Earth Patrol Media has a small gallery with some good shots at Pier Park. Unlike me, Rich doesn’t seem to mind pointing the camera away from the deep end. Check it out. Kim’s carving 50-50 with no shoes is my favorite. Boneless by Xavier and bone out by Shawn Reinert.

Yes, I’m struggling again. Here’s some pics of Chris Nukala from April of 2004 on his ramp in his back yard. The point of this is not to mention the crappy photos (my fault) or the fact that Chris hadn’t gone through puberty yet (his parent’s fault) but rather to point out that he recently had to tear down his ramp due to complaints from the neighbors or some city ordinance problems. Typical BS you have to deal with whenever you decide to take matters into your own hands. This was a quirky, but cool set up. Fortunately, Chris lives near Pier Park now. He’s a lot better skater post-puberty. Puberty. Puberty. Puberty. And death metal. Enlargements and a more recent shot of him after the jump.

You can usually tell when I don’t have a lot of time to devote to updates. Old pics fron the 80’s should be the tip off. About once a year our family would visit my grandparents in Florida, usually around spring break time. These pics were taken in Clearwater in the mid to late 80’s, by my mother or possibly my sister. Enlarged with fashion commentary after the jump.

One of the lynchpins of the BMX vs. Skateboards in skateparks arguments is that BMXers are always leeching of of skateboarders efforts. Well, that’s not always true. The first half pipe I ever saw, rode, or photographed was built by BMX kids in the woods of suburban Naperville Illinois, some time around 1984-85. The skaters (all three of us) were definitely riding the coat tails of the BMX guys. More pics, bad fashion and words after the jump.

Oh great, now I’m not the only wannabe skate-photog lurking in Portland. Hey Rich, how’s that new camera working out for you? Pretty good, huh? Just don’t get in my shots man, or I’ll sic Lil’ Pimp on you. Everyone is a photographer. Why not make the deck a little more crowded by checking out How To Steal My Job by Transworld photographer (I assume, because I don’t have a subscription) Scott Pommier. It’s lenghty and humorous piece filled with good practical advice. Lastly, when you look at the above picture of Chris Nukala, make sure you are humming speed metal and not Blink 182.

I had this post planned for today before I saw Mark’s other Andrecht post. As you can see, he’s still doing them. These are some shots from a quick session at Pier Park over the weekend. It was wet and overcast, but the weed burner enabled a safe entry and exit into the deep end. More after the jump.

Contort’s Dan Estabrook was bored with MC’s Andrechts 22 years ago. Looks like a lively session, though.

Ok, this trick involved riding up on the other side of the railing, doing the boneless grab foot shuffle thing and jumping onto the railing, then off the railing over the cement ledges, and onto the bricks. Makes my knees hurt just looking at it. The purple asterisk is on the print. Apparently I thought this was a good one. Man, was I smooth. I mean, was I? Click the pic to see the details: A 15 pound Uncle Wiggley Argyle deck complete with bird and my skull skates painters cap sporting a Hosoi sticker on the flipped up bill. Sorry ladies, I’m taken. Circa 198.. mumble mumble. University of Illinois quad in Champaign-Urbana. That’s it for me. I’ve got to work today.

The rain here is on the verge of turning to snow. It’s hard to believe these shots were taken only 10 days ago. That’s a kid named Brogan on left and our own Steve Grover of Grover’s Video Korner fame on the right. It’s been long time since I’ve taken a decent photo of him. Not his fault, I kind of just stopped shooting him for a while. That shot finally does him some justice. It looks better enlarged. Bottom left to right: Mark, Marek, Brogan. And because I can’t seem to edit myself, more pics from this session after the jump.

We thought we might be able sneak in a quick session at the end of the day. Local streets had dried up so we went for it. The closer we got, the wetter the windshield became. When we got there, a few kids were camped out in the pipe. More pics of this momentous session after the jump.