Skateboarding as sport, Skateboarding as art
This post is the first in a Focal Flame Photography series on “alternative sports” – athletic endeavors that are bit outside of the mainstream.
Tricks. Ramps. Rails. Grinds. Fakies. Ollies, 720s, front side airs, and kickflips. Skateboarding has its own unique language, style, and culture. But is it a sport?
“Absolutely,” says photographer Clint Thayer. “It is physically demanding. There’s the competitive nature of improving one’s abilities. And there are even actual competitions.”
Jim Toombs, owner and manager of Erik’s Bike and Board Shop on the west side of Madison, WI, agrees. “The big thing with skateboarding is that it focuses on technical ability, not necessarily cardio workouts,” says Toombs. “I see skaters doing rails, ramps, jumps, kicks, flips….there’s a lot of focus on foot work, mental concentration, and practice.”
A former skater himself, Thayer is drawn to the motion of skateboarding. “I’ve always enjoyed the speed and the way the body transforms itself both while on the ground and in the air”, he states. Motivated to capture images depicting that velocity, he visited a skate park in Middleton, WI during the first warm day of spring and photographed several skaters honing their skills.
One of the skaters was Shea Cotter-Brown. With four years of skateboard experience, he was drawn to the sport through family ties. “I had to do something, given what my brothers are into”, he said during a follow-up interview. With older brothers devoted to skiing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and inline skating – some with backing from commercial sponsors – it was no wonder that Cotter-Brown became dedicated to a board sport.
“My friends and I are at the park shark level”, he said, explaining that young novice skaters are referred to as "groms" while advanced skaters earn recognition as “park sharks”. Along with a small clan of fellow skaters, Cotter-Brown has been practicing at locations including Four Seasons Skate Park in Madison, an indoor park at an undisclosed warehouse location on the south side, and at local outdoor skate parks when weather permits.
The group caught Thayer’s eye. “I really wanted to study motion and how to capture skaters in motion. I did this primarily with a low shutter speed and panning shots that blurred the background but that kept a certain aspect of the subject in focus.” While some images impart a sense of movement, others seem to freeze a moment in time. “I wanted to do total stop motion at timepoints so that you couldn’t really tell what was happening, or if the board and skater were able to make it and land the particular trick that they were attempting.” The end result is an unresolved tension that conveys the risk involved in pursuing a trick, even as the outcome remains unseen.
Skateboarding culture has long been focused on graphical expression. “The graphics [of boards] have always been fairly cutting-edge”, says Toombs. “Today I think the color schemes are even more vibrant”, he says, noting that past seasons have seen trends ranging from a penchant for pink to more muted earth tones and even plaids. As a result, both skater and board can serve as focal points for photographs, with strong colors contrasting against neutral asphalt and concrete.
Cotter-Brown and his friends are honing their skills daily, planning to travel to California this summer to take in – and take part in – the skate scene there. Hoping to compete in events like the Chili Bowl in Proirero del Sol, they are practicing new tricks, trying to avoid injury, and reveling in their park shark status.
What are your thoughts: is skateboarding a sport? Share your skateboarding experiences in the comments section.
See more skateboarding images in the sports section of the portfolio.
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Cultivating the Good Eye
Clint Thayer recently spent two days at a workshop on Miksang Photography, a contemplative form of photography. In this interview, he shares his thoughts about what he has learned and practiced.
Q: Tell me a little about Miksang and the workshop you attended.
It was a two-day workshop from the Shambhala Meditation Center of Madison. It was an introduction to Level I Miksang photography.
Miksang is a Tibetan word meaning “good eye”. The practice of Miksang really breaks down the core elements of subject matter into a number of different groupings. In Level I, you focus one by one on color, texture, pattern, light, space, and “dot in space”. The latter two used to actually be considered Level II subject matter, but for reasons unknown to me these are now included in Level I.
Miksang photography was founded in 1983 by Canadian photographers Michael Wood and John McQuade, based on the teachings of a Buddhist scholar.
Q: How did you first hear about it? What attracted you to this form of photography?
I had seen a Miksang photography art show at the Overture Center in Madison (interviewer’s note: the show runs through April 4, 2010). It really resonated with me. The description of the approach as well as the images in the show echoed some of my core values about fine art photography – which is, essentially, finding beauty in the mundane. Being mindful to look out for things that are so unique but that – when we’re busy and unthinking – we walk past.
Miksang is about the celebration of being in the present moment with your subject matter. Being mindful of the fact that there is beauty in everything – in the simplest of colors, the simplest of textures, patterns.
You can photograph something very simple, but yet the way that you compose the photo results in an intensely powerful image. And I think the reason why I like folks that are doing Miksang is that they’re celebrating that. They’re challenging themselves to find those times in life when you can go out and look at the world through the lens of a camera with that perspective.
Q: Do you have any Miksang projects in the works? Where do you see this going in the future?
Since it was an introductory course, the obvious next step would be to research and study
Level II. There are three levels of Miksang altogether.
Q: Do you think this style will influence your approach to sports photography, or will it mainly inform fine art photography?
No, I think it influences everything. I think it inspires a photographer and challenges them to look at things not with more complexity, but with less complexity.
Q: Is the Miksang approach an effort to make things abstract, or more realistic?
In a lot of level I Miksang, images are very abstract, especially some of the color and texture images. When you start showing more elements of light, and space, and “dot in space”, then the natural world tends to creep in, because you’re backing away from the subject matter to allow more light, texture, pattern.
The best way to describe it – as the instructor articulated - is that it’s as if you’re walking along and a field opens to your left and there is an immaculate sunrise or sunset and you stop and think, “That is a beautiful image, a beautiful scene.” Your mind stops its constant chatter and dialog. Everything is just attuned to that scene.
The study of Miksang photography is about finding those moments in anything and everything you see. A shadow, a color, an object in space. It’s about finding those moments and letting those moments hit you – calming your mind so that it is open to the experience.
Q: So it’s really more of a philosophy of life than just an approach to photography?
Yes, absolutely.
To learn more about Miksang Photography, visit The Miksang Institute online at http://miksang.com/miksang.html.
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"Honoring the Athlete" Contest
You know an athlete who has a story to tell.
Maybe it’s an athlete who is working hard to break into the next level – a new competitive class, a championship event, a qualifying race. Maybe it’s an athlete who has engaged in sports to help overcome a challenge: an injury, an illness, a personal turning point. Maybe it’s an athlete who is 23 years old…or 47…or 89.
It could be a teammate. Someone you coach. A triathlete who flashes a big smile after the most brutal workouts.
Maybe it’s your husband. Your neighbor. Your sister.
Maybe it’s you.
Between now and Wednesday, April 14, 2010, nominate yourself or another athlete in the Focal Flame Photography “Honoring the Athlete” contest. One person will be chosen to receive up to four hours of photo session time (valued at $300), personal interviews with our writer, and a 36-page custom story + photo personal documentary book (valued at $400).
Let us know why you think the story deserves to be heard. We’ll help the winner capture a living legacy – one that honors who they are, and what they do.
"Tangles" on Display at CPM Members Show
At first view, the image shows a network of tendrils. Lines enmesh with one another, spontaneously interwoven until the thin strands create something substantial. “Many people ask me if it’s a beard, if it’s hair, but almost everybody asks me what it is – which I really like,” said Clint Thayer. “I think it’s also a good representation of negative space. The deep blacks, and the highlights.”
Currently on display at the University of Wisconsin Hospital as part of the Member’s Show of the Center for Photography at Madison, “Tangles” is a black and white macro photograph. While many viewers are unsure of the exact identity of the subject, most guess that it is organic and living – which, as it turns out, is exactly the case. “It’s the root structure of a plant that was growing at Olbrich Botanical Gardens,” said Clint. A personal favorite, Clint finds the image to be particularly symbolic. “I named it ‘Tangles’ in part because for me, at that time in my life, it symbolized how interconnected things are. I would have to say there’s this sense of peace I have when looking at it; it’s a reminder that things are connected, and if you make a change here, you make a change everywhere.”
The annual show by CPM members includes over 50 works and is on display from March 10 until April 15 at the C5/2 Surgical Waiting Skylight Lounge at the UW Hospital, located at 600 Highland Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin. “I was very impressed with the work on display.” said Clint. “All the photos are for sale, as well.”
Original prints of “Tangles” are available for purchase. Print runs are limited to ten prints in each of five sizes.
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On Your Mark
There’s no denying it now. The snow piles, which seemed invincible in mid-January, are subsiding. They leave in their wake about half a ton of grit and road salt at every intersection, which makes for lots of flat tires on bike rides and crunchy, tenuous footing for runners. But that doesn’t matter. Spring is here, and it’s a beautiful thing.
This weekend marked the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, and with it another hour of precious training time in the evenings. Teams and individuals everywhere are gearing up for events of the season.
And there are an abundance of competitions in and around the south-central Wisconsin region to enjoy. On the triathlon scene, there is the J-Hawk Earlybird Triathlon, the Wisconsin Triathlon Series, the Racine 70.3 Ironman, and the granddaddy of them all –Ironman Wisconsin. Runners can gear up for the Crazylegs Classic, the Madison Marathon, MadCity 100k, and the Madison Mini Marathon. Cyclists have an abundance of choices, including the Wisport series, WCA series, and ABR series. Possibly the biggest new development for cyclists in 2010 is the inaugural year of the Centurion Wisconsin in Middleton, which will bring up to 3,000 cyclists to the rolling hills of western Dane County.
And those are just a handful of the competitive events available for endurance sports. Tours and charity events abound as well, from the Susan G. Koman Race for the Cure to the Horribly Hilly Hundreds bike tour. If you’re in the mood for something really different, there’s always the Syttende Mai Run, now in its 38th year and possibly the only running event in the US to be paired with the Norwegian delicacy of lutefisk. And for the truly insane, there is the MC200 relay – a 200 mi running relay event from Madison to Chicago.
So let’s hear it: what are you training for? Is your team organizing a race, tour, or other event? Are you training for a charity event and raising money for a cause? Share your thoughts in the comments – and enjoy the sunshine!
And So It Begins
by Robyn M. Perrin
You could say that my business partner and I know each other pretty well. We’ve been together since 1993, when we met on my first day of college. Cycling has played a big part in our lives. We started road biking on a whim when a college buddy invited us to a charity bike tour, and felt invincible after finishing 50 km on a hot Midwestern day. Eventually we trained longer and harder, and in 2003 we decided to race as a tandem team.
Which, of course, necessitated a new bike. She was a beauty. Gleaming white with black letters and longer than a subcompact car, we named her Bessie in honor of her bovine lines. She must have felt a kinship with the Holsteins on the farms we passed.
And oh, she was fast. Two people on one bike makes for difficult hill climbs, but on flat terrain Bessie flew. Descents were an exercise in total exhilaration mixed with complete concentration.
It was an amazing summer. We traveled all over Wisconsin, biking nearly every weekend. We won a few races, some due to luck and some due to skill. We hauled up hills, tucked tightly onto Bessie’s back, and used code words for calling out tactics. And we learned from other cyclists – when to surge ahead, when to hang back, how to lead a paceline.
It was awesome.
I wish I could show you a photo. But other than a couple of distant shots snapped by a friend, there aren’t any.
After all, you can’t photograph yourself when you are on a bike. There’s no scarcity of images in my head: landscapes, fellow cyclists, sunsets. But mental images are impossible to share. And in time, they fade.
It was a turning point in our lives. The next year, our first daughter was born, and we stepped back from competition. But as Clint devoted more of his creative energy to photography, he said, “I’d like to specialize in photographing subjects that are passionate about what they do. I want to do something that just feels…totally true.”
I smiled. He’d already been photographing local bike races, and the images immediately evoked memories of our competitive season. Somehow he had captured the intensity and aesthetics of sports in a way that made me re-live it again. The idea of helping athletes share their dedication, joy, and energy was irresistible.
And so Focal Flame Photography was born. Our initial focus is custom sports photography for athletes of all ages and every level. Because we know first-hand that behind every athlete, there’s a tale to tell.
That’s our story. What’s yours?