As a skater, I never stop analyzing every curb, planter, ditch, gap, and set of stairs for potential skatability - even if most of these tempting street obstacles would send me back to the hospital for sure (I’ll stick to the parks, thank you).
Anyway, because I can’t stop gawking at these urban artifacts, they really stand out over time. Waxed curbs, scuffed walls, chipped paint on hand rails - it’s like Luminol on carnage to me.
So when Coop and I walked up the East side of the Ravenel a few weeks ago, I noticed that almost every skateable feature had been hit. The benches have been ground, and the cable anchors have been carved. Definitely an interesting setting for a session, and I imagine the photos were even better.
And seriously, I swear I’m not obsessed with this bridge or anything…really. I’ll post about other stuff soon, I promise!
Jay Meyer, 2007.
20 years ago, being able to ollie a cone meant the same thing it does today…you’ve got mad chops. This shot gets deeper when you find out Jay broke his arm clean through just a couple months ago, and had two surgeries and 8 pins put in. Now that’s hardcore.
You know, I got out of the habit of actually writing here despite that being one of the objectives for this project. My main focus was to create a repository for 100% original work. Because of this, I’ve been leaning on my photos…which is fine. But I totally forgot to post the 1990 video!
Huh?
Like all passionate skaters, we practiced self-documentation in ritualistic fashion. We filmed and we shot. We developed, edited, and screened. Guys were forever making sponsorship videos, and we analyzed contest films like fiendish hoops coaches. It was all part of the life.
Every year, my friend Todd and I would boil down a years worth of footage into “The Video.” We had two VCRs, one of which miraculously had an audio overdub feature, and we would spend hours getting our dub-on. After the segments were compiled and the hand drawn/written graphics were added, we slapped some tunes over the top.
I’ve been digitizing and posting these on YouTube for the crew…you can see the 1988 video here (Almost 20 years ago…gulp.) I had some flexibility when I worked on the 1990 video, because we hadn’t yet added the audio. I was able to mix the sounds of the skating with a the music, and this gave it a production quality that was unavailable back in the day.
So in writing this painfully long intro and posting a twenty-year-old video testament to skateboarding’s timelessness, I have pushed myself a little farther along. You poor soul. Here’s the video.
Check out these two shots of Austen Heard at the Mount Pleasant Skatepark. The first was taken two days ago, while the second was taken six months ago. This kid’s been eating his Wheaties for sure.
Dylan Taylor, 2007.
The hips at the Cocoa Beach Skatepark are no match for this the D. He was pretty cool, and let me shoot him for about 20 minutes. He had mad chops, and knew where all the best lines were.
I grew up in ramp country. Crusty vert ramps in barns and metal mini ramps behind welding shops. Stories of crashing pools and sessioning concrete parks were only told in Thrasher and Transworld. The world of paved goodness eluded us, but we always dreamed.
Then last week my time came. I had only one hour to spend at the Cocoa Beach Skatepark, so I had to move fast. The park has one large section of six-foot bowls, trannies, and humps, with a deeper section made up of three vert bowls. Two sections of oververt and great coping throughout make for a fun setup.
Unfortunately, after fifteen minutes I realized that carving and pumping sideways through the bowls would take some practice, no matter how many hours I had spent imagining it. As the the park began to fill up and that last slam on my knee began to kick in, I got out my camera.
The local shorties were really tearing it up, and knew all the lines…damn them! Making it look so easy. They were cool though, and I got some good snaps (coming soon!). Hopefully I’ll have some more time and patience with my skating next time. Not quite living up to the dream, but certainly no nightmare…this park is going to rock the future me!
As a skater, I never stop analyzing every curb, planter, ditch, gap, and set of stairs for potential skatability - even if most of these tempting street obstacles would send me back to the hospital for sure (I’ll stick to the parks, thank you).
