sunday November 14, 2006 Late summer was ridiculously busy, which explains why I haven't updated this in two months.. a lot of travel back and forth to the west coast for events and photo/video trips. I also just finished single-handedly putting together three magazines in a month. Two of them were forty-page Woodward Camp catalogues, and the other was Sophisticated Rider # 6. Essentially the catalogues are magazines, so it was a heavy month. My studio floor is coverd in paper, and the walls are covered in layouts, as seen here, after I had sort of cleaned up. I got a new series of six different promo cards in a few weeks ago. I've been so busy I haven't really done anything with them yet, but here is what those look like.
sunday September 10, 2006 The latest issue of Ride BMX has a poster of Steve McCann in it that I shot, along with a Maxxis Tires ad of Anthony Napolitan, and a Boost Mobile ad of Jamie Bestwick which also use my photos. The new BMX Plus magazine has a couple of my photos including one of Chad Kagy, and one of Anthony Napolitan. Also the latest issue of Transworld MX magazine has one of my photos of Kenny Bartram in its photo gallery section. I'm home for a bit, and then off to California for an LG Action Sports event, then going on a small trip with Kevin Robinson and Anthony Napolitan to film for the Hoffman Bikes video and shoot photos. I think we're going to hit up Stephen Murray's trails, and then go out to TJ Lavin's since Interbike is going on in Vegas that week. Then I go back to California to shoot the LG FMX Championships in Pomona the following weekend. Tuesday AUGUST 22, 2006 I mentioned a few months back that I silkscreened some logos on a motocross seat for Jeremy "Twitch"Stenberg's bike. Unfortunately, he had a serious crash at the Louisville Dew Tour, and is still healing up from two broken ankles and a few other injuries as a result. Here's a portrait I shot of him the other day, hanging out in his wheelchair. If you look close you can see a white circle on the left leg cast just above the ankle. That's a bone growth stimulator. He'll be back. If you ride BMX, you need to thank this guy: Joe Johnson invented tailwhip airs almost 20 years ago.
Friday AUGUST 19, 2006 A lot of new tricks have been coming from the Woodward crew this year. Here's one that a lot of people got to see for the first time today during the Free Flow Am finals at Dew Tour in Portland. Spinner has been doing 720 tailwhips for a bit now, and we've shot a few sequences at Woodward, but he finally got a chance to unleash it on the public, with just about every big-name park pro there waiting to see it go down. This trick has eluded riders for the last couple years until Spinner started doing them. Just wait till you see the other variations he throws in after the tailwhip....no, really. Mike Spinner is wild, and his name is very fitting. You can check out some more stuff I've been shooting
at this event in the galleries at lat34.com. Monday AUGUST 15, 2006 The X Games were wild this year, as you might have seen on TV. I got some good photos from BMX vert best trick, of K-Rob's double flair, Kagy's flat spin double tailwhip, and Keith McElhinney's front flair. I also got a sequence of Pastrana's double flip madness. Here's a look a the the cover of Sophisticated Rider magazine, issue 5, shot and designed by me. We added some pages to this issue, and there is some really good stuff in it, including some cool Mega Ramp stuff that Chad Kagy shot, so be sure to pick one up. It's out now, so if you can't find it, go to the web site. We also set up a MySpace page for the mag. Click here to add us to your list. The HDT's Bart De Jong put a story up on FATBMX about the Rebel Jam art show I just participated in with a group of others in Berlin, Germany. If you click the bottom left photo in the gallery you can see my wall at the show. There were some great pieces at that show, as you can see from the photos. Here is a random set of portraits I shot of 2004 Olympic Gymnastics Gold Medalist Carly Patterson last week. Carly is on a new show on one of the networks called Duets that comes out in a few weeks. And here's another random shot of another sort of gold medalist, skateboarder Ryan Sheckler, showing you that his feet still work after a recent fire dancing incident. Tomorrow I'm off to Portland, Oregon for the Dew Tour stop up there. Maybe an update from the road? Maybe not? We'll see.
