All photography shot by Pete Jaques. You can see more of his work here
Intro photo shot by Chris Lembo.
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This was outside of a local restaurant and it was always one of those spots that people would talk about but it never went any further than that. Jerry decided to give it a go one day and I’m so glad he did. I remember packing up really quick because I was worried an angry chef would come out because his spice rack fell off the wall inside.
I had never met James before and I just wanted to get a cool little scenic shot because I have a bit of a soft spot for the mini at Alexandra Headlands. I had literally only just gotten my camera out of the bag to take a test shot and this was the result. It now hangs on my wall at home.
Not long before the monumental QLD floods back in 2011, Josh & I were working on a photo for the mag and we weren’t having much luck because of the rain. We set up a grind box and little runway in Josh’s backyard and he hit it like a ski jump. I just love this photo because of the clouds and how they formed around him while he is in the air. The second he landed it was like a mini tornado and there were sheets of ply and pool ladders flying across the yard.
I’m a sucker for old brickwork and crooked grinds. I can’t really say much more than that apart from it being my own perfect scenario to shoot photos in. Josh hit the deck a couple of times and still managed to avoid the broken glass and dead bird at the bottom. Josh had no helmet and as we got out onto the street, an unmarked cop car pulled up and told us it was a lovely day to ‘walk’ our bikes. Sure beats getting a fine.
This was probably my first time meeting Coops and definitely my first time in Melbourne. We went and checked out Knox skatepark and it was raining on and off for the whole day. We had about a one-minute window of time to catch the sunset and Coops hit the back of the capsule with wet tyres and let me get the photo. If you look close enough, you can actually see the raindrops on the concrete and imagine how slippery this would have been.
This photo is definitely the most stressful riding shot I have ever taken. I knew it was going to be a single-take and I couldn’t stuff it up for Nick. In the lead up to it I just kept telling myself to time the barspin right and the rest would just fall into place. I still look at this photo and it just makes me stoked that I was there to take it. Every time I drive past this spot I can’t help but look at it and think to myself…Nick did that.
This was taken a long time ago, probably when I first started learning how to use Pocket Wizards. We were done for the day and I was packing up just before the sky went a crazy red colour. This photo doesn’t really do it justice, but it almost looked like a volcano in the background. Villo was absolutely hammered from riding all day, but he pulled out this 270 flatty just for kicks so we could get the shot.
I’m not a huge fan of getting underneath a jump and shooting upwards with a fisheye lens, but on this particular occasion, nothing else would have done the job. It took me ages to get used to Josh’s riding style because I was so used to shooting a photo really quick so I didn’t miss anything. But in his case, his jumps were effortless and it seemed like he was in the air forever, which meant I would always have to hold off for that split second longer to make sure I caught the best bit when he would extend the superman even further.
This one is more of a candid shot than anything and I just love how it came about. We were all in Brisbane with a pretty big crew that day and some guys in suits came up and asked if someone would be able to do a trick for the photographer at their wedding. Frenchie happily cooperated and hopped over a rail in the background while the official photographer took her shots. I just think it’s awesome how Frenchie is going to be in some strangers wedding album riding his bike.
When shooting bmx, I usually try and isolate everything else that is going on and focus only on the rider. I just couldn’t do it on this occasion and had to incorporate the whole lot because it was such a good vibe that day. It was just a kickass backyard with good people and good riding.
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