Grind that Board!

Mark Ledingham

Just out the door of my workplace, on Tuesday afternoon, I bumped into this young boy and his friends who were busy skateboarding. The shot was difficult since it was pretty dark, but it was fun to experiment with lighting and contrast to see if I could manage anything. Not the best - but not the worst either!



Equipment: Canon 400D + Lensbaby Composer

Flyinggina

I really feel the action here. There is enough in focus to draw me into the picture. I even like it in color.

Virginia

bdcolen

Mark Ledingham wrote:

Just out the door of my workplace, on Tuesday afternoon, I bumped into this young boy and his friends who were busy skateboarding. The shot was difficult since it was pretty dark, but it was fun to experiment with lighting and contrast to see if I could manage anything. Not the best - but not the worst either!

Equipment: Canon 400D + Lensbaby Composer

Very nice, Mark! My son has made his living for the past 20 years as a full-time skateboard photographer, and I know how tough it is to come up with something different and vaguely original when it comes to skate photography.

sara505

bdcolen wrote:

Very nice, Mark! My son has made his living for the past 20 years as a full-time skateboard photographer, and I know how tough it is to come up with something different and vaguely original when it comes to skate photography.

I'm trying to fathom how a person would make a living as a skate-board photographer. Full-time. Fascinating.

I like the shot - the light, the action.

Mark Ledingham

Thank you so much, Virginia, B.D. and Sara. It would be nice to be able to learn more about this kind of photography, but I certainly can imagine that it takes a heck of a lot of time and patience(!).

saurora

sara505 wrote:

I'm trying to fathom how a person would make a living as a skate-board photographer. Full-time. Fascinating.

I like the shot - the light, the action.

Go into a pro skateboard/snowboard shop and check out the prices and all the competitive lines of high priced clothing, special shoes and gear manufacturers. They sponsor skaters just like any other pro sport...think potential clients. My son works in one such shop and his friend is a young photographer who gets paid trips around the world to exotic locations to shoot skateboarders! I'm not sure he does it full time, but it makes for one nice side job!

Nice shot, not easy to capture especially with a Lensbaby!

BizShotz

One thing if you decide to try and angle that into some work - learn the lingo.

that's called an "ollie" not a grind. heh!

not that it really matters, though. I just wanted to type "ollie" I think.

TW0R

You also got to think about how many skate magazines there are and how big some skateboarding companies are getting. Definitely can make a living with it. Same with filming, skate videos these days are filmed/edited so well. Lots of creative stuff for sure.

bdcolen

sara505 wrote:

I'm trying to fathom how a person would make a living as a skate-board photographer. Full-time. Fascinating.

I like the shot - the light, the action.

By freelancing for the major skating magazines starting in high school. Then by freelancing full time for the magazines. Then by getting a staff job as Sr. Photographer for "Skateboarder" magazine. Now as director of photography for a company called Gurl Skateboard, which sponsors teams, produces skateboards and skateboarding clothing. While at Skateboarder Ben even had his own 'signature' skate shoe, when one of the shoe companies produced a skateboard photographer shoe series for about six of the top skateboard photographer - he got to design the details - including a Celtics green and gray color scheme, and the footbed was covered with his photo - oh, and it had a tiny outline of a Hassleblad on the back of the shoe! How cool is that. He gets to travel literally all over the world, has been to Thailand something like three times, Japan, Spain, France, Britain, Poland, Latin America, etc. etc. shooting skateboarder. Who knew, right?

sara505

bdcolen wrote:

By freelancing for the major skating magazines starting in high school. Then by freelancing full time for the magazines. Then by getting a staff job as Sr. Photographer for "Skateboarder" magazine. Now as director of photography for a company called Gurl Skateboard, which sponsors teams, produces skateboards and skateboarding clothing. While at Skateboarder Ben even had his own 'signature' skate shoe, when one of the shoe companies produced a skateboard photographer shoe series for about six of the top skateboard photographer - he got to design the details - including a Celtics green and gray color scheme, and the footbed was covered with his photo - oh, and it had a tiny outline of a Hassleblad on the back of the shoe! How cool is that. He gets to travel literally all over the world, has been to Thailand something like three times, Japan, Spain, France, Britain, Poland, Latin America, etc. etc. shooting skateboarder. Who knew, right?

Wow, what a story. He sounds like a talented and resourceful young man. What an interesting life. Talk about the apple not falling far from the tree.

Mark Ledingham

This is amazing stuff, to say the least. It looks like I'd better send in an application (even though I'm not all that young anymore)!

bdcolen

Mark Ledingham wrote:

This is amazing stuff, to say the least. It looks like I'd better send in an application (even though I'm not all that young anymore)!

Before you do, know that at 34 he no longer has any cartilage in one knee.