Welcome to Hell

Devil's Night, Hell Night, Cabbage Night, Gate Night, Mizzy Night, Miggy Night, Goosing Night or Egg Nyte. Call it whatever you'd like. Tis' the night before Halloween.

Enjoy!

The Birds

The rain finally broke...

Everyone was all about Halloween this past weekend.

That includes our friend Mélissa with her ode to Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren

That's that!

The good, the bad and the ugly with Grady Kuly

Grady on a good day.

Grady on a bad day.

The new Grady.

A note from the Urban Dictionary: A Pimp cane is an essential tool to the hardcore pimp, while a mere prop for softcore pimps. Hardcore pimps usually tip their canes with gold, an element conducive to manipulation of the pimp field. Unfortunately, softcore pimps think themselves as "above" this and use their wealth to completely plate their cane with gold, or create gold canes outright. This serves no purpose but to cause greater differentiated wealth distribution and suffering in the world. Hardcore pimps understand this, and do only what is necessary to use the pimp force to maintain good and balance in society.

A note from us: Grady is not a pimp, he's merely a broken skateboarder.

Thanks for submitting the photos Grady! Get back on board soon!

Needle in a haystack

Sometimes I leave the house with a specific goal in mind. This particular Saturday it was to find a new camera strap. The main reason behind this expedition? To rid myself of the current strap that advertises the camera manufacturer's brand for free. I'm not looking for a fancy strap, nor a strap with the latest gadgets. I am thinking something from the 60's or 70's, but hopefully sans leather. That's a tall order. First things first...go see Martin's booth at the flea market, cause it's usually camera equipment heavy.

A toy horse...

...some cool keys, but no camera straps.

I even went to the camera store. Lots of great straps, but not the one I see in my head. Does it even exist? Who knows. I may just have to "modify" the current strap to my liking.

In other news... While at the one and only Photo Central I did have the opportunity to see some prints of mine that they put on display in their new digs. It was an honour to be asked to have some images on display in the first place.

I may have left with no camera strap, but I left with a warm fuzzy feeling inside.

Kilroy!

Plaza 3 now available thanks to KnowByStyle. Enjoy!

Adults Only

Last winter we had the Angry Ramp (R.I.P) and The Edge Skate Park to get us through the season. Now that the Angry Ramp is gone, the 18+ Sessions at The Edge Skatepark will be the saving grace when the weather turns bad. It rained all day yesterday so thankfully the sessions have already begun!

Big time operator...Cliff!

Kyle with a nose grind.

Fun night and... That's that!

Alec Ross

This is Alec. His favourite colour is green. He's humble and he deserves some big ups for his skateboarding skills.

We cross paths often enough at most of our favourite skate parks. He's impressed me since day one, but watching him skate this past Sunday made me wonder if he'd been kidnapped and sent to some isolated skateboarding boot camp where all he did is learn new tricks for months. He's getting dangerous on a mini-ramp! Post mini-ramp mind blowing session we took a few photos on the quarter.

Big boneless

Front side ollie to tail on lock.

Backside ollie.

All fun, all day. That's that!

Six degrees of separation

For the last couple of weeks we've been trying to hit the park with Ryan and Mason, but the weather has not been cooperative to say the least. Ryan was keeping an eye on the forecast and he claimed Sunday was going to be a day to skate. So that's what went down.

For the record...this wasn't a posed shot. It was the light test that just grabbed my attention when I was combing through the shots at the end of the day.

Ryan and Mason.

The day started at Komenda with Ryan warming up over the gap.

Then when we heard they had never been to Park West before, we insisted that was the next stop.

This was the post light test ollie/grab.

I'm sure this is against the doctor's orders, but Mason wasn't going to let a broken ankle keep him off his board ALL day long.

Now, the photos end here, but an interesting tidbit starts... We drove our friends home and while arriving at the last stop we realized that Mason's neighbor just happens to be my old neighbor, life long friend and skateboarding buddy. So we knocked on his door, dragged him outside with his skateboards ready to go and we were fourteen years old all over again for the next hour and then some. All skateboarding, no photos. You'll have to take my word for it, it was awesome!

Interlude

We're well aware that one of the key ingredients to running a successful blog is to post consistently and aim to keep the content interesting to keep the readers coming back. In the last seven days we have failed to do this. Yes, we risk losing your attention if we haven't shared what's been going on in the last week, but sometimes something's gotta give. Much of it has to do with the crappy weather we've been having, but it goes beyond that. Posting on a blog in the first place is sharing and we all know sharing is caring. Sometimes I take a step back and wonder...what's relevant and what's not. How much is us documenting what's happening around us and how much is on a more personal level where the documenting is pointed more at ourselves? Which lines are to be crossed and which ones aren't?

A couple of weeks ago the social networking giant, that we all love to hate decided it was ok to help their millions of users over-share by posting private messages for all our friends to see. They denied it of course, but the proof was right in front of us. It made me wonder when I'm going to get around to pulling the plug? Are the pros (if there really are any in the big scheme of things) worth cons like that?

Aside from the statistics that inform me we have thousands of viewers every month from eighty plus countries around the world I often ask myself who ARE our readers? Do they even read the words or do they maybe just fall in to the category of viewers and they only look at the photos?

