Innehållsförteckning för 212 från Slam Skateboarding

344 PHOTO COMPETITION 344: if you can’t crack the code, that’s three dudes, for The 4 Skateboard Company. Nike SB Australia and 4 brought their boys Casey Foley, Mike Martin and Harry Clark together for a trifecta video part, and, as expected, the results oozed with style, skill and top trick selection. On the night of the premiere, the trio were bumped up to professional status with their own boards to a room of loud cheers and clinking beers. Now, thanks to 4 and Nike SB, you can score a package of 344 goodness to commemorate the occasion. For your chance to take home a box of all three boards from the Camera Series, three long-sleeve photo print tees, three sets of wheels and a pair of Janoski Hyperfeels, we…

Brass is always a pleasure to shoot photos with. He can do any trick with a stern mix of power with style. This was taken on a Nike SB trip to New Zealand, in a town called New Plymouth. We had about four people watching for cars at the bottom of the hill as Brass would bomb down to this garage gap. It was a nail-biter to watch, as he was skating directly towards a stop sign and a main road with constant traffic. Each attempt was either a kick-out, or hang up into a downhill commando roll. Falling and taking it to the shoulders and hips in the most controlled manner, like the professional skateboarder he is. When he finally cleared the canyon and landed into the bank he…

This was seriously one of the sketchiest spots to shoot at. As I jumped down into this dungeon, the only thing blocking me from falling into Batman’s Lair was a pile of leaves and some spiders that I swear haven’t even been discovered. I felt something crawling on me with every attempt. I put pressure on Kayle so that I could get out as soon as possible. Luckily for me, Kayle didn’t want to see me suffer any longer and handled this 360 flip.…

I’ll never understand how people pop high no-complies, no matter how many times I see them done. For Corey, though, it’s a piece of cake. By the time I arrived in the city he’d already filmed this trick and was coming up with ideas to add it to a line. He asked me to shoot it and I, of course, obliged. I wasn’t totally psyched on the photo the first time I shot it. I kind of blew it. Thankfully, Corey is always keen to go again. Nestled among some bushes across the street, I found myself a new angle. Corey promptly landed it, again, and this time I got the photo. I was stoked to shoot a trick that I would consider to be one of the most difficult…

This 21-stair hell-ride did not come easy. The first session was cut short a half an hour into Charles feeling out the behemoth. We inspected a deep slash through his hand – a result of sliding across the chipped old stairs in a bail gone wrong. Being the good friends we are, everyone in the crew assured him it wasn’t stitch worthy and I dropped him home. Twenty-four hours later he’s back at it, with three stitches and a vengeance. Fuelled by a fear of not wanting to put his hands down again, he went to work and cruised through the 50-50, as we always knew he would.…

After I moved from Auckland to Melbourne earlier this year, I somehow managed to stumble across Dean and his crew within my first few days of lurking around the CBD. When first encountering Dean and his infamous beanie, I didn’t know that this man-child was an absolute powerhouse. Dean doesn’t hesitate to throw down on whatever is in front of him. He’s the ultimate package with his unique trick selection, the talent to keep a skateboard glued to his feet and his heartthrob-like smile. I was lucky enough to shoot my first photo of him in Melbourne, nailing this wallride backside 180 over a bench at Docklands. While we were shooting, some of the crew used the nearby barbecues and rustled up enough grub for 15 people. Knowing his chance…

Hailing from the northern European country of Estonia, Edgar has lived in Australia for just over a year now. For the majority of that time I have been out with a cooked knee, so I haven’t had much of a chance to skate with this seemingly cheeky character. But what I have realised when watching this larrikin skate is just how versatile skateboarding can be from one country to another, and the different perspective that can be taken on our spots due to diverse influences. This is the first and only photo we’ve shot together so far, and what a treat it was. Even with the short, uphill run-up, and minimal bump, Eddy put the stamp on this unconventional shifty flip in just a few tries.…

