huckers, hipsters, and one chimp...

yup thats right... the day starts with the word "huckers" today marked the 6th annual redmond skate comp and in a world with out "ride on" it means that its a pretty small one at that.... good times were had by all... i got to sleep in (thanks jesse for waking me up with a call at 11:50) i shot some pictures... bs'd with friends... watched some friends skate.. and got a couple phone numbers in the process... thats always a recipe for a good day... speaking of day, the other word of the day is "hipster" having been lured down to the capitol hill block party only to have to pay to get in... (20 bucks YIKES!)... and to only really want to see one band (against me) it really want that bad... especially after surviving my first night ever at the "cha cha lounge" (aka where all the hipsters go to plot to destroy the world with one bad fashion accesory after another)... "no mom i didnt partake in any "blow" in the bathroom... and yes i closed my tab at 20 bucks for once!"... and after a heaping pile of "chocolate chip pancakes" with josh and karli i skated back to my car and drove home.... only to find none other then this WONDERFUL picture of me "chimping" yesterday at the double set jam contest thing at seattle central.... nice shot marshall.. i owe you one you make me look famous or something... thats all i have to say for the night... enjoy... look forward to hopefully me writing a story for sessions about the redmond contest.. ill be doing that tomorrow... wish me luck! NIGHT!
"Chimping":

yay....

I took a skateboard photo tonight.... i had fun... now im going to bed.. ill tell you all the crazy/stupid/idiotic story tomorrow... enjoy!

wrapping it up at marginal:

another day... another sunrise

yeah... thats right... yet ANOTHER day watching ANOTHER sunrise... not really that bad if you think about it i suppose... sunrises are pretty cool.. the sky turns from all black to dark blue then grey then finally pink and orange... and then its suddenly just like that, its daytime... well today i started out searching for a good shot of the sunrise... and i knew where to find one too... so i loaded one of my dogs up into the car... and headed out for this rad mtn top view i know of thats close to home.. only to find that the damn park is CLOSED untill 9 am... so basicly only the super rich people who live on the hill get a nice view cuz they sure as hell dont let any good vantage points fall into the "publics" eye... so i gave up on finding a mtn top view and headed for the beach of lake sammamish... which wasnt very visually stimulating... but i did get to take pics of ducks and remember my "roots" in photography... i guess i came around full circle today... i guess that only means i get to start another circle... this should be fun... ill keep you posted... untill then enjoy these photos of ducks and orange skys....

this is not otis... this is a duck im gonna name him "Chachi" (thanks to VH1):

This is Otis... he doesnt get to go on many car rides anyore so he gets pretty excited:

and this is a 1970 dodge superbee... i took a picture of it the other day on my lil "walk" cuz it had a car cover on it which has been on it for probably the past 11 years... then amazingly this morning there was no car cover... i wonder if they are finally gonna sell it... i wish?:


oh yeah... and i just stole this picture from the rip off photogs who took "grad" photos at my graduation... im sorry but im not paying 40 bucks for ONE 5x7 when you cant even get it right and take the photo when im shaking the deans hand... WORTHLESS! luckly we had chairity there... thanks charity!

sno-con/microsoft

Well... microsoft paid snowboard connection to have their skate team do a lil demo at some big dinner thing on the waterfront today... i was invited along to take some photos of the whole thing... nothing really to exciting.. they promised "free tattoos" and "free beer" but once we got there there was no free tattoo... no tattooers at all.. just wierd people talking about computers... and the free beer only lasted about 20 mins before they figured out that we would have drank it all... and they didnt want a bunch of drunk skateboarders around.. so they cut us all off.. untill the demo was over.. anyhow it was a BEAUTIFUL day on the waterfront.. great sunset.. fun skating.. good friends.. heres a couple photos from the whole thing... now im off to bed!

Pulled an all nighter.....

Well... i havnt been sleeping at night lately so ive decided to put an "all nighter" and skip the whole "sleeping all day" thing so i can HOPEFULLY get some sleep tonight... (crosses fingers)... anyway i decided to take a lil morning walk... and bring my camera along to document the journey... heres the pictures...

