This past Sunday and Monday I traveled back home to make good on a promise to shoot some family portraits. It had been a while since I have been back there . . . I should have shot more photo’s (outside of the portrait shoot), but I was more into just walking around and looking at stuff.
In the summer of 1988, this pool (just as it appears here) was drained. Every kid in the vicinity who owned a skateboard scaled this very fence and sessioned it non-stop, until the spot finally became a bust. Which took quite a while.
Think about how different skateboarding was back then. There was a big community celebration happening in the park across the street while the pool was open for skating. The number of kids skating it was unreal, there were police hanging out in the park along with a large number of community residents. I do not recall a single person saying a word about us climbing the fence or skating the pool. I can’t imagine anything like that happening today.
As you can see. This isn’t even a good pool for skating. But it was ours. You would push in and just carve, in one side and out the other. Kids lined up on either end, depending if you wanted to carve frontside or backside. It was cordial. No snaking, everyone taking runs. It was special because I don’t think any of us had skated something like this before. We had Beasley in Hamilton, but that really wasn’t much of a bowl . . . and you always ran the risk of getting punched in the face down there sooner or later. This was a good time.
I do recall Greg Urban getting wild and doing wallrides out of it. That was pretty burly for the time.
The local ball diamond. This is the very scene of many, many strike outs for Yours Truly. You would think 11 some odd years of little league would make you better at the plate. It didn’t.
I used to work here. We would make tea at this table. It used to be inside a huge greenhouse. The greenhouse is gone, but the table remains unmoved.
Julio is a good dude. He came with me because he likes cameras and is learning how to use them better (though, he already uses them quite well). He was a big help with the portrait shoot, moving lights, flashes, and holding fill cards. Thanks Julio! This is one of several light test shots. I think Julio is channeling his inner Menudo (we all have an inner Menudo).
