Homage

This last weekend was one of the first truly beautiful weekends of Spring here in Boulder. So on Saturday Genny and I decided to just grab our bikes, our water bottles, some camera gear, two coupons for a free bagel at Einstein Bros and hit the bike paths with no agenda (besides getting free bagels). After our tasty treat, we decided to head over to the Boulder Skate Park because Genny thought it would be fun to shoot a little skateboard action. Little did we know that it was the Spring Fling skate comp, and the place was jammin’ with good skaters. Score!

There were a lot of good skaters tearing it up and bringing lots of action to the table. Even cooler than that, there was a big age spectrum and people were riding in all sorts of styles; from old school to new school, and everything in between. It was a great way to enjoy the beautiful weather while honing action photographer skills and pursuing the ‘decisive moment’; that singular moment where everything within the frame comes together for a split second to shift from good to great, only to instantly shift back to good.

As for the Homage. The time spent watching through the lens as others ripped up concrete, rail and skin brought me back to the 6 years of my youth when I was a red-mohawked, ripped jeans, scrawny skate-rat punk with pipe dreams of moving to Cali and getting sponsored. And as I shot frame after frame, working on my future as a photographer, I couldn’t help but feeling that I was also paying tribute to my past as a skater. Even though I ultimately stopped skating due to trashing just about every joint in my lower body, for a brief moment I was that kid again, ready to jump back on the deck and finish the job.

Scroll down for a click through slide show of the final images.