Frank Hirata, Ollie Tailgrab, Vista, CA 1992

Art Director: Garry Scott Davis

“The post jump ramp street skating era was all pretty new to me in 1992 but with the help of guys like Jeremy Klein, Ron Chatman, Eric Koston, Rob Dyrdek and Frank Hirata I was able to catch up pretty quick. Of course I was a skater but my knowledge of skating was mainly ramp and bowl skating and for the first couple years I shot photos (1989-1991) that is mainly was I took pictures of. Getting to roll out with the newest raw street talent helped so much in developing an eye for street skating that only a few photographers of the time had. The older guys were all set in there ways and still held on to the dream that showing up at a spot and shooting a couple of photographs was how it should be. Meaning, the skater had already done the trick and the spot was not a bust. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent with these guys driving around scoping spots, hoping a trick could be landed before getting the boot. Frank Hirata had just moved to Vista in 1991 and I’d seen him skate a few events and new that the little guy ripped. He had just quit Powell-Peralta and was riding for Sims Skateboards (or maybe it was SMA), whatever, we linked up and shot some pretty fucking epic shit that year. This ollie tailgrab at a parking lot to parking lot gap somewhere in the Vista/Oceanside zone might have been the first time I shot a gap like this. Ollie Tailgrab’s were all the rage in 1992 and little Frank had a solid one. Shooting at dusk like my mentor Grant Brittain told me seemed like one of the keys to landing a cover and it so happened that exactly what happened here. Funny, single flash photography with film seems like a crazy thing to do but that’s how it was done back in those days.”