around town: lynch family skatepark

it all started with a video game called tony hawk: pro skater 2. i was about 14 or 15, and babysitting for my next-door neighbor's kid, whose only interest seemed to be playing the game. i didn't mind one bit; this was my first exposure to the world of skateboarding, and i was immediately hooked.

i soon became privy to mctwists and ollies, and familiar with names like bob burnquist, bucky lasek, and andy macdonald (all ancient skating royalty these days). i actually went so far as to buy a board and try to teach myself for, ohh, about two weeks before admitting defeat and settling for being an enthusiastic fan. however, i am not ashamed to admit that i've dragged my poor friends to the dew tour with me multiple times, plan my schedule around the x games every year, can quote lords of dogtown line-for-line (RIP heath ledger, RIP jay adams) and hope to one day have a son that i can force into the sk8r boi lifestyle. kidding! or am i?

the point of all of this is that i've recently decided to take photography more seriously, and noticed that a photography group i'm in was having a meetup at lynch family skatepark in cambridge, one of the biggest and best of its kind on the east coast. in other words: hiiiighly relevant to all of my interests. so, i grabbed my lil' canon powershot and headed on up. on the real: we spent two hours there, but i could have easily spent all day, i had so much fun. not only did i get to witness some insane talent, but the guys (and three girls!!) had some big personalities, and most of them totally ate up the fact that they had a captive audience watching their every move. case in point: bro in the black pantera shirt messing up a trick, screaming "I'M SO SICK OF THIS SHIT!" and slamming his board down to the shock and amusement of onlookers. i didn't really know what to do with my favorite of the ohhhh, 200 or so pictures i took, so i'm throwing them on here. as you'll see, some of the ones i enjoyed the most were the candid, non-action shots. can someone pay me for this, please?!

 

side note: this blonde guy was totally my muse, which is why the next couple pictures are of him. quintessential tan skater-surfer dude.