STORIES
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This is not your ordinary skatepark. In fact, from the outside, this gritty place looks more like a prison yard. It's Manhattan's famous 62nd Pier Park located on the west side of the island. Surrounded by a tall intimidating barricade, it's hard to tell if the fence is there to keep the onlookers out or the skateboarders in.
Once inside the gate, you understand why they fenced it off. Inside is a war zone. Skaters are flying in every direction. The gate had barely shut behind me when a skater blasted into me from behind. He some how managed to keep going after hurling a few adjectives my way. I had been warned.
Pier 62 features a deep upper bowl and a funbox with a 24 foot ledge. The place feels ambitious, what you'd expect for a Big Apple skatepark.
The late afternoon light was perfect for shooting at the park. The shadows were long and the skaters back lit. The bowls and the jumps lined with metal edging provided a nice back drop. The concrete had a well worn patina that matched the skaters, who seemed to have their own patina from years of constant practice.
THERE ARE NO PRETENDERS IN A SKATEPARK
All around the fence inside the park are posted red signs warning of head injuries from not wearing helmets. The wording on the signs seemed hilariously over the top. The warnings about brain damage or even death were ignored by everyone skating there. No one was wearing them.
ONCE YOUR FRONT TWO WHEELS DROP OVER THE BOWL, YOU'VE COMMITTED, YOU'RE GOING DOWN...
Every trick, every little improvement is paid for with hundreds, if not thousands of falls. Once your two front wheels dangle over the ledge of the bowl, you have committed, you are going down. There's a split second where everything is out of control. Confidence determines the outcome. Every pop-shove-it, every ollie, every board grab and landed trick, no matter how big or small, is earned.
Skaters have a strange mix of swagger and humility. There are no pretenders at a skatepark. You can't fake it when the 10 foot drop is real, when the concrete is real, when the risk is real. And every skater knows that, so anyone willing to get in the bowl and do it, is deserving of respect. Every big trick balances on the razors edge of failure. That's what I love most about capturing the sport of Skateboarding.
Here's to Pier 62 Skatepark and to the skaters of New York.
GEAR
- SONY A9
- SONY 85mm f1.4
- SONY 70-200mm f2.8
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