We like to call this guy "psycho jogger" for one thing he really doesnt jog... he kinda walks fast... and he yells the whole time at the wierdest things... the name was given to him by my dad back when he used to take the bus to work... locals gotta love em!:

My friend/fellow classmate chris took a pic almost exactly like this... only his had one bird... mine has two so that definatly doenst make it a blatent ripoff at all... dont judge! its just for fun cuz i can assure you his was WAY better:

LAKE HILLS WHAT!!!! yeah it wouldnt be the ghetto of bellevue it there wasnt any ghetto graffiti:

My old bus stop... used to wait here every morning way back in my college days.... hahah:

Crossroads skatepark.... i got a few shots here... should probably shoot here more often seeing how its a block away from my house!:

Another park shot:

HI!:

oh yeah... it wouldnt be a real skatepark unless there was some drug addicts leftovers:

But dont worry... it was cleverly disquised in a hotwheels box... no kid will EVER find it in there!:

there were lots of people doing their tai chi stuff:

Oh and just to let you know... you cant park in the giant hole in the parking lot... in case you were wondering:

Golf... its fun sometimes:

My favorite set of swings... do lots of thinking here:

Giant tower of DOOM!:

Buster, the worlds most annoying cat... he started meowing for food as soon as i walked in the door... i swear he must ALWAYS be hungry:

and ME:

Ok thats that... hope you enjoyed it... looks like its gonna be a nice day!

All clean...

So i finally finished the two day process of cleaning my room (slash) packing up all my junk.. i decided to start packing my stuff into boxes just in case i find someplace to live in the near future so it will save me some time when that happens... plus who needs a bunch of crap your never gonna use in your room anyway? anyway i also took the time to switch my room around.. get ride of a light table / desk / cluster fuck magnet that was taking up a bunch of space.. all in all i like the new layout.. its simple.. and im closer to my tv so i dont have to reach as far to change the channel (my remote mysteriously broke during a seahawks playoffs game... i wonder why?) plus now everything is put away and my dad wont have a tissy fit about all the shit strewn about the house not getting in his way... oh yeah... so since i was up all night AGAIN.. i decided to look on my computers HD for any photos i may have that might be fun to post on here... i ended up finding a few shots from a day in the BC with some of the local wildlife... so ill leave you all with those to enjoy... now im off to bed... FINALLY!
GARRET FEEDING THE BIRDS:

AUSTIN SEEMINGLY SCARED OF FEEDING THE BIRDS?:

AND JUST A SHOT OF AUSTIN HIKING TO FINISH IT OFF:

PAYDAY!

YEAH!!!! finally got my check from mervin mfg.... only took like two months... but it was worth it.... so i put every penny in my savings so it will go towards bigger things instead of beer and food... anyway.. enough about that boring stuff.. finally went and shot some skateboarding tonight... jesse wanted to get a shot in the vert ramp at skatebarn after he got off work so i headed down there.. first tried a big method but he couldnt go big enough to make it look cool so we switched it up to a 5-0 fakie... i tried to make a boring typical ramp shot look somewhat decent and unique so i framed the shot between some supports for another ramp... had to get a lil tricky with the lighting but i think it worked out pretty good... what was rad was it gave me the first opportunity in a while to play with LIGHTROOM as i just got it the other day for my computer... I LOVE THAT PROGRAM! highly suggest it for anyone serious in photography... it works WONDERS! anyway... heres the shot...

It was fun cuz there was a bunch of lil kids watching and kept asking me "who is he sponsored by... and is he pro?"... and when that happens all i can do is make fun of him and tell him that "tony hawk can go bigger...." or some shit like that... its a good thing hes a good friend of mine i guess? hahah.... anyway now onto probably the highlight of my day... i got home and just as i sat down to work on the computer... a really good friend of mine called and told me how much she cared about me... i wish everyday could end like that... it made me feel really good! so thanks again for calling and letting me know... and dont forget i feel the same way about you! anyway im tired now... im end this and fall asleep... i hope you enjoyed the show...

weekend?

Shoot some photos with a friend you havnt seen in a long time --- CHECK
stay up all night 4 days in a row? --- CHECK
try to stay awake so you can do stuff during the day but cant so you sleep till 4 in the afternoon --- CHECK
go to a street fair pay way to much for highlife and watch a bunch of people sing and dance to 80s tunes --- CHECK
get past first base with a girl --- (hey everyweekend cant be perfect!)
actually wake up at a decent hour do something as planned such as play some golf --- CHECK
drink 50 cent PBR's at the metropolitan cafe untill they close --- CHECK
watch john puke off the third floor of his apt building cuz he drank 6 pbr's and is a WUSS! --- CHECK

All in all id say i had a pretty good weekend.... oh yeah, and im gonna get my hair cut tomorrow... FOR FREE!

Night off....

Well.... decided NOT to go out drinking this friday night.... instead... i decided to hang out with Ryon who i havnt hung out with in what seems like MONTHS! anyway i hadnt taken any serious photos lately so when he said he was gonna go wash his car... i jumped on the chance to shoot a few photos afterwards... it was good times... pretty relaxing.. no stress.. no drama... and didnt spend much money.. plus i made it all the way out to his house with out getting pulled over... which is good seeing how he lives out in the boonies where there's COPS everywhere.. and since i still dont have tabs... things get a lil scary sometimes... anyway made it all the way out there... and on the way out i had an idea for a photo.. since he was gonna wash his car i wanted a photo of him washing his car... here is what i came up with...