This morning a colleague came up to me, excited to inform me that they played some catch up with our most recent posts and just the fact that it was worth their time to come and talk to me about which photos they enjoyed the most etc.... reminded me one of the reason's we document and share things in the first place. Which is also one of the reasons I started taking photos in the first place. I'm excited about life and what goes on around me. People have shared stories of their experiences since the beginning of people. If sharing what we see helps others vicariously share our experiences through the photos we post, then I think it's a good thing. I can't promise that I'll do it forever or even next week...but in the meantime, the flame still burns!

In a sort of related story, I met a dude yesterday who asked me about Pancakes and Skateboards, probably due to the fact that I was wearing a P&S sweatshirt. He then informed me he had a few P&S shirts that he picked up at the store, but he was unaware that we even had this web site. It kind of made my day. He just liked the shirts for what they were and that's that! Hopefully if he does take the time to check out the site, maybe he'll like it too.

Now...before there's another riot from angry skateboarders we'll get back to business!

I assure you this first photo looks worse than it is. They always tell you if someone hurts their back "don't move them, call 911". This kid can take some bumps, so when he's complaining how much his back hurts after an unfortunate skateboarder vs. skateboarder collision, we weren't going to take any chances. Ambulance ride it was...

He was given a clean bill of health and was told to stay on a steady skateboarder diet of ibuprofen for the next few days following the incident.

Next order of business was getting down with the annual Tofurky dinner aka Thanksgiving.

I was going to go through the trouble of whipping up a vegan pumpkin pie until I found out Organic Planet was making some to order. Done and done.

Just when we thought the over indulging was over, our friend Oksana dropped by...

...she's a big jerk and she forced us to eat these vegan treats.

Shame on us.

After the food coma was over and the back pain dissipated it was time to go for a little run.

Everybody lived happily ever after and we were finally back at the skate park!

Stuart was filming some lines.

After multiple attempts to board slide this rail, this little trooper stops to trouble shoot to see if maybe his board is the issue?

Great knowledge comes with experience and any seasoned skater knows that the board can do the tricks just fine, it's usually a case of operator error.

One week away from a scary ride to the hospital and it's business as usual!

That's that!

Profiling

pro·fil·ing [proh-fahy-ling] noun

the use of specific characteristics, as race or age, to make generalizations about a person, as whether he or she may be engaged in illegal activity.

...or in this case, just looking like you might own a skateboard was enough to have four provincial security guards sniff out some premeditated skateboarding activities.

Note that there is not one skateboard among them. Security showed up before anyone was within twenty meters of the stair set. One could even say ...impressive.

Relocate

So yesterday I indicated that I am choosing not to do any free advertising for multimillion/billion dollar companies if I can help it. Today however, I would like to show some love to a company that has supported me (and the local photography community in general) for as long as I can remember in some way shape or form.

I paid my first visit to see my friends at the newly relocated Photo Central today. As much as it was hard to say goodbye to the actual physical location of the camera store I have been going to for the last twenty five years, this is a welcome change. Big and bold and right on Portage Avenue. Go ahead... visit them on, before and after the official grand opening on October 26th and 27th at 957 Portage Ave.

Shameful neglect

So a short while ago I picked up a new camera. I'm not going to even mention what brand or model as I am not receiving cheques in the mail, cash or product discounts to do so...so why bother? Side note: This is my new way of thinking. Regardless of my stance to keep the camera brand and model anonymous, I will admit that I have been enjoying this new camera far too much. The downside of that is that I have been neglecting my 35mm and medium format film cameras. I have film in both of them and I couldn't even guess what's been shot on them so far, it's been that long. That of course is exciting in itself as there will be potential surprises waiting when the rolls are finished and processed. Speaking of processing, I haven't even taken a good look at the last roll I did shoot and process. So that's what I'm about to do.

Sneak peak... Lance from Zero Cause.

I enjoy this photo, because it reminds me that I have photos taken now and again over the past two decades and then some of Lance and his guitar. Maybe a "now and then" will be in order for his birthday next month!

Just Look Around

"I see the whites that hate the blacks, blacks that hate the Jews, brother against brother and they're all to blind to see"-Sick Of It All

"I see the bikers that hate the skaters, the skaters that hate the scooter kids, the scooter kids that hate the radio controlled cars and we all have to share the skate park"-Cam Nikkel

I'm sure each faction on their own would love to have the skate park all to themselves, not having to share it with anyone, but others from their elite group of peers. Maybe the bikers are lobbying to have the parks called BMX parks (please no). I've been guilty of allowing myself to get frustrated after being cut off, crashed in to etc... by someone who doesn't understand the goings on in a skate park. It's not because they ride a bike or a scooter, it's just that they don't get it...yet!

The odd two wheeled machine makes an appearance on this blog from time to time amongst the heavy skateboarding content, but it's been awhile since we've had a full feature.

We found someone both worthy of a full BMX feature and kind enough to let us document him, his toys and a small sample of his domination of the park.

Cole Jonsson

The Charger's 440 version 2.0

A man and his toys.

Common theme at this time of year... Fighting the light!

Tail whip!

Look back!

That's that!

QC to BC

It was pretty much business as usual at the skate park today. Fighting the winds from the open fields of Komenda etc...

Now, I'm never one to shy away from strangers, so after noticing a few slick tricks pulled off by this one dude I paid him a compliment. He responded with a thick, French-Canadian accent. This led me to believe he wasn't from around here. So I confirmed my assumption and it turns out that Adrien and his crew were just passing through Winnipeg.

Adrien and friends had officially and collectively "quit Quebec", packed up and headed west for Whistler (which is awesome).

There's one important order of business on this journey and that's sampling Canada's fine skate parks along the way!

Adrien with an alley oop!

C'est ça!