There a lot of things that make getting a skate photo difficult. There are the obvious things like angle, lens choice, lighting, etc. There is also finding a trick that is a good candidate for a photo and a skater good enough to not only land the trick but make it look good (I am fortunate to have a crew of good skaters). Other than the obvious problems, there are slightly more nuanced things that keep you from getting the photo you really want. Some examples of this are, among other things, crews being too big (distracting), too small (not enough people to help sweep, get boards, watch for cars, etc.), kick outs, excessive foot traffic (the case with this shot), or crappy weather. The longer and more frequently you shoot skating, the better you get at navigating these would-be disasters. You case spots to know when security guards will be off the clock, you come to spots late at night or early in the morning, you bring traffic cones to mark light stands, sand bags to free up friends hands from holding your light stands in the wind, and you get a crew that is serious, but not too serious.
This trick could have been timed better, and I think that’s why you are seeing it here and not in the pages of ONE. We had to wait a crazy amount of time between tries on account of tons of foot traffic. With light fading and winter still in its final death throws, Mike Garlinghouse had to make the most of his attempts at this Fakie 270 Backside Backslide to Fakie. That being said, we did what we could with what time we had and Mike is such a pro that it turned out pretty sweet anyway. I shot this with my Nikon D300s, a fisheye, and a strobe behind Mike in such a way that it would highlight his ass but have minimum impact on the rest of the scene (less double shadows, though there is still a shadow at the bottom which I was too lazy to remove in post). My key light was an umbrella centered about three feet above the ledge Mike was grinding (to be at eye level with the subject). I also ate a cookie while sitting on the steps, and I had a grey cap on. — John Haynes