I’m back on the east coast for Kevin Robinson’s surprise 40th birthday party his wife Robin put together for him in Rhode Island. Somehow it stayed a secret, and Kevin had no idea that a heap of BMX friends were in town from all over the country. Mat Hoffman, Dennis McCoy, Mike Dominguez, Xavier Mendez, Brian Blyther, Ron Wilkerson, Joe Johnson, Brian Curran, Warren Marchese, Brett Downs, Kevin Martin, Mike Rotondo, Josh Heino… in addition to tons of local friends and family, all packed into an American Legion hall with a country theme and mechanical bull. This morning we all headed up to Rye Airfield, a skatepark in NH. Kevin cut the vert session short by falling asleep on the flat bottom of the ramp, but fortunately he was (relatively) okay. I did manage to snap off a few photos of the Condor (above), and one of Josh Heino at the park, as well as a few from the party.

(Clockwise from K-rob. Photo by Brooke Geery. Click photo to blow up): Kevin Robinson, Kevin Martin, Dennis McCoy, Mat Hoffman, Ron Wilkerson, Brian Blyther, Me, Xavier Mendez, Warren Marchese, Mike Dominguez.

Mat Hoffman, Josh Heino, Mike Rotondo.

Joe Johnson.

Robin and Kevin Robinson.

Mat Hoffman, Howie Robinson.

Kevin Martin (paramedic), Brian Blyther (police officer).

Brian Curran, Joe Johnson.

Mat Hoffman

Josh Heino.

Mat Hoffman.

This was the first time I met Anthony Napolitan, who I’ve shot an awful lot since then. At the time, Anthony was a flow rider for the distributor System Cycle, and lived right down the road from the skatepark pictured above, Section 8 in Columbus, Ohio. Section 8 was a bad-ass bike oriented skatepark, producing some amazing riders over the years. I had recently moved to Pennsylvania, and took trip out there with Kevin Robinson, Alistair Whitton, and a few other guys. Anthony was killing the mini ramp, and the pink bike was a nice spark of color in a dark indoor park, so we shot for while that night. This photo was used in BMX Plus Magazine a few months later. Seven years later, Anthony’s still killing it. He’s all grown up now, and went on to win X Games medals, and a Dew Cup in Dirt.

Just took a road trip down to San Francisco to shoot another urban snowboard rail jam for Yobeat. It’s halloween weekend, and there’s no distinguishing between those who are dressed up, and those who just live here and are out for a walk. Check out the gallery I shot at the bottom of the post here on Yobeat.

I posted a teaser shot from this shoot a week or two ago, but recently I shot a bike check feature with Ryan Barrett for ESPN BMX that went up today. In addition to some photos of his set up and the customization process, we shot a couple photos at Nemo Design where he works, and took a trip down south to Myrtle Creek, OR for some action. Check out the whole thing here. The action shot above is a fastplant over a railing that sits atop a pipe at the Myrtle Creek park. It’s nuts in itself, but it was nearly dark when we got to the park. Neither of us had been there, but as soon as we pulled up he said “you can go over that rail.” Ryan got out of the car, and immediately figured out the speed line so we could shoot it. No warm up, he just got it done.

I am one of the lucky ones. I’m certainly not one of the elusive 1%, and, unless there’s some sort of lottery winning in my future, I don’t stand a chance (nor does it seem at all appealing). Shit, I went to art school, so I can only hope I’ll be worth more after I die. But unlike most of the Americans (that are fortunate enough to even have jobs at this point), I have made my living doing stuff I’d do whether or not I got paid to do it. For the last ten years (somehow I made it that long) I’ve worked for myself, and, while I can pay my bills and live my life, I’m also well aware that America is fucked. But I’m lucky and I realize that. I switched to a much smaller local credit union this week… something I should have done a long time ago. Anyway, a few times in the last few weeks I’ve checked out the Occupy Portland protest camps, and, while I would have expected them to thin out over time, the two city blocks filled with tents have only gotten (seemingly) more crowded. While things were peaceful, a few police officers kept watch at a distance across the road. For now, all still seems well in regards to the city’s acceptance of peaceful protest. Check out a heap more photos after the jump. Photos can be viewed larger by clicking.

