Steve Berra, Heelflip Indy To Fakie, Encinitas, CA 1992

Art Director: Garry Scott Davis

“I was sad that vert skating was dying (or dead in most peoples eyes) in 1992. It seemed like the progression from skaters like Danny Way, Colin McKay, Chris Livingston, Alphonzo Rawls, Bucky Lasek, Justin Lynch, Neal Hendrix, Mike Frazier and Steve Berra was happening every time they skated. That being said, I started working on a sequential article about vert skating and the guys who were killing it in 1992. I think every sequence in the article was shot at the Encinitas YMCA ramp, which at the time was the only outdoor ramp in San Diego. For some of the sequences it took several rolls to get the shot as the tricks were all being done for the very first time in most cases. I had met Steve Berra in Texas about a year before he moved to California and he was one of the most solid young vert skaters I had ever seen. He was skating and I decided he should be in the article. He was trying this heeflip indy to fake but he hadn’t yet made it so I loaded up my camera with a roll of film (thinking it would take more than five rolls) and Steve landed the first one we shot. Holy fuck! The next thing you know, the sequence finds itself on the cover of TWS (the bananas background meant that the skating on the cover was bananas).”