Another Skate Night At Empire

Andrew Houghton - slob fast plant

With sub zero temperatures over East Anglia on Wednesday night we all expected to work hard to keep warm and by the end of the public session, many were sweaty and spent and left soon after ten. 

I'd started shooting a little before closing as I'd seen Andrew throw a foot plant I'd not seen him do from the mini and asked him to repeat it. Once that one was in the bag, Harry locked the door behind Andrew and the after hours session began. 

Radman took to the rail following a pretty heavy session with Toby, Diss and Luke on the door gap. 

A few of the results have been saved for a project I'm currently working on, so these will be published once the project is completed. There are however a number of shots I've not chosen for this work and that is what you see below.

Alex Diss - f/s boneless. HYS!

Mark Radden - b/s disaster

Luke Jarvis - b/s ollie

Toby Gozzett - f/s feeble

Mark Radden - switch f/s 50-50

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Skate Night - After Hours

Harley Miller - f/s board slide

Empire Skate Night was a quiet affair this week. A handful of regulars were in attendance and skated hard, but the session petered out early and by ten, Jay & John were still putting the hours in on the mini and Toby, Harley and a few others were rolling around the park. Everyone else had gone.
The door was locked and as usual, Harley woke up late and began looking at the new kinked rail with Toby. This new creation won't last long however. The plan is to extend the rail further. So for a couple of weeks while the park finalises the design the rail currently has an 8 inch extension kinked upwards a few degrees. A new tweak, even an unfinished one makes for a great session with some crazy trick choices to suit the new yet familiar obstacle. 
I got down on the flat and shot these two working things out, turning occasionally to shoot Aaron, Reece and Reece skating the pyramid behind me. 
(15mm fish, set-top flashgun)

Reece Hall - ollie

Toby Gozzett - f/s feeble

Harley Miller - b/s tail slide 

Reece Bartlet - nose bonk biggy

Aaron Clapham

I played around with longer exposures which has resulted in some interesting effects. I discovered my love for this style of lighting shooting on Lords Of The Swords last year at Saffron Walden. One of my favourite shots from last year is in fact one of Jordan with a similar style of lighting.

Toby Gozzett - f/s board slide

Harley Miller - b/s board slide fake

After this outlay by everyone for a good hour, Harry went back to his phone to discover that Instagram had timed out and all the footage was lost.  I quickly changed flash batteries in the knowledge that it was entirely possible that everyone would want to do as many of the lost tricks as possible, again. While pondering the late finish I congratulated Toby on rolling away from a f/s lip heelflip out on the rail. He corrected me and said he hadn't.  I truly thought I'd seen him roll away from one earlier, but no. One to remind him about next time. He did however tell me that he had something else for me...

Toby Gozzett - ollie up to 5-0 and into the roll in

I understand that Toby was in fact attempting a wall ride. He was completely oblivious to the 5-0 to start with. Harry's reaction when I showed him the snapshot made my day!
I left with my tired fellow car occupants as Toby was going in for a rematch with his lost tricks. 





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Urbside with Harry and Paul

After a great session with Jay, John and Nick (now known to their peers as Slasher, The Tugboat Captain and Nick 'The Glove') early on Sunday morning at Empire, Harry and I jumped in the car with a good supply of carrier bags and headed to Urbside, the under-bridge concrete creation deep in the rolling countryside of Essex. The carrier bags were put to good use covering Harry's shoes on the muddy walk from the car. I'd come prepared with a pair of boots, enabling me to venture into the thick undergrowth and at one point into the river Chelmer the bridge was originally designed to span. 
This was my first visit for many months so a few new bits and pieces have been finished. Including a bowled corner at the far left of the park connecting the pillar wall ride with the small quarter-pipe. It was wet. And a quarter-pipe on the top of the bank has been extended over the bank a little and topped with curb-stones.  
This, is where all the shots came from, but we both skated all the other dry stuff first after clearing the mud a bit. A motorbike rider had driven through the river and enjoyed cleaning his tyres covering the park with a continuous snaking line of thick, black mud. 
Up until this skate, I've never really liked skating at Ubside. I suppose I haven't found a line I'm happy with until now. I got a few bits, Harry got a few bits, we ate some lunch, takes about shots and chilled out. Then I set my lights up at the top of the bank as Harry warmed up.
After rolling away down the bank from four or five good looking f/s feebles Harry took the camera and got some good shots of me doing some bad looking tricks!

Harry Wilson - f/s feeble (into transition then bank) #1

Harry Wilson - f/s feeble (into transition then bank) #2

Harry Wilson - f/s feeble (into transition then bank) #3

Me - b/s feeble

Me - b/s rock & roll #1

Me - b/s rock & roll #2

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