A couple weeks back I took a trip down I-5 to Southern Oregon with Ryan Barrett and Codie Larsen to hit up some skateparks we’d never been to before. There are simply too many to hit in one day… small towns all over Oregon have amazing skateparks. This shot is from Aumsville, Oregon which apparently doesn’t actually allow bikes, but it was empty, so oops. I am putting together a bike check for ESPN BMX on Ryan’s bike, and we got a couple shots on this trip for that feature. Trails style merging with concrete is always a good thing.

This week I got to check out a preview of the Mongoose bikes documentary Know Your Roots that Plywood Hood Legend Mark Eaton directed along with mountain bike film maker Don Hampton. Mark also directed the awesome BMX documentary Joe Kid on a StingRay as well as a great film on BMX racing icon Stu Thomson. This piece was produced by Mongoose, but I goes beyond a typical promo piece. This thing really delves into the history of the Mongoose brand. When I was getting into BMX in the early ’80s, Mongoose was toward the top of the list of bikes every kid wanted. I even rode a Mongoose Decade for a bit in the 1990s. The film goes way back — 40 years to the roots of the brand — and touches on the development of the infamous MotoMag. The directors got some great interview with Mongoose Pros past and present, and it’s a must-see for anyone with an interest in BMX racing or freestyle. Mark tells me it will be released for free online this week, so I’d keep your eyes peeled on the Mongoose site.

Yesterday I went up to Seattle and shot the Sixth annual Downtown Throwdown, a snowboard rail jam in Occidental Square. Hundreds of bags of trucked in snow and some rail features brought out a huge crowd. At one point a lady asked me “is this one of those Occupy protests I’ve been seeing on the news?” Yes, yes it is. You can see the full gallery here on Yobeat.

I’m a bit slow in posting this one… just pretend I had to get the film processed. Anyway, about a week ago, right before driving to California, I shot a Red Bull skate contest at Marginal Way skatepark in Seattle. It was an elimination, jam format contest, where teams from different Washington area codes competed against each other. At the end the winners got some cash, as well as a donation in their names to the skatepark. The final round was amazing. All three of the guys on the team had some insane lines through the park. Check out a few more after the jump. You can blow them up by clicking.

Last week I drove from Portland back down to Woodward West in Stallion Springs, CA (outside of Bakersfield) to shoot some photos for their catalog, web, ads, etc. I shot a little of everything… BMX, Skate, MTB, and even some cheerleading. Woodward West is roughly a fifteen hour drive from Portland, but it goes by fast as you cruise through Mt. Shasta and California’s desert. Driving also allows me to bring all the photo gear I like, as well as my bike without having to pay astronomical baggage fees. That, and you don’t want to be in Stallion Springs without a car. This post includes some outtakes from the trip, and features Codie Larsen, Josh Clemens, Mike Saavedra, and a ridiculously large ollie from Jaws. Keep your eyes peeled for next years Woodward West catalog, to see some of this stuff and more bangers.

One thing I noticed on this trip, is that every kid at Woodward who approached me while I was taking pictures asked “what site are these going to be on.” Years back the kids would ask “are these going to be in a magazine.”

I’ve been down at Woodward West in California all week (I’ll post photos soon), but made a point to be back for the annual “Enjoy the Trick” Portland summer flatland jam that went down today. Last year’s summer jam was actually what got me psyched on riding flatland again, so it was fun to get back and actually get to ride a bunch this year. I didn’t shoot many photos, but I did make a point to get some shots of OG Plywood Hood / Aggro Rag ‘Zine maker Mike Daily (left), and Bill Freeman (right), who made the trip up from Los Angeles. There’s a lot of flatland BMX history in these shots. To be honest, I had a couple shots of both of them that I liked, and I couldn’t decide on my favorites, so I posted a couple more after the jump. The above shots can be blown up by clicking the image. I love the contrast here. Both guys have been riding bikes forever. Mike’s riding a CW California Freestyler from the 80s, while Bill is riding a much more modern, brakeless flatland setup. There’s also a clip of me from the jam that Mike filmed at the bottom.