Sunday 28 March 2010

Another sunny afternoon









Some photos I shot one sunny afternoon a couple weeks ago on a walk from Bondi to Bronte beach. Shot from a the other side of Bronte beach from a beautiful look out point in the cliffs.

Friday 26 March 2010

By night, they take flight






I didn't realize this at first, but here in Sydney bats are no strange thing to see every evening as the sun is setting. At first I hadn't really taken notice, assuming they were birds having not looked hard enough. Seriously, swarms of the creature wake up in the evening and up and flying for the night. Its such a novelty to me having only ever seen bats in zoos or on tv.
The day I took these photos we were walking through a park and saw these bats still resting in a tree, we just so happened to be walking past a really gothic church at sunset when the bats were all waking up.
Bats are nothing to fear. Though they may look scary most of these ones are fruit bats or insect eaters, no need to protect your neck here.

Thursday 25 March 2010

Sydney Harbour








I'm living in Sydney, these photos were bound to happen sooner or later...
Two of the most visited places in the world, Sydney opera house and Sydney harbour bridge are simply breath taking. I've been down there to hang out several times now and these beautiful man made structures never cease to amaze me.
Here are the photos I shot at the harbour over the weekend just gone by.

Wednesday 24 March 2010

Incy Wincy Spider



Apologies for being quiet on here, the past week has been crazy and my feet have hardly touched the ground.
Here's a photo I shot of a spider in his huge web I spotted in the botanical gardens here in Sydney the other day.
Fascinating creatures, spider webs always appear so intricate and beautiful, yet it has quite a sinister reason for being. Lucky for me I wasn't the spiders dinner. This time...

Tuesday 16 March 2010

The Cure Is Knowledge: Rob Dyer






Rob Dyer the founder and face of the Skate 4 Cancer foundation, is currently in the middle of a skate across New Zealand and Australia to help raise and promote cancer awareness, as their slogan says "The Cure Is Knowledge". With some help from Element Skateboards and Circa Shoes, and a tight crew with a cause, the S4C guys are able to be on the road doing what they can to help make a difference.
I managed to meet Rob and the crew, we all hung out for a few days because of a lucky series of events. If any one of them hadn't happened we never would have met.

Amidst all the partying and having fun around Sydney with the Canadian guys, I managed to shoot a few portraits of Rob, so here they are.

Rob and all of the crew are amazing people, I 100% support them with their cause and admire the time and efforts that they give to it, the passion they have for it is ample. I hope more people can take a leaf out their book.

They are currently around midway between Sydney and Melbourne, if you happen to see them be sure to say hello.

You can follow the rest of their skate from Sydney to Perth and learn more about Skate 4 Cancer at the following websites:-
Skate 4 Cancer: http://www.skate4cancer.com/
twitter: http://twitter.com/skate4cancer
Blog: http://www.skate4cancer.com/skate2010/

Monday 15 March 2010

Slumber



A photo from the calender shoot back in late November. The girls all snuggled up on a cold winters night. Bless their cottons.

Wednesday 10 March 2010

Bucky Lasek







Bucky Lasek, I as well as many other people to I'm sure, regard the man one of my favorite skateboarders ever. The man has been killing it forever, quite literally since he was a child when he picked up a board at age 12 because his bike was stolen. Still at 37 years old, Bucky kills it and is as keen as, and better than ever with one of the most recognizable styles and list of ridiculous tricks that he magically does consistently with absolute ease.
I managed to see him and hang out a few times through out the week leading up to Bondi's Bowlarama and also on the day to. It was the raddest thing to meet somebody who was once upon a time one of my favorite people to play as on Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
In the morning of the day before the event, at 7.30am Bucky was wide awake cleaning the bowl himself, scrubbing it with vinegar to get rid of the slipperiness, just so he could practice a 540 which he dropped in and landed within a couple of tries and came out smiling. On the comp day he came a well deserved 2nd place as the 14 year old Brazillian machine Pedro Barros prevented him from winning once again, but in my opinion Bucky was the skater of the entire week. These are the pictures I took, top to bottom: a portrait at Bondi Beach, mctwist single, mctwist sequence, switch fs feeble in the deep end big corner, and last of all one of his trade mark tricks the fs heel flip gay twist.
Bucky is an incredibly nice guy, a legendary skateboarder and shows no signs of slowing down whatsoever.

Monday 8 March 2010

Bowl-a-rama-randoms

get this guy a smaller mop


more cleaning


Sergie Ventura, crossbone


Sergie Ventura, method grab aided by Lance Mountain on the deck


Renton Millar coming to after slamming


Chet Childress, bs smith in the deep


Grant Taylor, huge fs indy, first roll in


Connor Mallet, crail slide



Some random shots from the Bowl-a-rama.
Firstly a couple of people cleaning the bowl, being that this bowl is right by the beach a lot of sand gets caught in the bowl making it even more slippery than it already is. If it wasn't for these happy helpers doing their bit, the comp would not have gone off as good as it did, so cheers to those guys. Although they regularly cleaned the bowl, accidents did still happen, on the comp day Renton Miller slammed on a 540 just as things got really heated, and knocked himself out for a few seconds. And the night before the comp, Sergie Ventura hit his head on the coping knocking himself out for a minute, and this guy doesnt wear a helmet so he was rushed to hospital and stitched up. He ended up commentating instead of skating the comp so still got involved.
Also Chet Childress and Grant Taylor rolled in, 2 of the most unique skateboarders out there, pure beastly shredding from both guys.
Also an honourable mention to Connor Mallet who rides for Australian company Blood Wizard skateboards, Connor skated rad all week, ended up drinking with him a couple of nights, good lad, top marks to him.
Next post- Bucky Lasek feature. fuck yeah!

Thursday 4 March 2010

Young Guns

Sam Becket

Sam Becket - flip mute

Sam Becket - lien air

Sam Becket - fs indy

Sam Becket - bs tailslide round the tight corner

Pedro Barros- deep to shallow transfer bs lipslide


Pedro Barros over & Sergie Ventura under - varial flip indy over ally-oop lipslide


Sam Beckett, the 17 year old rider from the UK who is making a name for himself all over the place. Skating with power, finesse, and technical ability to die for. Young Sam placed a respectable 12th place at the Bowlarama this year. He skated so well all week and paid off on the day.

Pedro Barros, the Bowlarama 2010 winner. Amazingly this Brazilian power house is only 14 years old! When the final session was getting heated and the snaking was on, he didn't hesitate at all, at one point I think 3 or 4 people were in there at once and he was the last man standing. Pedro is going place for sure. To place 1st above Bucky Lasek at 2nd place and Bob Burnquist at 3rd take something very special. Expect to see much more from both these guys. The future of bowl/vert skating has arrived.

Pedro Barros - your 2010 Bowlarama winner


Even this little lass jumped in the bowl for a few early grabs! Tye dye shirt for maximum style points. Bless her.

Tuesday 2 March 2010

St. Kilda Sunset







A little break from the photos from Bowlarama. (there are more to come).
Some photos from 3 weeks ago on my last few days in Melbourne. Taken at St. Kilda beach.
Cruised down there with my friend Ewa and sat on the pier eating chips and drinking some $4 wine, deliciously cheap night!
The sunset was amazing as it clouded over and rained right before, so the sky was incredibly dramatic. Looked intense to say the least. Here are the photos I took of it.
Look out for a post in the near feature on Rob Dyer of Skate 4 Cancer.