Sunday, October 25, 2015

t.i.d. ± this is denmark

remember
if you start shooting ocean or surf life in northern europe, denmark or scandinavia its probably not a good idea to only aim for the perfect surf water shot. there are better places in the world to shoot perfect blue and cristal clear barrels with amazing watercolours!
but if u call this part of the world your home and you feel conected to it as much as a lot of my friends and i do, you dont care about it way too much!
still, its nice to get decent surf once in a while, and days like this are rare.
i was planning to come only for a day trip, with a friend. we did not take anything else then our surfboards and some photo equipment. we decided not to take the camper van, since we only came for the day. (bad idea)
the conditions were too good not to stay, so we decided to buy some toothbrushes and stayed in the vorupør hotel. that place is classic.
the next day it was a blast!! offshore and lovely surf almost everywhere! there were crowds of surfer in the water like u never see up here!
we managed to find some lonely barrels and surfed until we were all done. when we met victor, a local from klitmøller and jonas a ripper from germany i took my waterhousing and swam for another 2,5 hours. if u heard of "cold hawaii" you know what it means at the end of october! the temperature and the surf sucked me dry like a "%&$"ch" and i was f#kt plus empty when we drove back home and happy to get some blood moving in my body again, on the five hours drive!
ahoi


surf // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

victor // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

niko // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

bubbles // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

victor going for it // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

not often // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

victor // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

surf // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

the brazilian connection // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

victor // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

jonas // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

victor on one of the good ones // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

free falling // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

me after too many hours in the water // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

first aid // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

waves // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

scandinavian crowds // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

göran gabriel surf wisdom // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

head high // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

surf // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com



surf // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

jonas // thy 2015 © henningnockel.com

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

father and son ± denmark

locals only 2015 © henningnockel.com








to me its often the story behind the pic that makes the picture

i ment to call that picture "locals only" but i did not. instead i decided to call it "father and son". let me tell you why:
when i was 18 years old and i got my drivers license, the very first trip i took with my moms car was to denmark, our neighbour country! to me it was a dream come true i was able to go where i wanted to go, and since i loved windurfing so much i went to klitmøller, a small fishing town in the northwest of denmark in a region called thy.
my father died when i was young and my mom was the one who always got us what we needed! or rather say what we wanted! ;))
when i was 19, i decided to stop with everything that i "needed" to do and i went straight to denmark and stayed as long as i could!! i guess, at least for 10 years, i slept more nights in the car then at home.
most of the times i have been a foreigner where ever i was going. more coincidentally, i was never a local, cause where i come from there are no waves! i spend a few years on hawaii during the wintertime. on maui you did not have much other chance then to respect the locals if you did not want to get into fights and stuff, hawaii can be a tuff paradise for some!
even when i have never been a true local, there where always people who made me feel at home where ever i have been! no matter if on hawaii, france, southafrica, canary islands or denmark, those people who became friends were my second family, thats the only way to survive when away from home as a youngster!! u need to find yourself a second family, something we call home away from home!
in denmark i knew a lot of good people. stine and lana were two of my closest friends at that time.
anyway, where ever i was going there were people who didnt make you feel welcome! people who were trying to give you shit and a hard time! i remember one guy in klitmøller who was not really a local, but he was danish and he moved to the small town a few years later. most of the times, it was him, who was acting like he owns the place and the waves!
he used to be a good windsurfer, lets say "a racer". while windsurfing in the waves he was not too talented, but what the heck, it doesnt matter, right!? he was often screaming and shouting on the wave, even when there was almost nobody in the ocean and it was not his turn to ride! he made sure to look grumpy all the time, and since he was a bit older, buffy, he got the respect he needed or he was asking for.
to be honest, we were young and did not always behave like angels! sometimes we were acting unstopable and unbeatable in that small little fishing village, even when we were a joke. while on the water i respected the locals and everyone who was trying to ride waves.
other then the bad vibes i did not get many problems with guys like him while travelling the world! a hard look or some shouting as i took waves, but you learn to deal with that, dont you!?
actually, on hawaii, france or south africa i never got into fights with the so called "locals".
to make a long story short, guess we got all older. most of the tension is gone we got more quite now. also the small fishing town in denmark has changed! it lost quite a bit of its original spark and rough charme, but dont tell anybody ;))! its still great thou!
when i am in klitmøller, i see that guy ones in a while, he also started surfing a few years ago! sometimes when i see him on the water, i feel like, he is still giving people that bad-ass look, at least to some of the younger ones, but who cares, could also just be me!? or maybe he cant really change his attitude for good!?
just now, one of the last days, i took that picture of him!
its acually the guy i am talking about together with his son. most of the times i take pictures and frames spontaneously, i did not think much about it, they were further down the beach in a little distance as i turned around and took it. just when i got home later that day, the shot caught my attention – the bodylanguage of him with his little boy, climbing out the ocean tired with that fragileness. i took one or two more frames but they dont have it, the vibe, that this one does!
in a way it made me love that guy, if i never had loved or respected him anyway!! at least, love him for the passion of the ocean and the fact of riding waves! so it happens, so many years later, while i was taking pictures of some empty waves at some random danish beach, he appeared! he took his son surfing, what a champ!! he protected him at the shorebreak as the waves broke over them and he pushed him on his little surfboard into some small runners! when his son lost the board, dad was swimming like a hellman to get it back!
but you know, only when they both got back to shore, and only later when i saw the shot on my screen at home that night, i realised how much i really love the fact when people protect their childs!
it made me think in a strange way of the refugees and the pictures i have seen lately all over the news. most of the times its the pictures when they hold their childs that makes me cry and not understand what kind of a bad and fucked up world we are living in right now!
as grown ups we often have to be strong, sometimes selfish and we trying to act worryless. but maybe we can only really see the problems when we think of our children, since they are the only true value for us!
in other words i have seen a dad....and a son! and i am glad the guy that used too give others a hard time, for fun, made me believe he is not just a dick anymore!
and by the way if i am not mistaken....we all have a dad and that makes us someones daughter or son!
ahoi henning


Wednesday, October 7, 2015

thy ± denmark

 coldcoast 2015 © henningnockel.com
rolling 2015 © henningnockel.com

b&w coldcoast 2015 © henningnockel.com

tcoldcoast 2015 © henningnockel.com

clouds under water 2015 © henningnockel.com


selfportrait 2015 © henningnockel.com

coldcoast 2015 © henningnockel.com


Saturday, October 3, 2015

kitesurfing // soma bay ± egypt

mario // soma bay 2015 © henningnockel.com

melissa // soma bay 2015 © henningnockel.com

mario - melissa // soma bay 2015 © henningnockel.com

mario // soma bay 2015 © henningnockel.com
mario - melissa // soma bay 2015 © henningnockel.com