Monday JULY 31, 2006 I've been busy this summer, traveling and shooting a lot of stuff for Woodward's promo catalogues. Here's a shot of Billy Marks, and a shot of Kristian Svitak, both from Woodward. I was out in Denver for the Dew Tour, and shot a bunch of stuff that's up on Lat34.com in the Denver photo galleries. I shot all three sports (BMX, FMX, and skate) so there's a lot of stuff. If you can find the BMX vert prelim galleries, I got a good sequence of Keith McElhinney's front-flip flair... that was the first time that's been done, ever. It also just won Playstation's "Trick of the Week" on the Dew Tour web site. Keith also managed to score himself an invite to the X Games best trick contest next week! Not bad for a 37 year-old computer software engineer, eh? Tomorrow I'm off to LA for a week for the X Games, then to Portland in a couple weeks for the Dew Tour stop up there. Also, this is the first place you'll see a photo of these. Production samples of Tom Stober and Nate Wessel's new knee pads they're producing under the name "Team Blowin' It." These arrived in my studio the other day, for a product shot to get out to the mags, and the production run should be on the boat from China and into stores very soon. They're some of the best under-pant style knee pads I've seen. Sophisticated Rider #5 should be back from the printer next week at the latest. I finished designing that a couple weeks ago, and we've added more pages to this one, which of course was more work for me. There's a lot of good stuff in this one, including Danny Way's Mega Ramp backflip in Mexico City, which Chad Kagy shot for us.
saturday JULY 1, 2006 Right Guard has a new Target in-store promotion for its Right Guard Xtreme line, which features a few different photos I shot of Kevin Robinson a little while back. There are two different packs with Kevin on them, plus some in store POP. Here's a quick photo of the two pieces of packaging. I also shot a photo of Australian inline skater Shane Yost for a chocolate milk bottle recently. I don't know where they sell the stuff, but it probably won't come out for a few months anyway. Also, it's not soy milk, so I wouldn't touch the stuff anyway. Also, Panasonic just did some autograph posters with some of my photos of Kevin Robinson and Kenny Bartram, which those guys are signing at each stop on NBC's Dew Action Sports Tour this year. The annual Rebel Jam in Berlin, Germany will have an art show again this year, so I'm sending off some stuff for that. Should be some good stuff. The game Yahtzee in German is called Kniffel.
Friday June 9, 2006 I shot some motocross photos of FMX rider "Cowboy" Kenny Bartram yesterday on a 13-foot tall dirt quarter/hip thing, for a couple different projects. He was blasting the dirt quarter. Here's a one-handed invert and here's a nac-nac. They're going to have a quarterpipe and a wallride on this years Dew Tour FMX course as well, so it should make things interesting. Shooting motocross is dusty. In a related note, somehow I got roped into printing Panasonic logos on custom seats for FMX Dew Tour Champion "Twitch" Stenberg about a month or so ago. When Twitch is upside down over 100 foot gaps on NBC this summer, Note the 2-color silkscreened logo on the sitting surface of his seat.
Friday June 2, 2006 Shot some new stuff with Chad Kagy this week for a couple
of different things including an Action Sports book that's in production
at the moment. Here's
one shot of a fast plant on a wall, and here's
a turndown. The Rebel Jam guys are doing another art show this year at their event, and I'll be sending over some stuff for that. The show / BMX contest take place in Berlin, Germany in August. You can find more info shortly on their site. Check it out.
Monday May 22, 2006 The new issue of the Australian magazine LifeLounge has some photos I shot of Mat Hoffman in it. If you have access to the mag, it's pretty cool. Also, the latest issue of BMX Plus! has a few spreads of my Metro Jam photos in it, along with an ad I shot for Right Guard.
Sunday May 21, 2006 This weekend was spent riding around on private airplanes, much like rappers, Tom Cruise, Fortune 500 CEO's and drug lords do every day. Thursday morning we flew down to Ryan Nyquist's private skatepark, The Unit. We spent about five hours in North Carolina, and then jumped back on the plane up to Rye Airfield Skatepark in New Hampshire for the Wicked Am contest. Kagy was filming a TV show called "Firsthand" for Fuel TV. Unfortunately he got food poisoning and spent most of his time in New Hampshire vomiting. This morning we jumped back on the private plane and flew back to State College. I could easily get used to that kind of travel. Thanks to John and Beau at Rye Airfield.
Tuesday May 16, 2006 You need to watch this link of Kagy smashing any previous BMX backflip records, and then doing enormous flip-whips. Wow.
Sunday May 7, 2006 The International Color Awards were held this weekend. I recieved nominations in two professional categories: Advertising and Sports. The jury is a prestigious group of art directors, gallery curators, art buyers, and advertising directors. There is some really good work up there amongst the nominations and winners. I don't think they've posted the online gallery exhibit yet, but it should be posted there sometime this month. If you want you can cheat and follow this link to the program from the online awards show they held this weekend. I've got one peice in each of the afore mentioned categories.
