ALL IN A DAYS WORK
By Graham Tait
Neil hit me up towards the end of this magazine deadline saying he had some photos he wanted to shoot in Glasgow. I'm always down to check out spots with Neil, he can skate everything and usually finds stuff I haven't seen before or hasn't even been skated.
He had five spots in mind for photos which I thought was pretty optimistic. It was freezing cold and it starts to get dark around 4:30pm up here in winter. I told him I'd be happy if we got two photos, but he had other plans.
Spot number one.
The street was fairly busy with my legs lying half in/half out of a bike lane. It was bone dry but felt like I was lying on a sheet of ice, long johns are highly recommended when it's zero degrees.
The sun was causing me all sorts of problems, any photographer will tell you that the sun going in and out from behind clouds is the absolute worst. It effects your camera exposure, shutter speed and flash placement which is super annoying and can be stressful.
We waited for the right moment and got what we came for.
Pole Jam up and over.
Spot number two.
This one was damp at the bottom and frosty at the top. Neil had previously been kicked out of here while scoping it out so we had to be careful. This is an entrance to a bowling club but it was during the week and off season so we didn't think it would be much of a problem. I'm always a little paranoid of getting the boot in these situations so I try to set up as quick as I can before anyone even attempts to skate.
Three short run up attempts later and we were out of there.
Noseslide.
Spot number three.
Once in a while you get the film back from the lab and excitement quickly turns into panic. You search for a frame you know you didn't take and your heart sinks with the realisation that you blew it.
We'd been shooting on 120 film and switched up to 35mm for this spot. It was a fresh roll and the first frame of a film that has probably been through the X-ray machines at the airport a few times. It's also more than likely out of date, which could explain the weird discolouring on either side of the frame? I don't think I've ever had that before, even with out of date film. But that doesn't explain why the flashes didn't sync as they definitely fired...
I had to include it though, you can still make out how gnarly it is and it's not his fault. Sorry Neil.
Drop in 5050.
Spot number four.
Three photos down by the time we hit this spot and I wouldn't have been mad if he wanted to call it a day.
Every city has some varation of these banks. They look fun but are actually gross and much harder to skate than you think, especially to do anything photo worthy on them. Add some damp leaves and a phone box to get around into the mix and most would've just called it a day.
Backside Tailslide.
Spot number five.
(Insert chicken shawarma to keep the energy levels high.)
It was pitch black by the time we got there and this tunnel isn't lit up very well at all. I was expecting Neil to say it was too dark, or the shawarma was too spicy, or he had to get back for Eastenders, something, ANYTHING, to get out of skating it, but he didn't.
You've probably seen this spot in various publications over the years shot from a long lens angle. I've shot here long lens in the past and didn't really want to repeat myself so l decided to mix it up.
Ally-Oop Wallride 5050.
Shout out to Neil for getting me hyped on coming up with this little feature. Cheers to Cameron Lenton for the graphics in the magazine and for making sure no one knocked over my flashes or ran over my legs.
Published in North 45