One of the most fun things in blading is finding random things and making something out of nothing. I feel like I don't see it that much now, but back in the day, it was a lot more common. When I started skating, we used to always check out local construction sites and find wood, signs, poles, crates, pretty much whatever we could find and build something out of it. Looking back at this photo reminds me of a simpler time...
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#TBT - Franco Cammayo - TopSoul Of Sorts - Staten Island, NY
Everyone has one of those people in their crew, someone who is a master of funky tricks, always does something out of the ordinary and can most likely catch a letter on everyone with them in a game of skate. In our crew, this person was Franco Cammayo...
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#TBT - Sean Kelso - Sweat Stance - Pennsylvania
This is one from my earlier days of shooting blading photos. This was taken in September of 2006, which makes it just over 10 years old. It's so crazy how time flies...
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#TBT - Billy O'Neill - Disaster Roll - Staten Island, NY
Here is one of the most epic things ever done on blades. Period.
I have a lot to say about this photo sequence and this trick in particular from what I remember. This was while Billy was filming for his Mindgame "Accidental Machines" section in 2006 (Holy shit that was 10 years ago already!). Billy was in a "fuck shit up" part of his career and at this particular time was heavily motivated by his short addiction to sky diving. I remember him coming back from his first or second time in the same week saying how unreal it was and that it makes you feel like you can do anything you want. This was shortly followed by him saying something along the lines of "I'm going to disaster into the roll in at the stadium."
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#TBT - Brian Bina - Wallride - Phoenix, AZ
This was from early 2011 when both Bina and I were both living in Arizona. We went out a bunch while he was filming for his Revolution 90 Second Edit and this was one of those times. Arizona has a ton of sketchy ditch spots and this is no different. As you can see, the landing knuckle is steep, narrow and leads into a bunch of rocks and other debris. A few people were known to grind the edge of the ditch and drop in but Bina went for the launch to wallride...
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#TBT - Austin Paz - Fishbrain Stall - New Jersey
I'm switching things up for this weeks TBT with a photo of myself instead of one that I shot. This photo was taken 10 years ago by Jay Greendyk who not only was able to shoot this but built this spot that I'm skating. This was one of our ventures from back when I used to skate with the Gnar Mobile crew every weekend in New Jersey. Jay told me about this spot that I believe him and his skateboarder friend built and we were surprised on how solid this transition was despite it looking so sketchy. I wonder if this spot still exists....
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#TBT - Justin Brasco - Sweat stance - Staten Island, NY
When I first started skating with Justin Brasco, he was a pale, chubby, short haired Long Island kid who spoke too fast for everyone to understand. Some of that's still the same but he's come a long way since then. For the past few years, I've probably been skating with Justin more than anyone else and he's been laying shit down continuously since then...
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#TBT - Joey Graziano - Vertical Soul Stall - Staten Island, NY
The original date on this photo was March 3rd, 2007, so this is almost exactly 9 years old. I don't remember much from this day but it had to have been one of those sessions where everyone comes out to skate because it's starting to get warm in NYC again...
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#TBT - Adam Caroselli - Ally-Oop Fishbrain - Brooklyn, NY
Adam is one of my closest friends and one of the few people I've known since I started blading 20 years ago. Him and brother used to destroy the underground NYC scene in the 90s until they both went on hiatus for a few years. This was a few years after Adam's comeback in 2010 and he was proving that he didn't get left behind...
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#TBT - Casey McFarland - Backside Royale - Phoenix, AZ
Before my brief stint living in the Phoenix area, I used to visit every year with my friends from here in the east coast. This was one of the last of those trips in the beginning of 2010...
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