Chasing winter light at Watergate Bay
Photographer Martin Davenport – aka Aquasnaps – spends his free time during #SecretSeason chasing the many hues of winter’s fleeting light to capture moments of connection between people and the sea.
Between thrumming hailstorms and November’s first flurry of snow, shards of sunlight break through gloomy skies to light the waves whipping the sand Watergate Bay. Enough to deter most, but for surf photographer Martin Davenport (@aquasnaps) there’s still that pull to get out there and capture it – his secret reason to be by the sea at this time of year.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s freezing cold, snowing or hailing – I still want to get in,” he says. “There isn’t anything other than getting in the sea that I think about doing.”
“No matter where people have come from – whether they’ve got the weight of the world on their shoulders or got nothing to think about – they feel the same enjoyment being in and around the ocean. It’s hard to describe. It’s just a magical place to be.”
Winter drama
Growing up in a small hamlet just outside Newquay, Martin felt the call of the ocean from an early age. Obsessed by the images in surf magazines, he’s spent the past 14 years capturing the waves and riders at Watergate Bay. But during autumn and winter – Cornwall’s secret season – is when he most loves shooting from the water, drawn by the drama, solitude and shifting light.
“In winter the light’s forever changing. It’s quite magical as it hits the cliffs – especially in the mornings and evenings, when it gives the most atmosphere and changes how the whole scene looks and feels,” he says. “It gives you that moody, more dramatic feeling.”
Watergate Bay is Martin’s home break, where his love of surfing first pulled him behind the lens. “I love Watergate Bay because it’s my local, it’s where I started out, and it’s where I feel most at home in the water,” he says.
“No matter where people have come from – whether they’ve got the weight of the world on their shoulders or got nothing to think about – they feel the same enjoyment being in and around the ocean. It’s hard to describe. It’s just a magical place to be.”
People and passion
Squeezing every ocean-hour possible around his job as an electrician, Martin has become a familiar face in Newquay’s line-ups. It’s his lifelong connection with the ocean – and the people who share it – that defines his photographic style.
Preferring natural encounters over staged shoots, his images capture the genuine joy of surfers and their interaction with the ocean. “Shooting the environment and scenery is great on its own,” he says, “but when I go in, I try to create a story about the people and the in-between moments: the stoke on their faces, or the seagulls flying by. It’s something about the people here, and their relationship with the sea that speaks to me.”
It draws you in
Even after travelling halfway around the world, Martin is always lured back to Watergate Bay. “Whichever way you approach Watergate Bay, just getting here is quite special. It’s cut into a steep valley and as you come over the brow of the hill you can stop in the lay-by and watch the waves – it just draws you in and makes you really want to be here.”
“My favourite thing to do here in winter? Get in the sea. I mean, what else was I going to say? Even if you don’t want to get in, you should kick off your shoes and walk along the shoreline. Whatever the weather.
“No matter where people have come from – whether they’ve got the weight of the world on their shoulders or got nothing to think about – they feel the same enjoyment being in and around the ocean. It’s hard to describe. It’s just a magical place to be.”
Martin also loves the stretch of coast path from the bay to Mawgan Porth which “feels wild and isolated”. Always ready with a camera, Martin loves capturing the fleeting light and changes of winter. “Every day is different. Those shots you take one moment will be completely different a minute later – the expression, the weather or whatever’s going on.”
Where better to wander cliff tops and sand and be drawn to the sea this #SecretSeason.
Find your secret reason to be by the sea at Watergate Bay. And read Watergate Bay: Secret Season for more about where to eat, drink, surf, sauna and even skate at Watergate Bay this year.