After the car wash... we headed to sheris to meet up with his GF and get some tastey fried food... in which i got a HEAPING pile of fries and chicken strips... to which we also talked about doing some headshots and modeling pics for some tattoo pagent thingy shes competing in soon... plus she said shed dress up in a polka dot dress and shoot some photos... and ive been wanting to shoot something like that for a while now... anyhow... after sheris... we headed into enumclaw aka the home of casey kahne the famous NASCAR driver guy... not that that matters but i figured id let everyone know that... went to a rad brick wall and allyway i know of that always makes for an awesome backdrop... and shot some photos... here they are...


and now the sad news.... on the way home i saw the aftermath of probably one of the worst car wrecks ive ever seen... i never thought i would actually SEE a car wrapped literally around a telephone pole... seriously... it was like if you took a piece of paper... and folded it around a pencil... i cant imagine anyone survived.. seeing how it was wrapped around by way of the roof not the side... horrible indeed.. i was driving the opposite way on the freeway at the time so i didnt get any pictures... so my heart goes out to whoever was in that car...

hope you enjoyed my photos... have a good day!

i stole this.....

i stole this.... but only cuz it really means something to me... in a way... i feel exactly the same.... thanks charity!

"All of the people that I used to see on a regular basis, those that became my rock, have all gone back to their lives. It's a strange notion. For two years, 20-odd random strangers, put aside their lives. And now that those two years are up, they fall back into the world they once knew, as if nothing really lapsed."


oh and just to let everyone know... this is how charity likes to wake people up in the morning....

cold hearted? maybe... but with a name like charity how could you stay mad at her?

im lame

i hate this feeling... im having such a good time in my life right now yet for some reason i really want to share it with someone... i want to have that feeling of holding hands for the first time.. anticipating that first kiss... all that jazz... only i have no one to share that feeling with... and the only person i would even feel close to sharing that with lives in some far away land and i will probably never get that chance... she probably doesnt even realize it.... i hope one day i get that chance... and whenever that is, she will be one lucky girl.

good times... and not a one car show....

well... ive held up to my self promise of NO car shows this whole summer... and you know what... its been GREAT!.. for starters i dont have to see the same old idiots giving the "vibe stare" cuz they think they have a better car then your or cuz your looking at their car... or some other bullshit... and second i dont have to hang out with the same old people i always find myself hanging out with all summer... who sit around and do NOTHING... and bitch about EVERYONE... speaking of which its pretty much been a bitch free summer for me... ive just lived my life day by day.. trip by trip... and had a blast.. of course there is definatlly reasons why im not hanging out with that crew anymore... ashley for one... and it kinda sucks cuz ive been friends with one or two of em for a long time... but in the long run.. they will still be my friends... and the people who never were my friend to begin with will be long gone and out of my life... i have school to thank for alot of this... finding new friends who dont just want to sit around bitching about people who drink and smoke... it helped me find friends who enjoy going out and doing things.... around PEOPLE... around girls... and they dont bitch about how the girls are automaticly WHORES.. even though they are probably really cool... anyway i should end this... cuz its starting to sound like me bitching... and they arnt all that bad.. but what it all comes down to is ive had the time of my life these past few months... pretty much stress free... its had its ups and downs... and could be better... but right now... its pretty good... so thanks everyone who has helped me free myself from the whirlpool that is the car scene... it feels good to be free!

YES!!!!

i found the sequence!!!!! now hopefully they bite!!!

F*&K F*^K F*&K

DAMMIT!.... now i need to go back into my archive and find out if i shot a specific shot as a sequence... and god i hope i did... or else i might be S.O.L on selling an ad to airblaster! i just hope i can find it.... other then that my day has gone pretty well.. i think ive probably worked something out with black flys on the poster deal... and i have a mag interested in one of my other shots of jesse... and now this airblaster thing... photography is working out for me right now and it feels pretty good, i just hope it gets better or at least stays the same... ... enough of business... i went swimming today and totaly sliced my damn foot on some damn chunk of concrete in lake washington.. it was my own fault really i didnt know how shallow the lake was and kicked real hard trying to reach a ropeswing and kicked the bottom... other then that swimming went great... drinking beers lighting fireworks.. gettin some sun... all around good times!... heres a photo from this winter to tie everyone over.. and remember that there are two rad seasons in this world... summer for swimming and skating... and winter for doing all the things we cant do in the summer...

one van... one ferry ride... and an island full of fun!