When Joel told me he wanted to shoot this kickflip, I already knew the spot and exactly how I wanted to take the picture. What I didn’t anticipate was a huge truck parking right in front of my perceived shot. Luckily, Joel has that kind of flick that looks amazing any way you shoot it, and he is bloody amazing to work with – when he doesn’t have a rolled ankle. Hence the nickname ‘Limpy’. He doesn’t mind a huck. Giving me a few moments to reposition, I gave Joel the green light. He immediately started throwing himself over the block and into this slanted narrow tunnel of a landing. Even though the angle doesn’t do the spot much justice, we probably ended up with a nicer looking picture than…

Ben first came to Melbourne for a short visit, and during that trip he got a taste of the good life: the fine weather, smooth ledges and famous Melbourne sunsets. He loved it so much, that a few weeks later he made the move from Perth. Unfortunately, since then, Ben’s been smashed by Melbourne’s bad weather and early, cold mornings on his worksite (he’s a chippy). Luckily for us, Ben doesn’t give a shit about the cold. Since landing in Melbourne, he’s made quite the impression; netting himself a tonne of new friends and a photo in the pages of Australia’s first legit skateboarding magazine. Here he is, back-tailing something that shouldn’t slide.…

If you’ve ever been up and down the New South Wales surf coast as a skater, you’d have visited Pambula Park. It’s a veritable surf coast destination. I only managed to get there myself a few years ago, and even having seen loads of footage of locals rip the vert wall, I was surprised by how gnarly it was in the flesh. Reece Warren just so happens to be the king of Pambula Park (closely followed by Zac and Johnny Mac). There’s nothing better than going to a park and having the locals put on a show for you. With the help of Johnny, I talked Reece into doing this back noseblunt. If you look closely, you can see how thin the area is that he had to ride up…

The Hoon fellas came down south to film for their new video, enjoy some good times and some good old heckling sessions. Bugs was joined by Andrew Currie and Mashy [Mitchell Howse], and they were in search of some dangerous terrain. I suggested that we check out the most dangerous spot I knew – this one in Merrylands. Many have claimed, but only a few have conquered. This bank looks like a beauty, but it has so many shithouse factors: cheese-grater ground; large cracks at the bottom of the bank; scattered chalkies and tight tranny. You get the idea. Anyway, the session was on and Bugs was looking good. A back tail here is no easy feat. He made it look so damn good, while Mashy screamed out shit the…

This spot is down the road from my house in Glebe. It’s high, chunky and next to a busy main road. It doesn’t really tick many boxes. One night, Josh rolled away from a next-level slappy crooks, but I missed it as I was getting gear from my car. A couple of weeks later I asked him if he would do it again; he gladly obliged. This picture ended up being my favourite photo that I have submitted for this issue. An interesting fact about Josh is that he also shoots photos and has a rad eye for a nice shot.…

The past winter has been one of the coldest and wettest that Melbourne’s had in a while. Have you been able to skate much? Ah, man. It’s been pretty dark. It definitely feels like it’s been the worst one in a while. People still want to skate, regardless. Most of us here in Melbourne work throughout the week, and we usually still find a way to skate, even if we’re tired from work, if it’s dark out, or cold and raining. How long have you been working at Fast Times, and how did you get the job? I’d say I’ve been there for almost a year now. There’s a good bunch of people who work there. I got the job through Jimmy Roche. He slid into my DM’s asking if…

Greg is the most entertaining person you could ever meet. If he’s not humming nuts or drinking sauvignon blanc, he’s losing his mind on a skateboard. If you spent a night on the piss with Gregsie you would get to know The Vibe first hand. I feel like this old rundown spot in Clifton Hill is a little like Greg’s mind, with the graf painting a picture of his thoughts. They’re colourful and all over the place; they pop up late at night; and they’re always changing. Somehow, with his mind drowning in sauv, he keeps it together long enough to no comply flip his board over this gap.…

