JOURNAL photographer Lewis Arnold is getting double exposure after winning a top film competition.
He combined sand, surf and screen to create a film about the North Sea, which will now be premiered in New York and Canada.
Lewis teamed up with film director Chris McClean and fellow film-maker Mark Waters to create a short film called Uncommon Ideals.
The trio are all passionate about surfing and pieced together the film which shows the coastline of Northumberland, Yorkshire, Scotland and Norway to get every aspect of the waves.
Their creation was entered into The Shorties category at the London Surf/Film Festival competition, presented by the National Trust, and their masterpiece caught the eye of the judges.
Father-of-three Lewis, of Tynemouth, worked on the project for six months and is delighted with the win. The 40-year-old said: “There’s an incredible story to tell about the North Sea, a story of interesting characters and world-class waves, dramatic coastlines and meteorological extremes. It hasn’t really been told yet – not the way that we want to tell it anyway – and by way of this short film and the success it received at the film festival, hopefully we can get the exposure and funding needed to turn it from concept to reality, and create a full-length film.” Lewis first met up with Chris about three years ago after he made a surf DVD called Rise. Chris was so impressed with his photography that he got in touch and asked him to help with a film featuring the North Sea showing surf off Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, England and Scotland.
Chris, 32, of Cleethorpes, Grimsby, said: “Uncommon Ideals is part of a project to document the experience and culture of surfing in and around the North Sea.
“As far from the traditional ideal of surfing as it’s possible to get, the North Sea’s cold, grey, windy waves and murky brown water can make surfing here a frustrating experience. And yet, hidden beneath its fickle and hostile exterior, is a rich heritage of seafaring traditions, from the windswept, shifting sand-bars of the Netherlands to the rocky reefs and points of Norway’s craggy coast.
“Uncommon Ideals is an interim project, a trailer to promote a future full-length feature, but we’ve been blown away by the response.”
A spokesman for the London Surf/Film Festival said: “We have been blown away, not only by the standard and level of creativity of shorts entered, but also by the incredible coverage these films have received around the globe.
“The winner of 2011 Shorties, Uncommon Ideals, has certainly made the rest of the surfing world sit up and take notice. The film has gone viral and been viewed in excess of 83,000 times.”
