Text J. Grant Brittain—July 31, 2007
I started shooting photos in 1979 and in 1980 I went down to Oasis Skatepark in SD and just happened to see Steve Olson and Duane Peters ripping the crappy halfpipe there. I shot some sorta dark Kodachrome 64 slide film that day. I ended up misplacing the slides over the years, bummer. Photoshop could have worked wonders.
A couple of years later when my skills had evolved, I shot this photo of Olson skating the full at Upland's Pipeline.
The negative sat for a few years in a negative sleeve in a box in my garage. I rediscovered this gem a few years ago and sent a print to Steve out of the blue, he called me and had been so surprised. He thought he looked pretty good, I think he does too. Click Thumbnail for Full Effect!
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Text J. Grant Brittain—July 31, 2007
I was eating a turkey sandwich and Gonz just happened to fly from ramp to ramp at the NSA Street Contest in Honolulu in 1988.
The other photogs you see in the photo waited for hours to get this shot, I just kind of wandered into the situation and actually shot it left handed. I have always been lucky in that way, right place at the right time, more luck than talent. Ask anyone. Click to ENLARGE!
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Text John Lytle—July 29, 2007
Ralph Steadman is probably the greatest illustrator of our time. He has moved a lots of books I would imagine. I know I own at least 5 of them. He did a cool portrait of Kurt Vonnegut recently... A new book followed the death of Hunter S. Thompson.
When you encounter someone as prolific as Ralph, you scratch your head, pondering that he:
- Is an insomniac
- Got his half of his art from his dad and grandfather
- Is a raging torrent of creative alternatives who can produce at mach 10
He may even be a better writer than he is an illustrator, which seems impossible. As an artist, he has seen his own scrawling style pillaged by scores of others. I have had to look hard sometimes to finally realize it was not Ralph that drew something I was looking at.
One day he thought he would entertain the idea of putting his art on a skateboard. I wonder if he was drinking wine that day. Fancy Goods? I need some of those cufflinks at the park Ralph.