Monday May 1, 2006 More Euro web content: FATBMX.com used some of my Anthony Napolitan photos for this interview they posted with him last week. I rebuilt the web site for Sophisticated Rider Magazine last week. Issue four came out two weeks ago, and you can see the cover and order copies from the web site if you can't find it locally. I've been working on shooting a John Parker interview for Ride UK, and he's landed some elusive tricks for it, including one that's been haunting him for about 13 years. There will be a couple firsts in that interview for sure. BMX vert is really, really nuts right now. Really nuts.
Thursday April 20, 2006 Coverage of a Canadian contest on a German web site, written in English? That's right. Dominik from Woozy has some of my photos up in a Metro Jam story on his site. Check it.
Friday April 14, 2006 Andy Mueller of the infamous Art Dump sent me over some treats from his product line The Quiet Life. This stuff is really good. He included a Poo Poodles CD as well which is out on his Quiet Life label. ...good stuff. Freddie Mercury is punker than you, punk.
Wednesday April 12, 2006 I just noticed I have a ton of photos up on the re launched Right Guard web site (in the (Hoffman Bikes section under athletes). A few weird crops going on over there, and some odd color (mis)correction on a few of them, but cool regardless. Also, I noticed someone searched (or "googled" as they say these days) the phrase "Mat Hoffman's Spleen" and somehow ended up at this site. This photo is for them. Don't worry, it's not a picture of Mat's spleen. That's in a jar somewhere.
Tuesday April 11, 2006 We finished up Sophisticated Rider Issue 4 last week, and it's at the printer now... we should have copies of that in a couple of weeks. It's getting nice out again on the east coast, so I've been able to shoot some photos outdoors lately. Here is a shot of Englishman and Arby's fanatic Ronnie Surridge, and here is one of Anthony Napolitan. Be on the lookout for some special Right Guard packaging I shot with Kevin Robinson in Target stores soon (May maybe? I can't remember).
Friday March 10, 2006 This Bike is a Pipe Bomb is a great band from Florida. If you haven't heard them, you should buy one of their records. Last week this news story about a boy and his bike came out through the AP, and was published in a variety of Ohio newspapers. Fortunately, four days later charges were dropped in this "case." Wow. Talk about over reaction and flat out ignorance. After all, the first thing most terrorists do is have vinyl stickers printed to mark their devices and make them more prominent.
Friday March 10, 2006 Busy week shooting stuff of Kagy for Rockstar, then to Toronto for the Metro Jam then back home to shoot photos of Kevin Robinson for Right Guard. There are a few out takes from my Metro photos on the BMX Plus Magazine website. This i s how much fun Dave Mirra had at Metro Jam. On the way back, (prior to being grilled by immigration about why I would want to go to Canada) I shot a few photos of Niagara Falls late at night. Of course the mist that the falls produce freezes everywhere, so the railings and sidewalks are all covered in ice. I waited for a little while, but didn't get to see anyone go over the falls in a barrel. I think it was too cold. Who wants to be in a barrel on a cold day?
Sunday February 19, 2006 The April 2006 Issue of BMX Plus Magazne just came out, with a photo I shot on the cover. Megapixel freaks who have decided that such a number really means something should note that this image was shot with a 4-megapixel dSLR. Yes, there's a higher resolution camera in my bag as well, but it's not always about technical numbers. I designed this t-shirt in honor of recent political events. While getting shot in the face is probably not that fun, and the fact that someone almost died isn't that funny, the circumstances as a whole and the hoopla surruonding them are funny. I am of course referring to America's Vice President shooting his friend in the face. Personally, I have never shot anyone in the face, so I have no ability to put myself in his shoes. If you are a member of Congress and will wear this shirt to work, I will send you one for free.
Saturday January 14, 2006 I donated a couple pieces (photograph and a painting) for the Shac 7 benefit auction, taking place on January 20th. Clearly our freedoms are being stripped away from us at an alarming rate, and these guys are facing that reality. Food Fight Grocery in Portland, Oregon is putting this benefit on. Lots of great artists are involved in this one, including Glen E. Friedman. That right there is reason enough to get on a plane to Portland.
