MY KNEE IS HURT. SUMMER SHOOTING!

It's been an eventful few weeks up here in Seattle.  I took advantage of a week off to get a bunch of shooting in.  The first shoot was with William Stein. 

Professor Will Stein delivering knowledge

If you had told me that shooting a documentary about skateboarders would take me to a lecture on the Sage Math Cloud at the UW I'm not sure if I would have believed you....but that's where I found myself.  William may be the best example of "skaters aren't who you think they are" that I will ever hope to find.  Mr Stein is a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Washington, a software engineer and an absolute ripper.   From number theory to frontside inverts in a single afternoon.

Eugene fighting off a swarm to tell his story.

Next on my plate was an interview with Eugene Lardizabal at the Seattle Vert Ramp.  Eugene was maybe one of the easiest interviews I've had to shoot so far, just an all around good dude with great stories to tell.  Although we were swarmed by mosquitoes the whole time.  I still walked away with a very insightful interview.

My lovely wife and I took a road trip down to Oregon to shoot a little with the living legend that is Wally Inyoue.  Wally cooks and coaches at Windell's Skate/Snow Camp just outside of Sandy Oregon.  If you find yourself with a chance to visit this place, by all means jump on it.  That park is beyond fun, and spans the entire camp.  I got some runs in while Wally was occupied with his day job.  Then I got some great shots of Wally tearing that place apart ... also you can snowboard in the summer on Mt Hood .... Oregon kicks ass my friends!

Getting a shot of Wally Inyoue. Crossover over the love seat.

We got home from this road trip just in time for me to blow out my MCL.  Shooting will be a challenge for a bit, at least until I am cleared to walk without the use of crutches.  Luckily my wife is an angel and will occasionally carry my gear for me.

Mark Hubbard builds the parks we ride.

Crutches didn't stop me from taking advantage of a rare appearance by Grindline's Mark Hubbard in Seattle.  Mark is sort of directly responsible for me skating again.  I drive past his work at least twice a day in the form of the Delridge Skatepark.  Mark is a busy man, building as many as five or six parks at a time all over the world.  From a current project in Kentucky to as far afield as Israel.  Mark's story mirrors where skateboarding has gone over the last few decades.  Instead of sporting goods companies and the like cashing in on skateboarding every decade or so, more men like Mark are taking the bull by the horns and doing things on their own, for the love of the sport.  From a gorilla bowl under a bridge, to a bowl in his neighbor's back yard, to million dollar parks all over the world, he builds parks because he loves skating and wants places for his friends to ride.  His interview is inspiring and at times hilarious....Once this project is done I will have to post the entire hour plus....  dig it.

Anyway...for now I will be sort of hobbled, hopefully I will be back on my feet soon and back in the park shooting some old dudes ripping.  Cheers Skateboarding!

The last run before my MCL betrayed me...photo Darlene Tsao