I’ve never seen anyone work harder for a trick than Jack did for this heelflip. He battled this spot for a couple of hours on four separate occasions, and must have thrown down at least 100 attempts. He was battered, bruised and beaten after every time. When we arrived on the fourth visit, we noticed a couple of police cars pulling up at an abandoned building down the street. Jack hustled like never before. He promptly landed the heelflip and we got the hell out of there. I guess the heat from the police was the extra motivation Jack needed.…

Jetlag is a son of a bitch that you don’t want to let take a hold of your first day in America, or any country. When you get into LA at the crack of dawn, and whether or not you got a wink of sleep on the plane, you should try to push through to the evening before going to sleep. If you don’t, your whole week will be screwed. I picked up Juan [Onekawa] and Josh from the airport; we got the usual errands out of the way, like sim cards, breakfast supplies, and it was finally time to go skating. The first spot saw Josh get shit-whipped trying to ollie it, so we weren’t off to a great start, but at the second spot we had a little…

After watching Dean Parsons take a 50-50 down this thing, pretty much any other trick seemed unfathomable. Although, I remember thinking to myself, A tailslide would be doable if someone could pop out of it. I showed a couple of people the photo of Deano’s 50-50 and copped responses like, “That thing looks gnarly,” or, “Fuck that.” It wasn’t worth the trip for most. The Hubba is in Cessnock, which is around a 40-minute drive inland from Newcastle. So it is about a two-hour ride for Sam from his home in Gosford. The spot is ancient concrete; rougher than your grandma’s cracked heels. It’s a one-push run-up to the 12-stair Hubba with a kink on the end, so you have to pop out to the side or you’re stomping on…

Hootie has done it all. He has run every gimmick running, and done every ‘cool trick’ out – only he probably did them on a mini ramp when he was 12, tucked away in Arrowtown, New Zealand. Arrowtown is smaller than Docklands, where this photo was shot, while filming for his controversial part in the Onti video. I was watching his video parts before I even knew what switch was, so I’m beyond stoked to be shooting with Hootiefrog now.…

You could say that Lou-grom is the Justin Bieber of skateboarding. I imagine his Tinder account makes young girls scurry out the door, eye on the prize, as if they’re chasing a rare Pokemon. But Louie had another bean to plant on this day; he had just been introduced to the Hoon family. Cuzza [Andrew Currie] was in town showing the young guns how it’s done and checking in on his new recruit. Not wanting to disappoint, handling the slippery sideways run-up to back Cuz up on his ollie, Louie went in with this gnarly bean plant a few hairy attempts later. Hoonz!…

Being a fellow Sunny Coaster, I’ve had the pleasure of watching Mitch evolve from a very quiet but fast skating Alex Heads grom, into one of the most creative, quick-footed and quick-witted city larkers that the Brissy metropolis has ever seen. Since making the move down a few years ago, you will regularly find ‘Reddog’ (as he is fondly known) skating the shit out of spots that no other skater would even look twice at. On this occasion (and most of late, as I’m still recovering from knee surgery) I was reduced to walking around the city to get to spots – a major pain in the arse. Mitch, however, being the good bloke that he is, opted to walk with me rather than wheelie board to this spot. I…

Whenever an out-of-towner comes to Melbourne, they ask to skate Melton Drains. I always do what I can to talk them out of it. It’s not that I hate the drains, they’re just a mission to get to. If you’re hitting Melton, that’s your day done. But sometimes, every now and then, the mission is worth it. Even though Scotty lives in Melbourne, you could still classify him as an out-of-towner. He’s been on fire lately, so when he asked to go to Melton, I couldn’t refuse. And he didn’t disappoint. I haven’t seen anyone else hit this switch, and it’s not just the switch back tail that’s gnarly, it’s the roll away as well. You don’t only have to worry about the speed of that thing; there are thousands…

The gremlin finally left the comfort of his beloved Cronulla skatepark and ventured out on a mission to one of the deepest, darkest corners of Western Sydney, Blacktown. This was one trick from a heated session that was going down that day. Some were landed and some were left for another day. Stipo took the cake with this long Smith down and through the kink, followed by some quick thinking to avoid a brick wall directly in the roll away. A thank-you must go to my lighting assistant, Billy Lukins. He had to move my flashes out of the way, every time, while I was no doubt inconveniencing his cigarette time.…

