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 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.

Basketball? Yes, basketball. I shot some basketball for Red Bull in Portland last weekend at it’s King of the Rock event. It’s a one-on-one battle from 64 competitors down to the winner, who qualified for a spot at the main event later this year at Alcatraz. I’m not a fan of traditional basketball, but this was much more entertaining and energized. Fun to shoot, and it didn’t rain in Portland. Check out a few more shots after the jump.

Matt Haughey brought be another custom bike last week, this time around it was a MTB. Matt’s a tall guy, so a fitted custom bike is the way to go. In the past I’ve shot his DeSalvo Cyclocross bike, and more recent his Cielo roadbike. His new MTB is made by local builder Vertigo, and outfitted with as many local-made or made in the USA parts he could come by (Matt is the founder of buylocalcycling.com so all his bikes have a lot of locally sourced components). Check out more shots after the jump. Horizontal shots can be expanded by clicking.

Check out the full batch of photos on Matt’s Flickr page.

Mesh Skatepark became a Florida icon, and like anyone else who’s been there, I’m going to mesh miss it. In other words, Chad is closing the park, after giving it all he’s got trying to keep it on its feet. You can read more about it here in an interview with Chad.

It’s been a while since I’ve been there, two years actually, but fortunately I shot a few photos while I was there. I think they ended up getting sat on at a couple magazines, and never used, so this may be the first time you’ve seen them (although I also posted one or two of them on the site in the past). The shot above of Mike Cottle and Joey Juaristi took us a few tries to get, as the timing of Joey’s turndown while Mike was in a foot-jam toothpick wasn’t the easiest thing to make happen. I could be wrong, but I don’t think it ever ran in print. BMX Plus was going to use it, and then pulled some pages that month, pushed it back to the next, and so on and so on… I think it just sat there. Again, these shots are from 2007. I particularly like the fisheye shot of Mark Mulville after the jump.

Mark Mulville

Mike Cottle

Another installment of iPhone photos (you can see the first insallment here and the second here). It’s so convenient as it’s always there (at least when the battery isn’t dead). All of these photos are shot/processed in the phone. Old Camera, Camera Bag, and Photogene are my apps of choice. I’ve also been playing a bit with the Lightleak app, but it’s hit or miss. Making appearances in this round are the singer from Piebald (above), the Weakerthans, Caleb Ruecker, Tim Zimmerman, Old Man Koerner, and more. Check out more after the jump.

The past two weeks I’ve been busy bouncing around photographing the ASA Action Sports World Tour. Last week I was down in San Diego for a Freestyle Motocross contest, then a few days ago I was out in Minneapolis for a Skateboard Vert and BMX Jumping contest. Later this week I’m off to Chicago for a little more of the same. You can check out a few more shots after the jump from both events, including DJ Paul Oakenfold and Theory of a Deadman.

Several months prior to Hurricane Katrina I watched a Discovery Channel feature on New Orleans geography, which detailed how the low-lying city was likely to experience a catastrophic flood. Shortly thereafter Katrina hit, and nearly every aspect of the Discovery special came to fruition. Of course the documentary failed to predict the completely slack government and aid response.

Fast forward three years. From a media standpoint New Orleans is an afterthought. As a bystander, it’s easy to assume things are back to normal, or at least well on their way.

Recently I got to see first hand how “not back to normal” parts of the city still are, three years later. Venture beyond the French Quarter (which sits above sea level and was in a sense spared) and the few rebuilt upper-class white neighborhoods, and you’ll find a city that has seen very little in the way of aid.

While tourism provides jobs for many who were left with nothing after the storm, it’s clear very little money beyond that goes back to the people. There were no donation buckets in hotels (or anywhere at all). Expensive tours bring out-of-towners through the Lower Ninth Ward in large buses, a scene much like a Safari. There is no direct tourist tax to give money back. There should be.

Much as scientists warned about a Katrina like storm long before it happened, Wired Science recently published a story which describes how California will no doubt experience a disaster of Katrina proportions, if not worse.

In June 2008, President Bush signed a bill approving another (roughly) 200 billion dollars be allocated to the Iraq War for 2008, which brings the cumulative total to close to $800 billion. Yet much of the meager 70 Billion (or roughly six months in Iraq) promised for Katrina relief remains stuck in bureaucratic red tape.

The following photos were shot around New Orleans — mostly in the Lower Ninth Ward — during November 2008, three years after the storm. They were not shot from a tour bus.

Check them out after the jump.

A couple days ago I posted a few action shots from the LG Championships this year, and now, some portraits… 30 of them. BMXers, Skateboarders, Inline Skaters and Freestyle Motocross riders. Of over a hundred faces we shot, here are 30 very different faces.

Click on the first thumbnail, and then click the next button at the bottom of the pop up image to move on.There’s a little of everything from X Games gold medalists to Guiness Record holders.

There was a time — almost ten years ago now — where roof gaps and spots on roofs were big in BMX (borrowed from skateboarding where it was also popular at the time). Aside from the death factor, it’s really difficult to explain to security guards why you are on, or attempting to get on their roof.

I’ve been looking through a lot of my old film lately, and came across a couple shots from the “roof era” that I shot back when I worked at Ride Magazine. The first one (above) is of Josh Heino in Long Beach, California. We were stealthfully walking around trying to figure out how we were going to get on the roof when we happened upon a pile of 10 or 12 ladders. It was really meant to be. I posted up on a hill across Pacific Coast Highway and waited for Josh to get up top. I think at the time the angle was decided more by the fact that I really didn’t want to climb up on the roof with all my camera gear, but actually the perspective worked out really well. I don’t think you would have got the scope of the scene from on top of the roof. A similar (maybe even the same) shot ran in Ride.

The second photo (below) is of Robbie Morales, now the owner of Fit Bike Co. We were shooting for a poster in Ride, sponsored by one of Rob-O’s sponsors at the time, Primo. Years prior, Robbie (a former pro racer) had tried to jump a gap over a river, hung up on the other side, and fell straight down into the ditch on his back. Fortunately it was only about 12 feet down, and there was a foot or two of water to cushion his fall. The gap (now gone) came to be known as the Rob-O gap. When we went to shoot this roof gap for the poster, I definitely considered that if that should happen again, it was going to be ugly. Fortunately it didn’t and we shot a few different frames, one of which (a vertical shot) ran as the poster. The filmer in the photo is Anthony Moreschi, who was the editor of 411 BMX, a video magazine at the time.

Incidentally, this was the first time I used my Nikon film scanner since upgrading to Apple’s latest operating system, Leopard. Of course Nikon Scan is no longer supported on Leopard. While there are some other options for scan software, Nikon Scan is freeware and I don’t scan 35mm all that much anymore. Fortunately I still have an older operating system on my old G4 laptop and was able to put Nikon Scan on that, and it worked out in the end. While Leopard is nice, it’s been hassle after hassle on my end.