2011 AIL Championships

I was recently fortunate enough to enjoy a weekend at Californias Woodward West, for the Amateur Inline League 2011 World Championships. Friday night brought a mellow evening session with the likes of Brian Aragon, Dave Lang, Chris Haffey, and Matt Farnsworth and the We Are ONE Skate park crew from Utah. We had a great session on the launch box, shot some photos and then headed up to the lodge to celebrate in the name of another gathering of rollerbladers for the Armature Inline League World Championships 2011.

Saturday morning was filled with energized skating and positive encouragement all around as everyone warmed up for their divisions. Rollerblading icons Arlo Eisenberg and Matt Mickey were in attendance to keep things real in the name of rolling; Matt was also keeping things hyped on the mic and distributing the world famous, home made, Intuition Cookies. Mad support for the up and coming rollers was shown during the beginner session, during which everyone stopped skating to watch the likes of Danielle Montgomery, and the Velasquez twins, among others, throw down.

Beginner:

1st – Danielle MontgomerY

2nd – James Whelan

3rd – Mason Sieber

10-15 Intermediate:

1st Julian Budge

2nd Ethan Quinn

3rd Austin Montgomery

10-15 Advanced:

1st Johanny Velasquez

2nd Parker Richardson

3rd Troy Porretta

16 & Up Intermediate:

1st Nathan Genda

2nd Robert Rohlf

3rd Phil England

The Vert contest was short but sweet, with contestants from as far as Japan. 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd went to Hiroshi Minami, David Jones and Brandon Davis. The woman’s division was full of sick skating from the likes of Becci Walace, Coco Sanchez, Rosie O’Donaghue, Fallon and Aarin Gates; with 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd going to Aarin Gates, Fallon Heffernan and Rosie O’Donaghue of Ireland. I missed a good portion of this skating so no pictures, sorry girls.

Once the Advanced division began, the level of skating went through the roof in the Hanger’s street course. More than forty rollers skated two 45sec. runs each to place in the top ten and advance to the Elite division heats to battle it out for $1200 in prize money put up by Intuition Skate Shop and the AIL. The top 10 advancing skaters became AIL Elite.

16 & Up Advanced (Turn AIL Elite)


1st – Brett Urbas – Detroit, Michigan


2nd – Kazuho Kumazawa – Japan


3rd – Daniel Gorman – Dublin, Ireland


4th – Rick Rodriguez – Northridge, California


5th – Tony Rivituso – Las Vegas, Nevada


6th – Damon Franklin – Tehachapi, California


7th – Chris Calkins – Venice Beach, California


8th – Carson Starnes – Atlanta, Georgia


9th – Chad Tannehill – Taft, California


10th – Chris Napoleon – Las Vegas, Nevada

All of which skated hard against the AIL Elite such as Haffey, Shima, Richard Johnson, Dave Lang, Brian Aragon, John Vossughi, Julian Bah and Jeremy Townsen. Top riders of the Elite division were 1^st Chris Haffey, 2^nd Dave Lang and 3^rd John Vossughi.

Arlo announced the 2011 industry awards, awarding the 2011 AIL industry Recognition Award to Kato Mateu for the for his work with the WRS. For his positive contributions to rollerblading in addition to his talent on blades, Brian Aragon received the AIL Skater Recognition Award and Brian Shima was entered into the AIL Hall of Fame along with the likes of Randy Spizer, Chris Edwards, Arlo Eisenberg, Jon Julio, and Dustin Latimer. But the unsung heroes of the AIL are Pam and Richie Velasquez, whose passion for rollerblading and motivation to spread the love of rolling has brought numerous years of epic skate park series contests to the amateur level of the inline community.

Panoramic Series #11: Low Tide Sunrise

Across the street from where we are currently staying in Kaneohe, Kahaluu side, off the old Kam. Hwy., there is a very shallow beach that stretches out to the boats on a really low tide. By the time i got up, the tide was already coming in. Coming from the West Coast to Oahu, it has been a really neat experience to see the sun rise out of the sea to the east ever morning.

ONE LIFE - International Photography Competition

Scott Moffat | See.Me

I submitted this photo into the ONE LIFE International Photography Competition.

At 36 floor up, there is quite a breath taking view of Honolulu and the Leeward side of the Ko'olau mountains. With Punchbowl crater just to the right of Nuuanu Valey and Diamondhead Crater in the distance, the Hawaiian Islands' volcanic history is still very present amongst modern day development.

Equipment: Nikon D300, Nikkor 35-70mm @ 35mm, ISO 100 f/5.6 @ 1/320

Panoramic Series #10: Nuuanu Pali

When driving over the Pali Hwy, between the Windward and Leeward sides of the island, I will often cut off onto Nuuanu Pali. This alternate rout takes only a few minutes longer and is many times over fore scenic that the fast moving and busy 5 lane Pali Hwy. Its a calming and refreshing to drive through such beautifully dense jungle as that of the Nuuanu valley, with treetop canopies that create a full tunnel above the empty road.

ONE Magazine - PHOTO JOURNAL: Scott Moffat #9

I have been out on Oahu, Hawaii, for half a year now and have discovered that rolling definitely lives out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It draws other rollers in from far away places, just as it brought me. Dan Lee, from Seattle, WA, recently came out for a few weeks to visit family, enjoy the chill, laid back atmosphere, the weather, the people, the beach, and the skating. Dan reps his local park, Skatebarn, which is a must for anyone cruising through Seattle. I met up with Dan, Akari, and Thumper at this ditch-turned-skatepark under the H1 freeway. To get to the spot you have to take a drainage tunnel under 12 lanes of freeway. Before we wrapped things up, Dan threw down a perfect Sweaty from near the top of this ledge from the vertical embankment and came out fakie like it was nothing. This barricade also got destroyed, and Dan laced this AO Fish.

Hawaii has a strong rolling scene, and it seems like everyone is always down for a session. There are lots of guys are killin’ it out on Oahu like Akari Ihara, Atis, Adam Rego, Ed, Evan and many more, all of which have been shredding the ledges, rails, ditches, and skateparks that the island has to offer. Keep an eye out for coverage of the annual Hawaii Real Street Comp, which will be going off some time later this year.

For this shot I used a Nikon D300, Nikon SB-800 Speedlight, Nikkor 18-70mm @ 27mm, f/4.0 @ 1/40, ISO 160. — Scott Moffat

Portraits: Natural Light vs. Artificial Light

I just came across a handful of portraits that I had shot over the past few years and wanted to share them. First off are the natural light portraits.

The rest are all artificial lighting. Can you tell? Sometimes I try to hide this fact.