What can I say, I have a skateboarding bug. This infection started in the mid 70’s and festered for the last 40 years. I thought I was in the clear, having not been on a board for a long while. But then it flared up again when I had a son. I couldn’t wait to get him a board so I can show him the wonderful world of skating. At first he didn’t take to it. What could I expect from a 6 year old? I would just have to wait to see if he would catch the fever.
A few years later, that skateboard made it to the big leagues. I noticed that board seemed to be everywhere we went. We would skate schools, beaches, hills; whatever we came across. We were very fortunate that we had a long cement driveway at our house to practice new moves. I was able to watch my boy pop his first Ollie on that driveway. It was really cool for me to see him develop his board control. I couldn’t wait to get him into a skate park.
Growing up in Costa Mesa it was a given that we would baptize our wheels at Volcom Skate Park. That was a great place to learn some new tricks and we made some new friends. It wasn’t too long before we started to explore all the skate parks in our area. We would set out to see how many parks we could hit in a day. Fortunately, there were quite a few close together in south Orange County. We got to know what each park had to offer and when it was the least busy so we had room to play. Our favorite by far is Etnies in Lake Forest because this park has so much room that it hardly ever felt crowded. This is the perfect place to practice new moves and get inspired by some of the best skaters in our area.
As my son’s abilities improved, I enjoyed photographing him step by step. I know that the images of these little steps forward will keep these days alive for us in the future. Not only do we get to watch his progress, we also get to see who was there along the way. When I pull out the camera, we get a small group together and go for photo history. What I really dig about this is that most of these kids are amazing skaters and they should have some images to show off their talents.
When I am not following my boy around with a camera, I am looking around to see if there are any more photo opportunities available. I was fortunate to come across Jeff Tatum one day at Etnies. I noticed his unique style and his stand out personality. We started photographing some sessions and we came back with some great images. Right away I knew that Jeff is an artist on wheels. What was really great about working with Jeff is that he understood photography so location and lighting played a huge part in creating our images.
I know that skating will always be in my blood. I enjoy rolling around as much as ever and that feeling is confirmed by all the good people I come across. I know that photographing this sport will keep this feeling alive for future generations.
backside / kenny & J.T.
Kenny Ray
Michael & Kenny Ray
