Faith News and Updates

Justin is the unsung hero of skateboarding around Birmingham. This dude goes all out on a daily basis. He delivered me 3 sick photos for the friends section within one week. Pretty stoked it meant alot to him and he went all out. Justin is that guy that you never see skating the spots, but randomly he will have a new photo of him chomping down a spot on his Myspace. Check it out sometime if you are his friend on Myspace.

Subject: Peter Karvonen
Photo By: Boswell
Trick: 50-50 grind

Its good to get my old ass up and actually skating! Though not that hard of a trick, I was stoked on myself for shooting a photo for the Faith Site. I always loved the video clip of Adrian Lopez doing a 180 nosegrind on an old beat up burnt car. So when I saw this junker sitting in a parking lot I figured why not get on that!
It did'nt grind as well as I thought it would. Of course, things seem easy till you actually try.

Subject: Jonathan Brennan
Photo by: Boswell
Trick: Backside kickflip

We have been inspired lately with the concrete revolution in skateboarding. Find a spot with potential and fix it up a bit! Jonathan not only killed this spot, but he actually was there mixing and pouring the concrete too! Good to see skaters that take the initiative to make it better here in Birmingham. More to come in 2008!

Subject: Josh Harbison
Trick: Ollie
Photo by: Boswell

I think everyone has looked at this spot in some weird way and said "Man it would be sick to ollie off of that thing". Nobody has ever gotten up on the 8 foot of runway and tried to get enough speed to actually ollie off of the slant. Josh makes weird things happen in a very stange way. He was the perfect person for this spot. Weird spot, weird kid, proper ollie!

Subject: Duane Boatright
Trick: Crooked Grind
Photo: Boswell

Leave it to Duane to make another man's trash his treasure. Pretty cool back alley spot for Duane to K Grind. Some of the best spots are not spots at all. Kids!!! Go search the back alley's and the little nooks and crannys for you to get your shred on! There is a whole world out there to skate on, and sometimes the gems are closer than you think. I think Duane found this spot while walking his dog "Kuppa".

Subject: Jonathan Fitzgerald
Trick: Ollie over rail to narrow land
Photo: Boswell

This spot is right down the street from the skate shop. One push to a quick ollie over the rail. Jonathan handled this trick several times, and once again this is a spot we have all seen time and time again, just waiting for the right person to handle it.

Subject: Jonathan Brennan
Trick: Drop in
Photo by: Sutherland Boswell

J-Body has been wrecking himself and spots lately. Its always cool to see when a guy gets a spark of confidence and motivation. J-Body is committed, stoked, motivated, and raw! I can imagine, this is the best time he has had on a skateboard in a long time. Persistence pays off, and with it comes the reward of tricks like this!

Subject: Kyle Hudson
Trick: Frontside 50-50
Photo by: Sutherland Boswell.

Kyle is the kid that will never stop skating. He is constantly at the skate shop and when he is not there he is either skating or working at the skatepark in Vestavia. His talents on his skateboard change from week to week. He can adapt to any type of skateboarding that is presented to him. This is another reason why i am sure Kyle will never stop skateboarding. He can adapt to any trend skateboarding goes through or he can go out and just ride and grind. Here Kyle is doing your classic 50-50 grind that looks like too much fun!

Subject: Aaron Moore
Photo by: Cutcliffe
Trick: Pole Jam to drop

This trick was on a recent trip to Atlanta. Of course the two tricks that Aaron did this day were wallies or pole jams. Go figure! Nah, this trick was sick! He seriously launched off of this pole jam. Watch Unfocus, if it ever actually comes out, and witness this trick. POLE JAMMERS OF THE WORLD UNITE AND TAKE OVER!!!!!!

Subject: Daniel Cutcliffe
Photo by: Boswell
Trick: Back 50-50

I wanted to kill Daniel this day! He was getting so bugged out by every car driving by and every person walking by. Nonetheless, he got it done. He seriously would have done this trick within a few tries if he had total peace and quiet. Maybe, even some calm sounds of the ocean would have helped.

This photo is sick! Duane makes skateboarding happen! This guy works a gnarly job and works at the skateshop, and still finds the time and motivation to make it happen. Always the motivator, Duane concreted this barrier spot up one night and proceeded to get this photo the next morning before going to work. Slack asses need to wake up and get busy like this guy!

I thought about writing about myself in 3rd person. Something along the lines of, "this dude is old, bald and lazy". But we all know the obvious. Instead here you go...... It has gotten increasingly hard for me to skate anywhere other than the skatepark. Resposibilities creep up fast on you in life, and next thing you know you are 33 years old and only skating about 5 hours a week. I made a promise to myself that I would get a "friend photo" before i turned 33. The prospect of getting a photo outside of Homewood skatepark was not looking good. That is until Stewart brought in a picture of this metal half pipe. Woohoo, I can get a photo and of course it is of a backside disaster! (for those who know me, you know i do about 80 of these a day at Homewood) I will take what I can get and thankfully sometimes things work themselves out!

