Saturday, November 7, 2009

Photo obscura. Dan Sturt in the early 90's ushered in a new era of skate photography- eluding to the inevitable. Up until then, for the most part, skate photos were 95% fisheye, 4 feet away, on camera flashes and everything in frame. Action was shot at the apex of the trick. Sturt shot a few photos that made us all look at things a bit different. The Markovich photo cuts off his body completely. This happened all the time, due to shooting fisheye and up close, but to consciously shoot Kris out of frame and doing something so epic (at least at the time) was genius. It made you think and dream of being there. The Jason Carney bail was even gnarlier. At a time when people were beginning to push the limits of big rails- this rail was HUGH! It's a bail, but the fact that he even tried it was insane- insane enough that a bail made it just as valid. Then there's the Duffy rail, Plan B ad (I could be wrong if it was a ad). Just a photo of the rail with Duffy's name at the bottom of the page- enough said. You knew he did it and it was fucking tough. Maybe I'm just waxing poetic about old photos, but these changed the way us skate photogs looked at things at the time.

Kris Markovich, Sturt photo.



Jason "Big Window" Carney, Sturt photo.

This photo has nothing to do with the others, but it's rad. Gonzo over Lance Mountain,
Australia, 1988? Photographer unknown.

3 comments:

Ricki Bedenbaugh said...

I used to have the polaroid from the other camera Dan is shooting with in the Markovich photo, which to this day I have no idea what happened to it. May be Dan came into my house while I was sleeping and took it back. I wonder if he shot it with the shadow being the main focus.
Great blog Lance
-r-

Anonymous said...

Australia 1987 shot by Kevin Thatcher

Ricki Bedenbaugh said...

Thought I would update you, since I posted that comment about almost 2 years ago.
Found the polaroid today!! So fucking excited. It's been over 10 years since I've seen this polaroid, it was in a box of post cards in my garage. Framing it tomorrow.