Empty skateparks
California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks by Amir Zaki
Richard Gilligan’s DIY/Underground Skateparks
Andrew Bulloch
The Shed, Folkestone, in 2010
Skateboarding photography is usually about capturing the skater in action, but not always. Californian photographer Amir Zaki has recently published a book of empty skateparks in his home state. Titled California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks, the book is a beautiful brutalist monument to the board, Zaki’s highly detailed photos taken at dawn (one of them, pictured top), each one consisting of dozens of high resolution photos stitched together in post-production.
Irish photographer Richard Gilligan spent four years tracking down and photographing homemade or DIY skateparks all over the world, eventually producing the book DIY/Underground Skateparks. Many of the skateparks documented were built illegally, so this was no mean task, with the skateparks mostly being in hidden, abandoned locations. The image, second from top, is from Hamburg, Germany.
Teenage Scottish photographer Andrew Bulloch has only owned a camera for a few years and already won a handful of awards. I love his night picture from north Scotland of an empty half pipe with the northern lights behind it (third from top).
I took the picture of the Shed in Folkestone (bottom) in 2011, attracted by the pink creature with the big tongue.
With skateboarding appearing as a sport for the first time at this year’s Toyko Olympics and Sotheby’s last year selling a complete set of 248 Supreme boards for $800,000, its rebellious attitude is perhaps not as it was. Nevertheless, I still love skating culture, from the sense of community and fun, to the graphics, videos and photography. Skateparks are appearing in most cities all over the world, and more popular than ever (so seeing an empty one, like the pictures above, is pretty rare).
Previously on Barnflakes
Record cover of the day: Babes Forever
Powell Peralta Paraphemalia
Transworld Skateboarding Magazine Covers
Elsewhere on the web
The Search for Animal Chin is the most quotable and best skateboarding film ever, dude!