Events!

Sorry for lack of updates. I'm busy livin' out here on the west coast! I have been shooting tons of photos, but just none of skateboarding. I have been shooting a few events for local venues here in Vancouver, as well as a few other towns. So, I am staying busy. Here are a few snaps from a couple shows at one Venue called Mad Hatter's. This is their first year open, and they are doing very well for themselves!

Vancouver Begins....

As most of you know, I have made the move out west to the lovely city of Vancouver. As the guys from the YouTube sensation videos "Epic Mealtime" would say... That's Fuckin' Smart! Anyways. I haven't shot anything since the move, but the other day/night, I felt it was time to get down to business. Geoff, Cory, filmer Ty James, and myself took a cruise around the lower mainland to Bonsor, Queens borough, and the new Surrey skatepark. It was a day trip to PUT UP POSTERS FOR THIS. Later that night, Cory and I went to Lee Side, where the filming of the BLVD Skateshop Store Wars video was taking place. Here are some of the photos from the days journey.


Cory with an Ollie Fakie on the Queens Borough full pipe


Dermer with a not-so-typical half-cab manny revert on the Queens Borough QP to Whatever that thing is


Enter at will....


Cory ending the night with a Back D on the big quarter pipe at Lee Side with fireworks going on all around him

Day on the town...

This shot was influenced by a fallen friend Mike Day. Cory was trying the back smith, and I couldn't help but remember the photo of Mike doing his back smith on the same ledge. I Tried to re-create the shot. I hope everyone is feeling it. Roll in Peace Mike Day. You will always be missed


Cory wanted to learn a new trick. Fakie Cab Back Lips though? C'mon! It shouldn't take 3 tries to learn something new...


Cory wanted to check things out


Cory took a couple slams. After about an hour of boiling heat and rough concrete, he said he had enough.


This is one frame from one of Cory's multiple close calls...

Help Andrew Norton!

Stolen Gear

I’m sure a bunch of you have heard the less-than-exhilarating tale of my camera gear getting stolen last week. It’s all insured, but here are the serial numbers for some of the bigger items in case you see them pop up somewhere.

Keep your eyes peeled for me and help pass this along.

Nikon D3s
Serial: 2030529

Nikon AF 80-200mm f/2.8 D ED
Serial: 858721

Nikon AF 60mm
Serial: 1471609

Lumedyne Basic Modeling Head
Serial: 158612

Lumedyne Power Pack 200WS
Serial: 169990XX

Another Day

Cory called me up, saying he had a few ideas for spots around town. It was actually a great skate day! We didn't get kicked out once! My batteries were dead, but didn't die, and I was able to get a few shots in at each spot! Dylan joined us from comic relief, and Simon was there to get it all on film. It was one of those days that you hope for, but never expect to get.


Cory ollieing up to BS Flip on a steep-ass bank

Cory ollied this fence a few times with the damn car in the way!

Back to PM

Cory wanted to go back to the PM handrail for some unfinished business. Unfortunately, it still remains unfinished business. Cory was simply having a bad day and couldn't pull some of his warm-ups. After messing up his finger pretty bad, he decided to call it quits for the day. He did, however, land a front board... Here's the shot.



This was a second shot. This was more experimental. No flashes involved, just natural light and shadows. I was feeling it, so you can enjoy it.

Insert Title Here...

I didn't know what to call this one. Either way, it was my first day back to skating from my trip to Africa. (Will post those photos another time) It was also my first time in a month shooting some skate photos. Yes, these shots are from the park, but it was a weekday, and school was still in, so the spots we wanted to go to would have been busts within 5 minutes. None the less, it felt nice to lug my gear around with the lovely weather we have been experiencing once again in Canada.


Simon, with what we decided to cal an ALly-oop Back Smith (Please correct me if we are wrong)

Dylan pulled this Fakie Bigspin Heelflip so perfectly, that I would make butter seem like sand-paper.

Fort Drerie

Warm temperatures, and cloudy skies provided a perfect day for shredding some park. It started off with Dylan, Rivard, Simon, and myself just cruising around and warming up. Later, we met this guy, and he was shreddin the bowl. He did a boneless first try, and it was too stylish not to photograph. I walked up and asked him if he would want to do it again for a photo, and without hesitation he was down. The session would continue on afterwards with a few bangers going down by everybody. No other photos since I was skating as well. But you do get to enjoy the photo of Ward's boneless


This was too easy for him!

"...So I forgot to tell you about how I lost my 75 cents!"

Today was one of the first days out in a little while from the previous warm up. The weather went for a shit again for a little over a week, and we had to wait for it to melt. Cory, Dylan and myself got together and started off at the park. Warmed up our re-rusted legs and shook off the full-time job blues. After the park, we grabbed some grub and hit the streets. We went to a gap to electrical box spot and Cory wanted to hit it, but traffic would keep interfering, so the plan was ditched. I ended up deciding to ollie a gap I've been wanting to do for a while, and ended up getting a photo out of it. After rolling away 3 times, I wanted to try a long lens shot, but ended up slamming pretty hard and deciding my efforts were no longer needed. Here's some shots from today.


Cory Steezin' out a front shuv about 5 times in a row. I personally love watching him do these.


Dylan wanted to learn a new trick. He learned a switch Bigspin Flip. The picture is his first time landing it. Fuck flatland, go straight for the launch.


