Short Film: Portrait of a Surfer

It’s curve ball time as we throw this short film from the Swami’s Surf company into the format which investigates what makes British and European longboard champion Sam Bleakley tick. Although surfing is a little out of the scope of our staple design content Sam takes his sport to the point of artistry, which we found very inspiring, so I couldn’t help but share this with you all today. I’m not sure if there’s a better advocate for the surf scene in West Cornwall but there certainty can’t be too many other candidates of Sam’s quality.

Stephen Langmanis and Alan Aboud have done an incredible job of sharing Sam’s story which of course is made easier by the talent of the man himself, but they’ve more than matched his technical poise using the camera which leads in for a really captivating watch. The one thing that makes this piece for me is the way in which Sam narrates his passion to us all, he’s quite an elegant talker and the sort of individual you sit up and listen to when he’s speaking, his passion for the sport keeps you engaged throughout.

Watching this over I developed a huge appreciation for Sam as you can see in the way he moves around the board and flows effortlessly across the waves that he’s dedicated years of hard work to perfecting his art. As the British champion he’s obviously the best in the country and you see this in his ice man like concentration, subtle movement on the board and general knowledge of his surroundings here in West Cornwall.

The film has been put together in collaboration with Paul Smith and Swami’s who are a London based independent surf company. Their products can be seen in the film in the shape of the bag Sam is wearing, the board he is riding and all the clothes he’s modelling throughout, so if you see anything you would like to purchase I’d urge you across to their webpage which is linked just below. In the meantime watch below and enjoy!

www.swamis.com

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