvey.

People of the Past

2011-06-17T09:09:00.000+01:00

Just finished doing some promotional photographs for a local educational group People of the Past which aim to go into schools and teach local children about life in the middles ages this is hands on teaching through play and aims to educate in a factual fun way. Check out there facebook page for more info on how your local schools could get involved.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/People-of-the-Past/103095909783523?ref=ts

Views of Cornwall

2011-04-01T14:50:00.001+01:00

Cornwall has some stunning views I'm blessed as a photographer in the area i live everyday i go to different places all as beautiful as the last. With so many views and the great changes in the seasons this really is a county of pure beauty.

child protraits

2011-03-26T12:49:00.000Z

Heres a selection of pics of a few child portraits i have done in recent weeks.

Rachel and Steves Wedding

2010-11-02T17:42:00.000Z

Here are a few images from a recent wedding, i had the pleasure of taking the photographs of there special day.

Kittens

2010-10-10T21:15:00.000+01:00

A few recent portraits of kittens

Blle ile France

2010-09-10T07:35:00.000+01:00

Belle Ile is a small island off the tip of Brittany France here are a few images that i took well i stayed there.

France

2010-09-08T06:37:00.000+01:00

Well traveling through France these are a few things that caught my eye.

Female Kick boxing

2010-08-16T15:49:00.002+01:00

Penzance gym Touch Gloves has a wealth of high quailty female fighters heres a few images of 2 of the girls getting some ring time in before there next big fight.

http://www.touchgloves.co.uk/touchgloves/touchgloves/index.html

Sunset and waves

2010-06-12T14:35:00.001+01:00

Wish4Fish charity night club 2k Penzance.

2010-06-06T08:35:00.002+01:00

Superstock 2010

2010-05-23T07:32:00.000+01:00

Super stock power boat racing Penzance.

Fishing and Shooting

2010-05-09T10:24:00.000+01:00

Shooting

Fishing

Rugby and Football

2010-05-03T12:04:00.000+01:00

Football

Rugby

Wind Sports

2010-04-30T05:38:00.002+01:00

Windsurfing

Kite Surfing

Blowcarting

Heres a few more photographs from my sports portrait series of images.

Tennis and Golf

2010-04-23T05:54:00.001+01:00

Fencing

2010-04-21T20:15:00.000+01:00

Lousie Bond-Williams

B.K.S.A Watergate Bay Cornwall

2010-04-19T09:48:00.000+01:00

The 1st round of the BKSA kicked off this wknd at Watergate Bay Cornwall with very little wind over the course of the weekend the action was at a bare minimum.Never the less the event took place with course racing on the Sat and tester sessions for the audience taking place on the fri and the sun.

http://www.britishkitesurfingassociation.co.uk/

For more information on upcoming events check the BKSA website out on the above link.

Lee "Pasty" Harvey

2010-03-30T20:35:00.000+01:00

http://www.leepasty.co.uk/

The Blue Gym Project

2010-03-21T10:54:00.000Z

These are the iamges that i am using for my prints in the blue gym exhibition i've gone for high grain black and white images.

http://www.bluegym.org.uk/

Football

2010-03-14T18:38:00.000Z

Went and watched one of the local football teams play today here's a few of the stranger photographs from the day.

A little warm up for things to come

2010-03-04T20:47:00.002Z

James Waters

Dom Moore

Heres a few from a session last week for the full report your have to check the next issue of kitesurf.

A few from Marazion today

2010-02-26T20:45:00.000Z

Seb Smart

2010-02-18T20:45:00.000Z

Surfing portraits

2010-02-11T07:46:00.001Z

Sam Beackley

Seb Smart

Here is a couple more images from my sports portrait series.

Life on the beach

2010-02-07T08:02:00.003Z

A few from today

2010-02-05T19:08:00.000Z

Andy F

Ian Black

Today wasn't all that we hoped for but a few riders managed to snag some sick ones with Andy getting a massive air and Ian getting some sick turns.

Juile Kitchen 10x world kick boxing champion

2010-02-02T14:34:00.001Z

Julie Kitchen

When it come s to extreme sports female kick boxing is right up there with the best of them. Julie is 10x world champion based in Penzance recently voted the best female fighter in the world by voters in Japan. It shocks me that someone with so much talent and proven track record finds it hard to get sponsorship in the UK anyone interested in helping her can contact her on link below.

http://www.touchgloves.co.uk/touchgloves/index.html

Blue Gym

2010-02-02T07:04:00.000Z

This is another image i am working on for The Blue Gym Project.

