Alondra Community Regional Park, CA

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Skateboarding has its roots in 1950s California when surfers first got the notion to “surf the streets” and although it has since experienced an independent evolution, the two cultures remain strongly linked. I began to look at images of skateboarders doing various moves and tricks and their relationship to the surfaces on which they were skating. In particular, I focused on the shadows they projected onto the ground and how they appear to hover, fly and even transform shape. Using this as a departure point, I began to compose a pattern from these projected silhouettes, as if tracking the history of skaters who had used the park. As I layered them into a composition, they began to resemble the reflection patterns found on the surface of water. From within the park, one has the impression that the entire deck is full of blue rippling water spilling out from the bowls while the individual silhouettes imply moves that skaters attempt to emulate.

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Photography: William Short Photography and LA County

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