Thursday January 12, 2006 I've been shooting a lot of late night long exposure stuff. Here is one of one of the local Penn State Lion landmarks. And another from San Francisco's Nob Hill looking out onto the Bay Bridge. This one looks a bit more nuts as a large print. Hard to see the details as a small, on-screen image. FYI: You have to watch out for cable cars full of tourists when you're making exposures in the middle of the tracks for long periods of time. Of course, if you're going to get maimed, tourists in a cable car is a good way to go. How about some more from PA. Here's a fancy bicycle stuck in the snow. Somebody ought to tell them their stem is on backwards. Wouldn't want them to go smacking their knees, right? While we're on the subject of bicycles, some of the locals at Woodward have been killing it. Here's Brian Cunningham flipping a fun-box that can't possibly be flipped. Broke kids, paying for knee surgery learn fast when someone puts up a hundred bucks. And finally, a shot of a visiting Brian Hunt on a brand new, and very blue, bike. When you show up out of nowhere and blow 60 of the best Pros in the world out of the water, at one of the biggest contests of the year (Metro Jam last year), you can have yourself a brand new bike too.
Thursday January 5, 2006 My Commercial site, Souney Media received a bit of a face-lift earlier this week. Sophisticated Rider #3 is at the printer. We should have copies in a few weeks. Grab a copy.
Saturday December 31, 2005 The new issue of Transworld Motocross (Feb. '06) has a photo I shot of Alistair Whitton in the photo secition. I was pretty psyched on that photo, so I'm glad it got used in a proper fashion. I used a couple of different shots in Sophisticated Rider #2, but our circulation of 10,000 is a bit miniscule compared to TWMX, as that mag and the new Quad Magazine dwarf Transworld's other titles. Happy New Year.
Tuesday December 13, 2005 The Freesports Film and Photography Festival went down last week over in London. I didn't make it over for it, but Andy Evans emailed over some photos from the photo gallery. I sent over a few pieces for the show, which can be seen in some of the shots (photos of Ryan Barrett, Jamie Bestwick (portrait), and Jim Cielincki). It sounds like the event and photo show were awesome. Hopefully I'll make it over for the next one. Click Here for the photos from the gallery and the film festival.
Friday December 9, 2005 I set up a new side project site yesterday, designed to be a resource for agencies and publications looking for action sports images. The concept is sort of a hybrid of image library, image research and assignment source to provide and source images of action sports. Action Sports Press.
Monday December 5, 2005 I went to a crazy indoor vert ramp with Paul Zitzer this weekend to shoot some skateboarding. Allen, the owner, is a 40 year-old Wall Street Bonds trader, who also happens to be a skateboarder. You could say this is the ramp that Wall Street built. Definitely not your average backyard ramp. Amazing. Also, here's a recent Hoffman Bikes ad I shot with Seth Kimbrough in OKC. Seth was using that bench as a curved wallride, and doing airs out of the top of it. What? Exactly.
Sunday November 27, 2005 It's about damn time I reworked this site. It's been a few years at least. Now that I've done that, I'll try to keep it updated. For now check out the new online gallery I put together of some Action Sports Portraits (Sportraits?). It's a selection of some stuff I've been shooting the past couple years. Also there are some photos from the Sacramento Mobile Skatepark Series Event a few months back that I shot up now on th BMX Plus Magazine site. I don't think I mentioned it already, but I'm working on a group show at the Freesports Film Festival in London, UK in early December. Scott Pommier, Yves Garneau, Scott Serfas, Chris O'Connell, myself, and a few others will be showing work in their photo exhibit the 7-13 in Central London. If you're in the vicinity, check it out, look to your right for oncoming traffic, and mind the gap.
Wednesday November 23, 2005 Another big name BMXer is hosting a show on MTV. TJ Lavin is hosting a show called the Gauntlet.
Wednesday November 16, 2005 I'm sending a couple of pieces up to Portland, Oregon, for an Art Auction on Friday January 20th, the Friday prior to the Federal Prosecution of the SHAC7. Put short, this is a group of individuals who face millions of dollars in fines and 20 plus years in Federal Prison for expressing their views on an aminal testing operation. Clearly the lines between freedom and fascism have been crossed by our government in recent years under the umbrella of "terrorism." Thanks to Sweet Pea Bakery (a vegan bakery) in Portland for asking me to take part. In other corporate wonders (blunders) I'm still completely baffled that Abercrombie and Fitch pulled an entire line of t-shirts from its shelves because they offended a group of teenage girls from Pennsylvania. I have to say I'm a bit suprised that company criticized for catalogues bordering on soft-porn would crack so easilly. If you tie the two above situations together, it's no wonder that those girls weren't imprisoned for being dangerous to all Americans. Weird lines are being crossed all over the place. When I was in England a few weeks ago a homeless man put it all in perspective for me: "You're alright Mate, but that Bush is a wanker.
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