Skateboard NI - 2nd Annual Jam at Bridges skateboard park

I was invited (ok - I blagged an invite) to photograph this skateboard event in Belfast courtesy of Skateboard NI. This was my first time shooting skateboarding and that raised the issues of timing and knowing when to shoot to catch the tricks/stunts. This was balanced against the fact that it was so bright and sunny that there was no way I would be using flash, so I could (if i wanted to) get into "spray and pray" mode.

I caught this shot when I was getting my settings right (generally shooting at 1/1600 - 1/2000, f2.8 - f3.5 and ISO at 200-400) having noticed this guy jumping up and over the rim of the main bowl in the park. I legged it down and was lucky that he did it again.

The event involved three/four sections staged at different parts of the park. Each had slightly different demands in terms of finding the right angles and avoiding street lights, fences and so on. Some of the angels involved getting in the way of flying skateboards and I managed to get hit three times. The last, on my right knee, was pretty damn painful and involved a day of icepacks and painkillers to clear it up.

The under 16's competition was impressive; the over 16's competition was simply mad. Bodies hit the ground, boards were broken, tricks were tried over and over again until they worked. The sheer dedication of the skaters was something else - lots of bruises and only one (thankfully) trip to hospital in an ambulance.

The best shots definitely came when I was prepared (or stupid enough) to get as close to the action as possible and as close to the tricks as I could get. I ended up with a mix of close stuff (above) using a 24-70mm lens and shots taken using a 70-200mm lens (below).

The other thing which seemed to work well was to get low and shoot up, although this was what got me whacked all three times. Only afterwards did it dawn on me that I was also risking some pretty expensive camera gear for the sake of a half-decent shot.

All in all, another interesting experience and one which I would be quite happy to repeat if given the opportunity.