During the past few months I’ve been in hibernating, nursing my dislocated knee and not skating or snowboarding which just plain sucks. This in turn has kept me nicely out of the loop with the local skate scene.
Nice for a break away from the camera, but even nicer to be back!
It was a pleasure to be asked to photograph the 2009 Cheapskates Regionals at Washington Park on the Sunday 11th Oct. After a rain day on Saturday, it was clearly a good call to hold out till Sunday; the sun was cranking and skies were clear as. The standard of skating on display was great, from the usual suspects like Max Couling, Jack Woodrow and James Kingston, to a heap of young skaters I’d never seen before; absolutely ripping it up. Quite exciting for an old crippled dude like me. Big ups to Scotty and the Cheapskates crew, and all of the sponsors for putting this event on.
Here’s a few selections… check out the results at the bottom.
I recommend you read the fullness of the event at Cheapskates website, but here’s a review of the results:
OPEN
1st: Matt Beck — Chch
2nd: Jack Woodrow — Chch
3rd: James Kingston = Andrew CHUNKS Norton — Temuka
16 & UNDER
1st: Jack Dargan — Chch
2nd: Eru Tutaki — Temuka
3rd: Billy McLachlan — Temuka
13 & UNDER
1st: James Thompson — Chch
2nd: Shaun Goddard — Chch
3rd: Cade Wilson-Russ — West Coast
WMNS
1st: Hannah Kennedy
2nd: Winona
3rd: Madison Berry
So my input to the local skate scene now is offering photography and design (or both) to anyone that’s keen; skaters, teams, sponsors, event managers etc. You can check out some more of my skate photography and design work here.
Also anyone in the event or reli’s after any of these photos as prints, contact me here and we can line something up. Obviously this is just a selection, so let me know if you want me to try and find any specific shots from the day.
So I hear the Nationals have been relocated from Auckland to Christchurch… check back here for more skating/design goodness over the summer.
Tags: 2009, Cheapskates, Christchurch, Regionals, Washington Park
Hey Andy,
Just want to say well done on the photos, there are some stunners! I was out taking photos on that day too (we crossed paths ever so briefly), got a few decent ones (have sent em to cheapskates) – but I am impressed at how non contrasty you got your photos to be – what sort of lens were you using? And what sort of settings were you shooting at? Clearly I need to practise a bit more with my camera, and the nationals coming up will be a decent opportunity for that. Anyhow, just wanted to give my approval and say keep it up!
Cheers,
Ben Davis
Hey Ben, Thanks for the feedback. I was mainly using my Sigma 70-210mm 2.8. My settings were varied as the day panned out, ‘shooting to the right’ helps heaps with high contrast. I saw you photos on manualmagazine.com, good effort! The main thing I’d keep an eye on is trying to include the landing area in the frame, it helps keep everything in context. Good stuff bro, will see you at the Nationals.