For the past six months, the Oakland Thursday Night Skate has been a staple in the rollerblading community. It’s a session that is reflective of the old Friday night sessions that would go down at EMB in the late ’90s. The skatepark is a little run down, the ramps are warped and have nails sticking out, but every Thursday this session makes a person proud to be a rollerblader. The amount of community and support brought by the different people really shows the family that has emerged from a Thursday night skate. Sean Salazar has been shredding Thursday nights before I ever started attending. This pic of Sean is on one of the more sketchy obstacles at the park. The banks are slippery, the ledge is high, and the angle iron is sharp. Sean was a boss and laced this Acid Soul a few times will I was setting up to shoot it. Once I got everything set up, he laced the ledge a few more times until I got the shot I liked. The setup was simple: a Canon 5D MRK II with a 50mm 1.4 lens, shot at around F8 at 200, and I used a pro-photo ring flash at 1/2 power. If you’re ever in Oakland on Thursday you should hit up the session, it’s on 18th street off Adeline. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed. And Sean, welcome to JSF. — Matt Bolger
i am not sure this was the best use of a ring light, on camera flash, and especially a ring light really flatten things out… try using some lights off camera to add some contrast
I agree a ring flash wasn’t the best chioce but it was the only strobe I had that day. So it was either that, or shoot using the availble light coming from the sodium vapor lights that are around the park. I actually like this image’s flattness in this image for some reason.
your choice man
i wish john haynes would throw some constructive criticism my way. listen to the guru matt.