This is the gap I've been eyeing for a year or so now. Today I finally ollied it. I couldn't be happier! Thanks to Dylan for shooting the photo, and to Cory for moving the flashes out of the road each time a car would drive by.

Trayning

Today was another one of those "perfect weather" kinda days. Went street skating with the guys. Cory Traynor got warmed up on this rail, then took some pretty gnarly slams one after the other. We will be back soon....


Front Board

Let It Begin!

It's March! We have survived a horrendous winter! This one was particularly brutal with snowfall, after snowfall, after snowfall. Constantly being bombarded with the weather meant even indoor skating was difficult with cold temperatures as well as tough driving conditions to even get to an indoor spot. But, with Hell, comes a little Heaven. With yesterdays perfect, sunny, calm weather, as well as perfect 10 degree skating temperatures, it wasn't hard to see that everyone was itching to get the winter rust off their legs. The session consisted of Trevor Rivard, Cory Traynor, Dyllan Nykyforak, as well as myself. While driving to pick up the guys, almost every corner I drove past had kids with skateboards in hands. That put a big smile on my face. Once the guys were in the car, we took the 30 minute drive to the For Erie skatepark to get warmed up for the day. Once everyone was warmed up, I decided to pull out the camera gear and get the winter rust off them! Stayed at the Fort Erie park for a little bit, then decided to make our way back home to the Niagara Skate park. The session ended up going all day long with perfect weather all the way through. It was definitely one of those days that you didn't want to end. Here are some photos from the days session.


Trevor hittin the awkward bubble at the Fort Eric Park with a beasty Ollie


This hip is pretty hard to hit. Dyllan puts down a popped ollie with ease. (He also did it a few times since kids kept getting in the shot)


Dyllan hits the 50-50 with Leo in mind as he goes all the way up, across and down.


Trevor grinds through this crook to a clean roll away and a goofy stance. Ask Dyllan for the cell phone footage...


Unfortunately, Cory didn't land this 360 Flip, but he definitely came close. The bench was the session ender. Definitely super fun to get back into the swing of things.

This is the Lakai x Crailtap Colabo shoe. I'm unsure of when it was made, but it has been a few years. I purchased the original of this shoe before the colab came out, skated them, and enjoyed the board feel from them. The toe cap, even though it's suede, lasted for quite a long time, and the stitching lasted longer then most. The Crailtap logo can be seen in great detail on the highlight image, but what can't been seen is the "Crailtap" sole. On the bottom of the shoe is a see through rubber, displaying the brand name. Definitely a shoe for any collector, skater, or someone looking for a comfy shoe for everyday. While shooting Antigravity Skateshop's new shop, I noticed these and had to get a snap of them. Snag a pair while they are still available from the shop.

Prod Nod of Approval

The Fallen Chief is a skater's skate shoe. I have had 3 pairs and I can say without a doubt, they are one of my favourites. The inside hugs your foot like a glove, and the vulcanized sole allows for a ton of board feel and flick. I am very susceptible to heel bruises, especially in vulc soles, but the Chiefs were able to keep the bruising at bay. They broke in right away and have no issues skating out of the box. No microwaving needed. If you have skated these and want them again, or are looking to try something a little different from your norm, I highly recommend the Fallen Chiefs. I know Antigravity skateshop has a few left. I shot this while I was doing a photoshoot for their new shop. Go there and get them before they are gone.

Bric-A-Brac

Kitsch Skateboards, a Vancouver based skateboard company, is set to release their first full length video. With full parts expected from Stacy Gabriel, Geoff Dermer, Sean McAllister, Mike Hastie, and home-town hero, Cory Wilson. The video looks to be a very high quality piece of work from the likes of Jordan Mayfield. Their teaser for the video has been out for a little while now on the SBC site, but has finally been released for personal use. Take a minute, watch, and imagine how good this video will actually be!

Kitsch Skateboards Presents BRIC-A-BRAC The Trailer from Kitsch Skateboards on Vimeo.

KBYE Extra...

Jordan has recently released his feature film "KBYE" to the public. SBC has asked me for some photos from skaters in the video and I sent them only 2 shots. I was digging through my hard drive for my friend Andrew Jones (who had a part in the video) since he wanted a photo. I realized then that I forgot to send this one to them, and not only that, but had been saving the shot for sometime without anyone seeing it, except close friends when I had my laptop on me.

So this one is for Andrew "Danger" Jones. He worked hard for this and deserves a lot of credit for pulling this. It, to me, was a gnarliest thing I have seen in person go down at Vic Park.


Nollie Heel FS Tail Slide to FS Bigspin out. Well done, AJ.

Winter = Barn

We received another wallop of winter weather here in Niagara Falls. Close to a foot of snow. Basically making skating outdoors impossible unless you are the warmest person on earth. Now, that being said, we went back to the barn for a fun session, which turned into quite a gnarly one. I didn't shot as many photos as I would have liked to, but I did get some of the crazyness going down.


Simon with a wall ride that's much more difficult then it looks. It only took him a few tries.

This kickflip was unexpected, but Cory tried it, got close, then pulled 2 more back to back!

KBYE Online!

Jordan Guzyk, good homie, great filmer, worked on this project for at least 2 years, and does it ever show. A great piece of work that you can set your eyes on for the next 40 minutes. It has some gnarly tricks from Byron Ready, Dave Hnatiuk, Colin Findlater, Tim Bobnis, and a whole host of other dudes who rip. Great work Jordan, You've really outdone yourself.

CLICK HERE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN!