Aaron "AJax" Johnson, Front Blunt

It's always cool to meet someone for the first time and then to find out they know a bunch of people you know. One degree of separation becomes none. That was the case when I met AJax last week through my roommate Donny, and it turned out he knows all my buddies from the éS Game of SKATE. This past year AJax won the local Game here in California and then went on place 2nd in the international finals in Texas.
Here, Ajax puts to rest the generalization that kids who win Games of SKATE can only skate flatground.

Two Street Photos from CA

Before I get around to working on all the photos I shot this summer I wanted to catch up on some older stuff gathering some metaphorical dust on my harddrive. Here are two photos from my trip out to California last January



Skating around downtown LA this brick volcano spot is a pretty safe bet for a good time. Tucker boosted a little ollie before Paul road a Segway.



I have known Tylor for a pretty long time, so he is used to waiting for photos from me. Between my last post and this, he should be pretty stoked. He didn't come with Tucker, Paul and me on our trip out, but Tylor happened to be southern California at the same time, so we did some skateboarding and he got a Front Blunt across this Huntington Beach ledge.

Tylor O's Ramp Destruction Party

After the Hometown Heroes finals at the X-Games in LA and shooting photos at Maloof in Orange County another summer on the road has come to an end. I have a few free weeks before my big trip West so I'm doing my best to catch up on editing some photos, and some of those should make it here to the blog. Here's the first of those



Back in April I got a message from Tylor O'Connor that he was moving out of his apartment and the affectionately titled Slum Dog Mini-ramp needed to get torn down. Tylor's not one to do anything quietly (ask his neighbors), so he threw a little Sunday night party to let everyone get their last tricks in on the mini-mini-ramp. The session ended with Tylor getting a Blunt-Fakie on a TV, and then smashing it.



Sorry for the wait for the photos, Tylor! Keep your eyes here for more catch-up photos coming soon...

Productive Fall Day

Almost halfway into November here in Chicago the days are getting shorter and the air is getting a lot cooler, so any chance to get out and shoot some skating is great, but a weekend of warmth is even better. Last Sunday I got out with Andy Patterson, Eric Thomas, Nick Merisko, Thomas Hawver, plus a few more, and wound up with almost more photos in that one day than the sum of what I've shot since getting back from tour. I shot 4 or 5 rolls of Velvia, but here are a couple of digi shots from the day..

Nick Merisko tossed a crooked down this previously untouched metal rail/hubba in Chicago. Andy and Eric also both threw some crazy tricks here, the film of which is at the lab. This spot is going to blow up, but these three laid down an admirable foundation of tricks for kids to step up to.

At the last spot of the day, Bank One, I had pretty much packed up for the day, satisfied with my pocket full of 120 film, when I saw Thomas trying this Pop Shuv off the bench and into a slightly banked wall. I threw up some flashes and Thomas rolled away in a few tries.

Also, if you haven't checked out http://PhilBlairPhoto.com since its redesign last spring, check it out, because I am tried of the layout again and am working an all new redesign. The new site will most likely include a blog page so further content will be over there, but I'll post here when that is ready to go. Enjoy the autumn air, everyone!

"Featured" in The Program Zine

The Program Zine is a project from Louisville photog Andy Collins that is gaining steam with every issue it puts out. Presently only available for viewing online, the tenth issue just dropped last week and I was pleasantly surprised to see myself as the "Featured" photographer for the issue. Andy laid out a whole bunch of my photos in a great looking format, featuring mostly skate photos, but also a few portraits and some panoramic stuff too.



It would be awesome if you would check out my Feature, but also take time to "flip" through the whole issue, there are some great stories and photos in there. Head to www.TheProgramZine.com or click one of these tear sheets to be redirected!

Back Smith Before I Left

Shot this snap of Pat Devine back smithing across the gap a few weeks before leaving Chicago.

Updates / Get Hyped!

It has been a crazy month, and an even crazier week, culminating in two huge announcements worthy of this blog. Each probably deserves its own in-depth post, so I will do that when I have a minute, but before weeks go by without mention I'll do a little brief updating here.

As I mentioned a few weeks back, I qualified to shoot photos as part of a team for Red Bull's student design competition, Get It On Record. My team, Jordan Gzesh on video, Katie Swanson designing, Tori "Torsion" Howard as our dancer, and I, worked super hard for 30 days and came up with something we were really proud of. What's more, we won! 1st place!

I will update soon with the pictures I made for that and our finished product.

A few days after that excitement, I got a call from Mark Waters at eS telling me I have been chosen to hit the road with the eS Game Of Skate as the Photographer! I am beyond psyched on this opportunity and everything in store for me. I feel like my years (over 5 now!) of shooting skate photos, working hard (as hard of work as one can consider this), and traveling have really paid off in this.

Again, I'll get more in depth with what each of these wins means and how I got there, but I wanted to let anyone who reads this blog know what's up!

Wednesday is PHOTO Day

I've been slacking on updating, and the posts have admittedly been rather unphotographic, particularly considering the subtitle to this blog is "A photographic supplement". Therefore, I am instituting PhotoDayWednesday, because while they may not be the best, my photos are inarguably more interesting than my life as of late. SO HERE GOES:



ELY PHILLIPS comin through with the crailslide at Wilson
This is the photo that was run with his little interview last month in FTK Mag, so in case you already saw that, to be fair I'll throw in another one



THOMAS CHRPA threw down for this photo to help me finish my studio final. The ollie wasNOT a land, but as far as my final goes, he really came through in a pinch for me.

so there you have it, I'll do my best to keep up with PhotoDayWednesday, and maybe even get some photos in in between as well. So, what do you say, DO YOU LIKE IT?