I can remember watching Sean Cowen thrown down in at the AIL competitions when he was just a little grom, competing against all the 18 & ups. These days, Sean has definitely grown into his skates and is skating solid in local comps like the LA All Day, and is coming just as strong on the street. We sessioned SoCal’’s Pepperdine University recently, and after a bit of exploring and skating fast rails, David Jones got us kicked out for scratching the new paint on the University’’s handrails. This shot was a quick setup on our way out — literally last shot of the day — and Sean only had to go twice before I had my flashes exposed right. I set one flash at the top right of the stairs, aiming down towards Sean, and the other was on-camera and angled up, as to not blowout the ground in front of me. Equipment used: Nikon Speedlight SB-900 off-camera, Nikon Speedlight SB-800 on-camera, Nikon D300 DSLR and a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye lens.
Chris Lorimer is normally hitting rails when we skate street, so as I watched him scope out this gap and lace it, I was still walking down the hill to set up my lights. We were skating Malibu High School and had already been kicked out, but the security was chill and let us skate in the parking lot. This parking lot’’s driveway had a long, continuous bank to fence, which was interrupted by two additional features, one being a very mellow handicapped rail, and the other being this gap that Chris holds a solid Mute Air over. It was partially overcast, so I lit the scene with three Speedlights; two you can see in the frame, and the third is on camera. The first two created the highlights I wanted on his front and back, and the third is on camera to fill the shadows. The equipment used was 2x Nikon Speedlight SB-900 off-camera, Nikon Speedlight SB-800 on-camera, Nikon D300 DSLR, and a Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye lens.
Skating and shooting photos with David Jones is always a good time that leaves me juiced about skating. Our afternoon of skating in the L.A. area ended here, in between a parking structure and a business building. We took full advantage of the rail-happy landscaping. Numerous grinds were held through the entire length of this rail with its nine sections. Likewise, David had no problem with this Savannah. My exposure for this shot was 1/13 @ f/5 ISO 320. To expose for the lights on the trees, I dragged the shutter. I had no tripod, so that’s what’s up with the blurry trees. I used two Quantum Flash units to light David, and was shooting on a Nikon D3 with a Sigma 50-500mm lens (thanks Richie!)
Shooting in LA recently, I got some great photos of one of Santa Monica’s locals, Byron Snatchywaters. This 19-stair had a run-up with one push worth of space before you had to jump for the rail. This was no problem for Byron though, and after he had landed a clean Soul and a Makio with Rocket grab, I shot this Acid grind. This shot was for Jon Julio for hooking Byron up with his new Valos. Camera settings were 1/320 @ f/5.6 ISO 320. I set up two Quantum Flashes at 45º left and right of the rail, pointing them up so that they would fall off towards the foreground. Camera: Nikon D3. Lens: Sigma 50-500mm.
Skating on the central coast of California has been a solo event for me until recently. I finally found another rollerblader to not only skate with, but also go to school and live with. Chris Lorimer moved out here from Ohio to study photography, I intercepted him at school orientation, and we’ve been skating and shooting quite a bit. We were skating some street in Ventura and came upon Camarillo Middle school which, among many other obstacles, had an amazing five kink rail. There
was no run up, and Chris was throwing himself off the fence just to get speed. After a few attempts Chris smoothly layed down a solid Pornstar all the way through the last six inch length of the rail. Chris is representing Ohio strong out here in Cali.
This was shot during Intuition week up at Woodward West this past summer. A few of us were having a session in the Hanger after all the campers went to lunch, this being the only time we could get it to ourselves. Intuition Team Rider Derek Henderson started throwing bank-to-bank hammers on the box right off the bat. After a couple takes I shot this AO Soul 360. This was day one of the week and the following days were full of more sick skating. For this shoot I set up two flashes, one to the left and one to the right. This created the trapped shadow that I filled in with my on-camera flash. Camera settings were f/5.6 @ 1/250, ISO 400.
When rolling on his home turf, Richie’s skating is filled with an intense energy that comes out in the form of random Flatspin 360s over boxes that most are down to just grind. This was an awesome session, with all of the inline campers getting pumped off Richie’s skating, and throwing down hammers themselves. Setting up this shot, I positioned two of my flashes at 90 degrees to the left and right of the ramp. This lighting is great for separating the skater from the background, especially in an indoor park like the Hanger at Woodward West. My third flash was on-camera, and used to set off the other two, in addition to adding some fill light to the shadow areas. Camera settings were f/5 @ 1/200, ISO 400.
