During the end of last summer and into the beginning of the winter season we’re still enduring, Dan Loveless and I embarked upon a very intense few months of shooting for a piece focused on the leggy lad from Dorset. With the potential of having an article in the upcoming print ONE waved in our collective face we got to work straight away. Everything was hinged upon us getting enough content in time, so with that we found ourselves out shooting nearly every weekend until the set deadline. With such a short period of time in which to “get shit done” my fingers were crossed for an easy few months of shooting… and to be fair, for the most part, the weather played ball, Dan was always firing at 110%, and shooting for the piece was pretty stress-free. But that didn’t mean our time together wasn’t eventful, quite the opposite actually. So here are my top five most memorable moments from shooting Dan Loveless for ONE #25.

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While shooting for ONE #25 we managed only a single day of shooting in Dan’s neighborhood, but it did throw up yet another little gem of a story that showcases just how much mental shit happens when you’re out shooting in the streets.

After meeting in Poole, we started our day shooting in nearby Bournemouth on a long fat rail that goes directly into the busy road below. While Dan got his boots on and started to warm up, both me and Ollie got set up ready to capture the trick to come. During a little down time while awaiting a break in the traffic, all of sudden and without warning Bournemouth’s quickest and possibly most opportunistic tramp made mad dash for Dan’s small pile of possessions he had at the top of the rail. Was it his wallet he was after? Was it his car keys? Nope! His shoes! This poor chap, a bit down on luck in life, saw Dan’s brand new pair of Nikes — which he thought were unattended — and decided they were his. Obviously the Nikes remained with Dan, and he laced a sweet Sweatstance down the rail, but the look on his face while this whole mad scenario played out was priceless.

The very first photo we shot for this article was totally dictated by my wants and desires. I had both the spot and the trick for it firmly implanted in my head with the vision of having Dan make it a reality. Now the one positive in this situation was that Dan had already done a trick on the spot once before, but upon arriving this time he seriously started to question whether he could do the trick that I so desperately wanted. After a lot of looking, some huffing and puffing, and far too many roll ups to the spot, things were looking bleak. The body language said it all and I gave up any hope of Dan even attempting the trick. 

Then I heard Dan mutter something from his starting position, and before I knew it he had laced the trick perfectly straight off the bat. I can’t remember the last time shooting a trick got me so hyped but that one got my head spinning simply due to the fact it was so unexpected. Dan later told me that just as I thought he had totally lost his bottle for the trick, the mutter I heard was Dan saying “fuck it” to himself before he did just that! What a guy.
 

Dan’s ever-faithful companion and best friend, Kel, was a regular feature on our days out searching for cool spots and shooting even cooler photos. It always seemed a little bid odd when we would head out for the day without Kel in tow, given her insatiable desire to chase her own tail. On our little trip to Plymouth, man’s best friend proved to be anything but the best.

With the weather just starting to turn a little cold, Dan bought Kel a little doggy hoodie to wear on days out and she seemed pretty pleased with it. It didn’t even last till the end of the day!

The last spot of the day had a huge grass field, and as usual Kel was let loose to run around the field, generally being a bit mental. Upon her return, it was clear she had got too excited and had rolled over a load of dog shit, caking the brand new hoodie and totally ruining it. She lost her freedom there and then, and was tied to a post to stop any further shit-related mishaps. Bad pup!

 

One of the shortest shoots with Dan occurred on one of the last warm weekends that we had. The plan was to go to a school in the port town of Portishead for a very cool bank to wallride. We successfully got the wall ride shot, but for once I thought I’d be nice, not throw him straight in at the deep end, and actually give him a little warm up. What a mistake that was! Dan did a few mizous on a little bank to mellow rail before he fully sacked it in the most dramatic fashion. If you haven’t seen it already, make sure you go hit up his Insta (VIDEO) to peep the ball busting action, it’s pretty hilarious.
 
On the only day that we experienced some really bad weather during our time shooting, Dan and myself retreated from the rain to Bristol’s M32 trash park. I was not confident in finding anything of any worth at what is an already played out spot, but the beauty of Bristol’s biggest DIY park is that it’s forever morphing into something new and exciting. That let Dan find some huge gap over a half-built snake run that had a huge nasty rubble pit in the middle of it. He handled the gap like a champ (see Issue #25), but what he didn’t expect was when filming the last angle a random kid on a scooter appeared in his landing. Without Dan’s quick thinking he would have steamrolled through that kid and I’m sure all manor of shit would have hit the celling via the kid’s overprotective father. Luckily that wasn’t the case though, as Dan went to ground instantly and did a 20mph baseball slide, scooping up the kid along the way. There was nothing but smiles from all at the hilarity of the situation. And some torn up palms.

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