Action Sports Photography

On 23 August 2011, I gave a lecture at Dublin Camera Club about Action Sports photography. Following that, I promised to put a list of useful action sports resources and ideas for info if you were interested in it.

These are the sports I have covered:

• kitesurfing
• surfing
• windsurfing
• climbing
• bodyboarding
• motorsports
• kayaking
• stand up paddleboarding.

There’s a lot of watersports there by the way, and the big driver for me is kitesurfing obviously.

So first up:

Websites.

• Roger Sharp’s Guide to becoming a surf photographer
• Club of the Waves
• I kite because
• Mpora
• Magic Seaweed
• Art.com’s surf collection

Magazines

• Kiteworld
• Kitesurf
• Kiteboarding
• Carve
• Surfgirl
• Surfer Magazine
• Transworld Surf
• Tonnta
• Fins Irish Watersports
• Outsider Magazine

Books

• Digital Masters: Adventure Photography by Michael Clark <<<< I strongly recommend getting this if you are interested in this sort of photography
• Shooting the Curl by Chris Power <<<< This is an Orcasurf publication by the people who do Carve and Surfgirl
• Planet Kitesurf by Roberto Foresti <<<<PKRA official photographer.
• Sport and Action by Andy Steel <<<< is available through some amazon sellers. Is recommended, is also not that expensive
• Xtreme Sports Photography by Simon Fraser <<<<is increasingly difficult to get but some amazon sellers have it.
• Shorebreak Art by Clark Little <<<< this is only available from Clark Little’s own site.
• Red Bull 2011 Image Quest <<<< this will not be available for much longer
• True – 10 Years of North Kiteboarding <<<<this is an Issuu publication of the book. A hardback is available but not easily so.

Useful resources

• Windguru <<<wind predictions
• Magic Seaweed <<<wind and surf predictions
• Windfinder <<<wind predictions
• Met Eireann <<<Irish weather service
• Dun Laoghaire Harbour <<<Weather and tides as they are now in Dun Laoghaire
• Some Irish surfcams <<<Limited to Cork, Kerry, Clare and Sligo at present or “where Treasa is most likely to go”
• Kitesurfing.ie <<<Irish kitesurfing community website
• PredictWind <<< more wind prediction
• Surfline <<< more surf prediction

Kitesurfing in Dublin: If you are based in Dublin, Dollymount works in anything S, SE, ESE and occasionally SW. NE is possible but scrappy. Sutton works in N and NE and occasionally NE. Anything westerly you’re better off going to Sligo.