Lil’ Lou came in hot to Sydney from The States, and the good times began to roll as soon as he stepped off the plane. With his quest to do anything and everything Australian, he also left his mark on a fair few of our spots. The mayor of Sydney skateboarding, Cameron Sparkes, was his tour guide, and a session was on just across from this spot when Lou spotted some potential. After locking in some 50-50s, a security guard approached us and stood in front of the handrail. Screams of “One more try” were hurled. The security guard looked away for a split second and Lou ducked under his arm, under the kinks of the rails, rolled along the step to 50-50 the back of the bench. It was…

344 PREMIERE, JUANITA PEACHES, MELBOURNE…

There’s no shortage of things to shoot in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Crowded, rusting minibuses; half finished construction sites; corrugated iron fences painted bright green and yellow (the national colours) and, of course, the friendly locals. The whole place is teeming with life. As much as I enjoyed shooting those things, they were merely wonderful distractions from the task at hand: to document the building of Ethiopia’s first skatepark (a joint venture between Make Life Skate Life and the local Ethiopia Skate crew). Addis is a playground for cultural types. It’s the birthplace of coffee, world-renowned jazz, delicious food and, the reason I was there, a burgeoning skate scene. Ten years ago, there were only around three skateboarders in the city of Addis, now there are upwards of 150. A…

This picture was taken on our second visit to shoot Ben’s boardy. On the first attempt, we were greeted by a grumpy security guard who appeared after about five tries – including two sackings. The secko was sharp and he plonked his arse on the rail to create the ultimate skate-stopper. We politely asked if we could have a few more tries, but to no avail. Ben continued begging like a little boy, whinging, “Pleeeeease can I have one more go and we’ll leave! Pleeeeease.” I’d never seen someone whinge so politely. It was hilarious and admirable at the same time. The following week we were back for round two. And round two of Ben’s balls greeting the rail. Funnily enough, each sacking seemed to be a part of his…

I’ve been to this spot so many times and never been kicked out by security, until this day. As the uni’s security escorted us out of the basketball court, Kristjan mentioned he had a trick he’d like to try as the seckos left. He said he’d just learned footplants on the chicken wire fences around the court and they were feeling good. He seemed confident, and before we knew it he was jumping down the gap like he’d been doing them forever. Not long after the initial attempts, Kristjan was rolling away with a brand new trick, and with it some new hot pockets. He immediately left to go home and ice his ankles, while being the happiest I’d seen somebody be after destroying their legs.…

Max doesn’t sleep. He’s always on the search to create Melbourne’s next hot spot. If it looks pleasing to him, best believe it’s going to be skateable within the next 24 hours. This gap is a prime example – he found it the night before we shot this photo. As the sun set the next day he sawed off the metal bars that made the gap unskateable. Once that was done he handled his business by nollie heeling the gap with finesse.…

We were in San Pedro and we ended up at a curved ledge/anchor spot, but Juan eyed off these banks in the distance. He asked the local of the crew if he would get kicked out, and the general consensus was, yes. We dicked around at the ledges for a while and nothing was really happening. I said to Juan, Let’s go for it and see how much time we get. We got in and the tops of the banks were capped and there were officials walking around in the distance. We presumed we had a minute or so. Ten minutes later, Juan was boosting higher and higher on these frontside ollies, and I was running around trying to figure out how to frame him up with the big US…

This pool is in the Hollywood neighbourhood, and it was spotted by a big time celebrity pro skater legend. That’s all very interesting, but the fact is it’s a crack house where pimps run game on ladies of the industry. The cost to skate there is one pack of Marlboro Reds, paid to a shirtless brother with waist-long dreads. The pool has perfect wide open transitions, so it’s top secret. It is actually a bit naughty to be running this photo. Jack definitely couldn’t care less about all of that flapping when he was flying through the magnolia tree like it was a skatepark. Say nothing on the locaysh … it’s in Chatswood, yeah?…

