When I heard that Mike Blabac had a photography book coming out, I was excited, and to find it was having some gallery space at The Maverick in London for a short time, I simply had to go check it out. The images on the screen in front of you only give you a small insight in to what is on offer here, the book is stunning and has to be seen in the flesh to be truly appreciated.
Photography is great, it helps you timecode what you were doing, how you looked, what you were wearing and where you were at, all captured at a fraction of a second. Skateboarding has been blessed with some greats in the field, Brittain, Kanights, Jefferson are all names that stand out and carry as much weight as the skaters they are shooting. These are the guys who bring us the spots, the skaters, the tricks – ultimately, the PROOF that skating is going off all over the world and strive to keep it not merely documented. But to blow you away and inspire you – Mike Blabac, like the afore mentioned names is one of the heavy weight generals of skateboarding’s army of photographers.
Blabac has been shooting skate photos for around 20 years now, starting off with his Nikon F3 and shooting local kids. He first started getting noticed in the early 90’s and moving to San Francisco definitely bought him more opportunity. At the time skating was all about EMB. His break came when asked to shoot for Justin Girrards Mad Circle Skateboards. The shots that were coming out of these sessions helped define the era, with skaters like Bobby Puleo, Drake Jones and Josh Kalis starting to come out with their unique styles. At the same time he managed to shoot some of the big names too, with some classic Mike Carroll shots as well as capturing Koston’s back noseblunt down the Hubba hideout too!
Blabacs photography style is unique – he has his own vision and compared to a lot of photographers uses minimal amounts of equipment, when you don’t have time to set up three flashes he is happy to shoot slow or ramp up the ISO – and if the shot was grainy, it doesn’t matter, the shot was captured. This style has led him to a succession of covers starting with Transworld and then conquering the other milestones, Thrasher, Slap etc.
After a prolific end to the 90’s Mike was picked up by his current employer, DC Shoes and for the last 10 years has helped shape their style. Stand-out shots on display in the gallery, and in the book, include Stevie Williams portraits and his simple switch heelflip on flat photo in 2004, which has as much impact as Danny Way‘s megaramp and Great Wall of China antics. With his focus mainly on photography for adverts, he took more creative control and added all sorts to the images – from Dyrdek‘s “Bling” to penguins and panthers for cover shots!
Skateboard photography is difficult, so many elements come in to play that you wouldn’t normally come across – firstly dealing with the speed, so you have to shoot fast to get a clear image, second thing is getting the best angle which leads to the third – timing. To a skater the most important thing is the story – knowing that exact 1/640 of a second to get the money shot – the shot that shows who it is, and leaves no doubt in the viewers mind what is going on here.
With Blabac’s photos you don’t need to look to see who it is, you know who it is, and as important, the trick – hitting “fire” at the right moment that let’s you know that “he flipped into this” and capturing the momentum to show that he is sliding once he locks in on the block. This is an art, an art that has consumed Mike Blabac for 20 years, where he has arrived a subliminal level of respect, you don’t need to read the caption.
This book is a chronicle of skating over the last 20 years, a must for anyone interested in photography, not merely the skating side, but images in general. It’s large format 10.5×13.5 inch’s spans over 224 pages helps do the images justice. Mike Blabac lives and breathes skateboarding and this book is a testament to the dedication and man hours spent in the dirt shooting, or running from cops at EMB. It’s all worthwhile in the end, and it’s all in the book, go peep it here.
PP
