Night Slappie

DIY shot 10 second timer and 1 second exposure.

Saturday Slap In Motion

Saturday Slap 2

DIY 10 second timer shot. Low Curb Por Vida!

Slappie Noseslide

Never knew what to call this. Switch noseslide. Fakie to tailslide. Mongo push switch noseslide. I'll just call it one of several reasons I really like to skate curbs.

Saturday Slap

Concrete Jungle

Oregon Trifecta

From 2006.

Smoked Out

Photo by Emily Hope.

Often Imitated

The Vans Era. A model for many skate shoes today.


The Etnies Taylor. I liked Etnies. When they made hi tops.

Vans are considered by many to be the original skate shoe. I got my first pair in 1984. Hi tops. Black and white checkerboard. Then I custom ordered some slip ons. I was hooked. Their gum rubber waffle sole is made for skateboarding. Grippy and thin enough to provide excellent board feel it's really no wonder as to why Vans are on the feet of the majority of skaters on board today. I skated holes through the bottoms of a handful of different styles of Vans shoes in recent years. I still prefer a hi top for ankle support and protection and the California based company offers a nice variety of hi and mid top skate shoes.
Vulcanized skate shoes ala Vans are being produced by nearly every skate shoe company. There are still plenty of beefy super padded teched out skate sneakers available but there is also a wide selection of thinned out "Vans like" shoes on the market as well. In recent years skaters have started to forgo the padded skate shoe in favor of a thinner shoe for better board feel. Shoe makers such as Converse
have taken notice. Check out their CVO S model shoe. Look familiar? If you are familiar with the Era by Vans then it should.
Part of the vulcanized shoe revolution is due to function and part is due to fashion. Mainstream skateboard media dictates the "uniform" to the conforming masses. Skateboarding is about doing your own thing and shunning the status quo yet a lot of skaters find it necessary to "fit in" even if they started skating because they didn't "fit in" to begin with. When the world zigs I zag.

Boneless Ones

GSD invented it and Duane Peters just learned them. The bottom pic is from last summer and was shot by Tom Sloan while the top pic was shot early this morning by Emily Hope.

How To Cope

One of my favorite sounds is the "chink" of the coping when my back track slaps it. Photo by Emily Hope.

Saturday DIY

Frontside 50/50 up the ledge. Shot on a 10 second timer at the Kanawha Valley's only free public skatepark. Soft focus. It's not fisheye.

Later.

Homage to A.K. 2

Influence

Varial handplant for a 2nd place win in best trick July, 2007. Inspired by Nomad, DP, Mike V., et al...

The Rise of Rad

The Torrance Art Museum in Torrance, CA is currently hosting The Rise of Rad {The Influence of the Urethane Revolution} as well as "There Is Xerox On The Insides Of Your Eyelids" (described by TAM "as an exhibition exploring the realm of 1980's self published skate zines, skate punk music graphics, and photocopied art from a small window of time - where local skate scenes, and spots, were documented, hand done, copied & stapled, and traded in the post. It is not only an exhibition of the aesthetics and graphic elements of zines, but also a historical look at the true history of skateboarding from the mouths of the skaters themselves").
Unique to this exhibit was the "open call" to participate in The Rise of Rad. "One of the highlights of today's skate phenomenon that has encouraged 'rad culture' to thrive is its practice of visual documentation."
If there is one thing that Jeff's Skateboard page is about it's visual documentation. I answered the open call and submitted photographs per the guidelines. A once in a lifetime chance to share my love of skateboarding and museum space with skaters that I have looked up to for most of my life. I am STOKED to report that some of the pictures I have posted here are part of The Rise of Rad. Some of the accepted submissions were images captured by my awesome son and my incredible wife. Others were DIY shots that I lucky enough to get on a 10 second timer. Skateboarding has taken me a lot of places and I am grateful for it as well as grateful to those who have supported me along the way.

OJIII Keyframes

58mm 86a.

Kristian Svitak

Kickflip pivot to fakie.

High Fives

Mike and Duane collide as Mike is going up the bank ramp and Duane is rolling down fakie after doing a shove it on the bank ramp. Mike was grinning ear to ear when they got up.

Duane Peters

Duane learned frontside boneless ones on this tour. Here he is throwing a couple of good ones on the banks and then hitting the mini bowl corner.

Part Man Part Machine

Mike took a hard slam on the first attempt. Here he gets his redemption. Glory Bound.

Duane Peters and Mike V.

Duane stylin' some slides and Mike going down hard on the bank ramp.

More Glory Bound

Svitak with an ollie over the center piece, Cyril Jackson 180 ollie up the bank ramp gap, and Mike V. stylin' some slides.

Glory Bound

Highlights include Mike Vallely's frontside ollie over the gap and boneless to fakie, Danforth's Bert slide, and Kristian Svitak with a nice 180 ollie up the bank ramp gap. Ollie's Skatepark Florence, KY, August 7, 2010.

Curb Slappie

 

Mike Vallely

Mike Vallely rolled into Florence, KY on Saturday, August 7, 2010 for the 22nd day of the Glory Bound Tour. Mike has put together a demo crew feauring Kristian Svitak and Cyril Jackson from 1031 Skateboards along with The American Nomad Bill Danforth and the Master of Disaster himself, Duane Peters. The sight of these five skaters shredding every inch of Ollie's Skatepark is something that will not be forgotten by those who were lucky enough to be Glory Bound!

Mike V. with a powerful tail block slide followed by a huge frontside no comply across the bank ramp gap.