Sports Portraits

2010-02-01T20:45:00.001Z

Clifford Thiel

This is the first image in a series of sports portraits documenting the different sports wear that indivadual sports people wear and how this clothing differs from sport to sport.

Marazion 7-12-2009

2009-12-08T15:33:00.000Z

Another monday session at marazion the light and weather weren't the best but here's a couple of edited up of local riders Ian Black and Steve King.

The Blue Gym

2009-12-07T09:37:00.000Z

Another advert i've made to advertise The Blue Gym Project.

http://www.bluegym.org.uk/

Chun Quoit

2009-12-04T17:20:00.000Z

I live in Cornwall not only am I blessed with some of the best beaches in the world but we also have a some stunning historical sites. This gives me a vast amount of photographic opertunites this image is of a Stone Age Monument Chun Quoit this is one of many such sites in my local area every time you visit such places you come back with different images.

The changable conditions in weather in my local area make every shoot different and keep my interest in photography high knowing every time i go out with my camera i will come back with very individual images.

The Blue Gym

2009-12-04T14:31:00.001Z

The Blue Gym is a project that we are involved with at University it is a project that prescribes outdoor activities rather than medicine. Its a great project and we've been asked to make images to be used to promote the whole project finishing with a big exhibation in April show casing the the images we produced this is an example of one of the images i've produced as an advert. Fishing is the biggest water sport in the world and more people go fishing than play football so it seemed the right place to start when it came to producing images.

http://www.bluegym.org.uk/

Windsurfing Wipeouts

2009-11-24T20:16:00.000Z

Over the last few weeks Andy King's been landing nearly everything he goes but when it goes wrong it really goes wrong heres a couple that didn't go to plan.

Another day another Marazion session

2009-11-23T18:55:00.000Z

Andy King backloop

Andy Fawcett

Ben Savill

Andy King No footed backloop better know as a wipeout

Well another windy day I can't actually remember now the last time it wasn't windy and yet again another day at maza heres a selction of some of the photographs from today.

More photos from sunday at Maza

2009-11-23T10:42:00.000Z

Heres a couple more photos from yesterdays session at maza this time its Steve King

Marazion

2009-11-22T18:38:00.001Z

Jan Sleigh at marazion today bringing the old school back with a cheese roll. This was another day of what could of been plenty of swell and wind but just didn't pull together to make a classic day of windsurfing.

Local wildlife

2009-11-09T19:41:00.000Z

It still amazes me the wildlife you can find so close to my home in Penzance

This is becoming a winter to remember

2009-11-07T17:24:00.000Z

This is fast becoming the best start to the winter season i can remember another session today at marazion with Steve King the standout of the day. Sometimes windsurfing just looks an easy sport to take part in but as you can see from the last photo when things go wrong they really go wrong.

BWA hits Cornwall

2009-11-02T11:22:00.000Z

The BWA Mormaii hit Cornwall this wknd and come sunday Marazion produced the goods with some massive ramps to be hit and a few nice waves to be riden. John Skye won the day but the whole comp went off well with the first rounds being held in Gwithian earlier that week. All in all it was a great event and i can't wait till next year it's nice to have windsurfing compention back in Cornwall.

Autumn colour

2009-10-31T09:14:00.000Z

Autumn is here and the trees are changing colour here are just a couple of photos ive taken this year showing off the colours of Autumn.

2009-10-30T18:23:00.001Z

I recently spent two days working with the CN4C charity and the Eden project helping out on a couple of play days in Bodmin. The 1st day we built a raft and rope swings in the woods and on the second day we had a story telling day on the moore where the children had to work there way through a course of challenges making sure they didn't wake the giant of the cheese stone.

1st of the winter storms

2009-10-19T19:13:00.005+01:00

The first of the winter wind arrived but the waves weren't really up to the job. These shoots were taken at Marazion of local rippers "Lee Harvey" on the kite and "Andy King" on the windsurfer these two riders seem to stand out in there chosen sports no matter what the conditions are like

Kite surfing

2009-10-13T12:41:00.000+01:00

With winter coming soon i for one am hoping for a storm filled season and the chance to get some new pics from a couple of new breaks that we've been checking out this summer. In this pic "Lee Harvey" making the most of some summer breeze.

A few pics of birds from a walk with the dog today

2009-10-12T15:44:00.000+01:00

A set of night time photographs

2009-10-11T20:16:00.000+01:00

Old windsurf pic

2009-10-11T17:56:00.001+01:00