One of the first images I can recall of rollerblading is an old Team Paradise ad from the pages of Inline Magazine, way back in 1997. It was a small ad, in the back of the Buyer’s Guide issue, of a skater doing a perfectly grabbed backslide; that’s what did it for me. The moment I saw that image I was hooked, and even to this day I still have a thing for backslides.

Greg Breger is one of the few skaters who have made the summer pilgrimage from France to the city of Calgary. Lured here by promises of beer, blading and beautiful women, we did our best to follow through on all accounts in order to show him the best time possible. After skating with him throughout the summer, it became blatantly apparent that Greg could pull off incredible stylish backslides. I’ve shot a few over the years, but Greg had the backslide that I wanted to capture from my youth, since the first time I picked up that magazine; that effortless style.

The spot was a wobbly, thin, flat metal rail in front of an apartment building that every time you jumped on made enough noise to piss off somebody in the neighborhood. A less than ideal spot (picked by the photographer, of course), but it looked great in-camera and I knew that Greg could deliver the goods. We set up the Profotos, with bladers holding the lights instead of stands in case of an instant bust, and let Greg take a few practice runs at it. Within a few tries he nailed it but, when it became clear that nobody was paying attention to us, I suggested he make some minor adjustments to make it perfect. A couple tries later we had something we were both very proud of. — Chris Wedman