Skateboarding photography usually tends to be amazing. But there’s something about the ’80s era of skateboarding that was just more eye-popping. Neon colors, wild hair styles, the grimiest-looking ramps, and the current fashion no-no in skateboarding—wearing shorts. This book contains two hundred-plus photos taken by J. Grant Brittain of skaters doing inverts on half pipes, grinding bowls, and wallrides on brick. If you are into skateboarding at all, you’ve probably run across a Brittain photo before and never knew. This is an extremely solid collection.
The intro, written by Brittain, talks about getting criticized for putting a photo of Tod Swank pushing on a skateboard on the cover of Transworld. The public wanted to see something like a frontside air, not some dingus pushing down the sidewalk. It’s a great photo and shows off the basic, simple pleasures of skateboarding, hence it becoming the cover for this book.
This book comes with a hefty price tag of about fifty dollars. I say, worth every penny. It’s been on our coffee table for weeks and I have cracked it open instead of looking at my phone every night. Definitely something to stare at with your friends while waiting for the snow to melt. My favorite photos: Natas Kaupas doing a curb plant and Tex Gibson doing a frontside air on Dallas’s Clown Ramp. –Rick V. (Ginko Press, ginkopress.com)