Wow... what can i say... the past few weeks have been awesome... my life has taken me from canada... to oregon... to canada again... to yakima and mt rainer... and now to orcas island... all in the span of about two and a half weeks! This time im gonna tell you all about Orcas island... for those who dont know.. orcas island is in the san juan islands which is a group of small islands in the north part of puget sounds up near canada... all that really matters is that is beautiful up there and everything slows down and gets more expensive... Anyway... this trip was all about skateboarding and having a good time... i dont know what it was exactly.. but i know it had something to do with the 4th of july.. bombshelter skateboard shop.. and grindline and a bunch of gnarly hesher dudes who build skateparks... really good ones in fact.. We started off the trip in ballard pickng up some people and filling up the van for the two hour hour and a half or so drive to the island so that we could wait for the ferry for another hour and then ride the ferry for yet another hour... while we waited for the ferry we bombed a short hill near the ferry dock and i watched danny almost eat shit but somehow he ran out of his crash... i dont know how.. but he managed to not die... which is a good thing i suppose... anyway the ferry was FILLED with middle school aged kids going off to camp.. it made me remember back to middle school and all the stupid shit we used to think was fun back then... i wish i could have gone to summer camp, it looks like alot of fun.. anyway from the ferry we headed straight to the park... which is probably one of the best parks you could ever skate at... SO much fun... skated in the heat untill we gave up and decided to find a camp spot and go swimming cuz we heard about a ropeswing.. found a camp spot on this rad lil mtn lake up on mt constitution... found the ropeswing after looking for about an hour... played on the swing... went back and set up camp.. then headed back to the skatepark for a session right before dark... which was rad... nothing like getting drunk with friends and skateboarding and not taking a single photo... it felt good! we then headed back to camp for hotdogs, hookah and a fire and to pass out... DAY TWO... woke up and had to tear down camp cuz our spot was reserved for someone else that night so we had to find a new spot which we did and then went swimming... probably one of the funnest days of swimming ive had in a LONG time.. we jumped off some big cliffs... shot bottle rockets.. drank beer.. talked to girls... and drank more beer... and jumped off more cliffs and trees and things... water is probably one of the most fun things on earth... seeing how it provides us with snow and lakes and rivers... thank you water! hahah anyway we then headed into town... got some pizza... had a pretty interesting moment when some really nice old couple thought we were in a band... and then we explained that we are skaters and a photographer and we basicly drive around in a van to different places and shoot photos... so its kinda like a band... just with less girls... she seemed pretty impressed which gave us a good ego boost... and we headed to the skatepark and jesse came up with a good band name... although i dont know how much the old lady would have liked it... or anyone else for that matter... the band name... "weekend rapists"... its bad... but it was funny at the time... and by no means is it true.. anyway had another good sesh at the park... i still shot NO photos... and LOVED every min of it... talked to mindee which made me halfway temped to jump on the first plane to san fran.. which was a hard toss up cuz orcas is rad... but shes just as rad... anyway... headed back to the camp with some girls who stopped by the park... things got interesting.. i was by no means involved in any of the interesting things that happend so dont anyone worry... but if anyone wants to know the story feel free to ask... its pretty interesting indeed... anyway now that ive dragged on about my pretty boring forth of july trip... ill get to the pictures... if you havnt already scrolled down this far by now anyway... ON WITH THE PICTURES... ENJOY!
FERRY BOAT:

CAMPERS... LOTS OF EM!:

Yeah.. self portriat:

Mtn lake... middle of the night:

What do you do when your drunk.. you like to take photos... and your bored?.... why self portriats of course... heres two more:


Leaving orcas:

Its one of the most beautiful ferry rides in the northwest and whats the first thing they do... play video games:

Mt Baker and the San Juans:

"hey jesse... i had these socks on the whole trip.. and they dont even smell!" YEAH RIGHT!:

See i told you i didnt take any skateboard photos... and you know what... it felt good... it was like a lil vacation.. it was just a fun trip with friends and an all around good time... i need one of those every once in a while... thanks for reading... now im off to bed... my OWN bed.. not a sleeping bag... untill the next time that is!

I love......

This city..... the best city in the world!

(sorry i stole it off the internet cuz im lame... so thanks tim)

now that thats out of the way.... just letting everyone know im heading off on the road again.. this time its ORCAS ISLAND!... probably one of the most beautiful places in the northwest.. one of the best ferry rides in the northwest for sure.. and to top it off.. probably one of the best if not the best skatepark in the world.. yes its that good... im going out there with jesse and the bombshelter skate shop crew.. who i hear are a bunch of biker hesh guys so it should be a crazy time... so stay tuned for some crazy storys and hopefully good pics... well i gotta get packing... heres another stolen pic from the internet...
ORCAS ISLAND SKATEPARK!