words and photos by David Wallace
intro by Tom Quigley
I first saw Dave discovering photography in my hometown of Nottingham, UK, during the DIY days of 2014-15. I was shooting photos of him skating around the city, and our big DIY spot, for a local skate mag I was self-publishing at the time – and then he started sending me his own skate photos for consideration. Reflections from puddles & broken mirrors were something slightly different from the norm, and we shared a love for high angles and minimal compositions. It was a pleasure featuring some of his first images in print, and his time in Notts was a good motivator for the scene.
After he headed to London, it became clear he was ‘on a new path’ as he once put it, throwing himself at photography with a host of different types of subject matter to try. Urban exploration, levitation, long exposures, environmental portraits, travel, often with some fire & smoke bombs thrown in… The man’s no stranger to missions, hustling, capturing motion, and getting the shot he wants. And we all know skateboarding stays with you, so it’s rad to see things come full circle with the impressive skate shots Dave’s been getting in recent years.
Juan Pablo Velez – frontside flip – Parallel, BCN: I met Juan after meeting JP. We were chilling at Parallel after a mission and Juan decided he wanted to frontside flip the gap, which is a big gap, let alone having to pop up real quick, set up at speed, then hoist your trick over the gap before hopping off again. Fast pop, fast flip and a fast dismount.
Ramon Muniz – switch ollie over hubba – BCN: We had a crew of peeps that go out with filmmaker Luis Beltran so we headed to 7 blocks in Badalona. We had a guy jump down it but no make on this occasion, it’s a massive set of stairs. Around the corner from the 7 block is a hubba that looks great for pictures. Ramon warmed up with a few ollies and 3 tries later a bolted switch ollie was put down.
Tom Penny – 50-50 – Parallel, BCN: Tom is back! I met Tom in the morning and we hit some spots. There is a pump track near Parallel where Tom skated a quarter pipe and got a 360 flip fakie and a switch 360 flip. After this we took a brief break at Parallel and then we went for a little street mission with Kevin Tshala. We found this low to high ledge and Tom popped up and 50-50’d it!
Shanti Reyes, kickflip over ledge – MACBA, BCN: Shanti is a stylish guy and whenever I would see
him at MACBA or around the Barcelona area I always wanted to get a shot of him skating. On
this particular day I had picked up my tea and wandered to MACBA. Upon arriving, Shanti was
already warm and popping over the wall. He made eye contact from across the plaza and he gave
me the signal; “Are you ready?” I always have my camera with me, never leave the house without
one. I nodded and got into my spot. Two tries later he fully steezed the catch out and I got the
shot! It was a great, serendipitous occasion where the planets aligned. I am super happy I finally
got a shot of Shanti and the way that it went down was perfect, Obrigado Irmao!
Josh man Josh – kickflip – Barceloneta, BCN: I used to skate with Josh back in the day when we were both riding for the same company and I think it has been about seven years since we got to hang out. I took the path of photography and he continued to kill it. We bumped into each other at MACBA while he was on a Hop King trip and he invited me along to shoot some bits. While down at the port Josh and JP decided they wanted to hit the big red bank off the kicker at the top and here is the shot of Josh boosting a sky high kickflip.
JP – noseslide – Sants, BCN: JP is a beast! Lets get that out of the way. The first day I went out shooting with him he did noseslide nollie heel out on a 18 stair hubba so when he said he wanted to noseslide this massive hubba I was ready and had full confidence he had it. We met in the morning after a nice cup of tea. JP started to warm up and went to battle. I got into position, found my angle and this is the result. Keep an eye out for JP’s new part that’s coming out soon. This noseslide will be in it!