I love the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and its DIY culture. Many of the people that call the area home understand that real wealth is knowledge. They work together to peel away from the system and live sustainably off a piece of land. Although being completely logged and burnt at the start of the past century, the area has since been reclaimed by the Indigenous, hippies and farmers alike, who continue to fight to preserve the area’s perfect subtropic ecosystem from mining and harmful farming practices. The land is now thriving with native wildlife, forests and constant, clean running water. She’s fuckin’ gorgeous, mate. Dylan McNamara’s place is a perfect example. It is fittingly known as Creekside because the bowl lays next to a pristine creek on his…

Having previously shot a wallie with Sammy from the kicker over the barrier a couple of years back, I felt pretty sure that no one would risk their life trying to one-up that any time soon. After skating with him for many years growing up on the Sunny Coast, I’m completely confident in Sammy and his abilities on the board. He makes the hardest tricks look like they require little to no effort. But when he hit me up to shoot a boardslide pop over on the said spot, I have to admit, I was a bit worried. Shit was pretty tense for everyone around, but unfazed, Sammy boardslides out and over potential death to pop over to the busy motorway. I’m glad that session ended without casualty, but no…

When you’re as good as Jackson Pilz, anything is possible. A short while ago, in Tassie, we were on our way to a skatepark when Jackson made us stop to check out this rail. Right by the door of the building was a metal awning that could easily decapitate an unknowing skater, in an instant. Initially we wrote the thing off and continued towards the park, but Jackson couldn’t let it go. To me, the rail looked super gnarly, the run-up sucked, the awning was deadly and bloody long to boot. Jackson didn’t see any of that as an issue, so we returned with tools and managed to take the awning down. Jackson almost boardslid the whole thing straight out of the gate. But with a limited run-up and nowhere…

All it takes are whispers of a skateable pool to send skaters into a frenzy, no matter how good (or how crappy) it is to skate. For photographers, it’s easy to make any pool look good. But for the skaters, getting to grips with a new pool is something else. This one in particular was dead hard to skate. Luckily, James has the ability to get up, into and out of any situation. Match that with his fashion sense and you have a photographer’s wet dream.…

I’ll begin with an interesting fact about Cody: he is the most intense driver I’ve ever been in the car with. If you ask anyone that’s seen him behind the wheel they will surely tell you just how angry the little man gets. Another interesting fact is that Cody happens to be one of the most talented dudes skating in Sydney right now. It’s rare for the weekend to go by and Cody not to have logged at least four or five tricks on George’s [Kousoulis] trusty VX. This trip was no different. With promises of new and exciting spots that the CBR has to offer, we decided to check them out. First on the agenda was this lengthy ledge in Woden. Cody was confused on what trick to do,…

Levi is the new kid on the block and he is eager to do anything on a skateboard. And I mean anything.There have definitely been moments when I’ve feared for his safety; but he’s pulled through every time. He shreds pretty much every secondhand board that Jake Hayes and Cody Riley dish out, and learns a few new tricks every day. Someone else’s misfortune of driving into this pole at Sydney Uni became our win. I really wanted to shoot a pole jam back Smith, and suggested the idea to Levi, which he proceeded to do perfectly five times in a row. Keep your eyes peeled for more from Levi.…

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Skating bike racks is sketchy. There’s a multitude of different ways for your board to become hooked up or your leg trapped. Initially, this setup looked as sketchy as could be. However, that was until I saw Phil have a few attempts, and then it made sense – the dude had it. He possesses some kind of extra gravitational ability to float in the air for a split second longer than what you would presume is possible. Ever since I met Phil he’s been surprising me on a skateboard. Both of the tricks he has in this issue are perfect examples of this. I’ve never doubted his skill when I hear of the tricks he has planned, but it’s sometimes hard to imagine how he’s going to pull it until…