This dude is the biggest bum! How he constantly drives to Atlanta, North Carolina, and other places is beyond me. He does'nt work! He does however skate more than anybody I can think of. All day long he skates, or eats Subway sandwiches only to give away his bag of chips that come with the meal....Anyway, Aaron skates just like he did when he was 11 or 12. All day long and he doesnt stop thinking about skateboarding till he falls asleep. This trick is a weird one... Do you like this trick or did Patrick Melcher overdo this trick and make you not like it. Not really sure what its called either! Ben Gilley was a teammate of Melcher's and they decided to call it "the kickstart".
I really liked this trick on this day! Aaron did'nt put his foot back on till he was way down the transition of the quarterpipe. Pretty scarey! If you don't like this trick, maybe try it on a crazy wallride like this and you may find a new respect for it!

SUBJECT: JONATHAN BRENNAN
PHOTO BY: PETER KARVONEN
TRICK: FRONTSIDE OLLIE INTO BANK

Damn!!! This photo does'nt do this justice. First, my batteries died before i got the picture i really wanted. Second, this is not the angle I wanted for this trick. Third, this is so ridiculously scarey! The bank is steep as hell...dropping in on it is scarey enough. Not only that, it is so slick (has that glassy painted look to it). I suggest you go there and check it out if you are ever in the area. It is at the Krystals fast food restaurant off of Roebuck Parkway. Im not worried about giving up this spot, because i know nobody will try to step to this. I'm very sorry to let Jonathan down with this weak photo, so i invite people to check this spot out for themselves and say "DAMN!!".

subject: daniel cutcliffe
photo: peter karvonen
trick: frontside flip

It used to be Little "D". Now it's Little Demon! He is on the warpath and he is determined to kill! Haha..... This dude skates hard and skates like he has nothing to lose. It is awesome to see him coming of age! He is comfortable on his skateboard and comfortable skating his own way. He is always determined and always down to skate at every spot. It is nice to bring Daniel along on a filming mission, because you can rest assured he will always try! I love that Daniel is still a kid with a dream...Lets just hope he can keep the kid in him and not grow up too quickly. Stay focused Daniel, but stay young!

I have to admit, I was not here this day. However, judging by the pic, Stuart was skating with his buddies like always! Not a care in the world! Stuart is out there to just have fun and not trying to impress anyone (which is very admirable!). After watching Stuart at a contest in Montgomery, I was very impressed! He knew what to give the judges and what to give the onlookers. Solid skating, polished and effortless! He was able to put a run together just as easily as he was to Smith Grind up this ledge, over and over! It's all "cake" to Stuart! Stuart is very consistent, in every aspect of life! He will never quit skating, due to his consistent need to skate! And he will never quit being effortless due to his consistent polishing of his tricks on his skateboard. Go Ginger!

This is Dwayne or Duane , I'm really not sure. He gets happy with the sawsall and his metal cutting blades. Give him an idea for a kink that should be cut or a rail to be lowered and he is on it! Duane is one of those guys that makes skateboarding happen for himself. He may not live in the best area for skateboarding, but he will make it happen. Build a ledge, cut a kink, cement a flat bar in the ground, angle iron a choppy wooden ledge, whatever. Duane reminds me of skaters from my early age. Build it and shred it. Here Duane is shredding this freshly lowered rail. I'm not saying he cut the rail down, but he is the type of guy that would make it happen! Though someone knicked a bit off the top of this rail, it is still a very tall frontboard!
(Word on the streets is that some rollerbladers cut this rail down NOT SKATEBOARDERS!)

This is "Fitty" (I guess thats how you would spell it). He is the newest transplant from Panama City and it is a pleasure having him. Fitty is very polite and controlled until a trick takes him more than 10 tries. I've skated with him at the skatepark alot, however i have just recently gotten to witness his talents on the streets. Fitty's style on a skateboard is very polite and controlled as well.
When he steps up to do a trick, you can bet that it will look effortless, be proper, and that he wont waist time "testing the water".
This front smith up this rail was done at least 4 times by him. Making sure that it was just how he wanted it. Fast, clean, and effortless, this trick went down within 4 tries too. Dudes like Fitty make a days work easy for a photographer or filmer.

This is Rambo. He should have a show named after him like "Everybody Loves Rambo". I know thats lame, but I have never met anyone that doesn't like Rambo. He is a genuinely likeable guy, and im very psyched to finally have caught him on film. Not that he is elusive or doesn't skate much. Rambo just likes to do his thing when he wants to do it! Like this day! I put the camera up, thinking it wasnt going to happen. The fire was then lit, and he started landing on this healthy sized frontsideboardslide. Everybody Loves Rambo, and everybody was stoked that he rocked this trick with his genuine style of skateboarding.
Rambo and his friends live in a big white house like the one in the background of this photo. Anyway, they are filming for a tight little video called "The White House Video". I thought it would be appropriate to mention that, given the cool pic of the White House in the background. Stay tuned for updates about this video!