A story for the ages! Or "just another day" as Grant puts it? Regardless, who knows where skateboarding would be without Grant's iconic photos blessing those early pages of our beloved TransWorld SKATEboarding magazine.
A true original. A pioneer. A legend in his own right. Read below to learn about the historic day in 1979 that Grant declares as "his first day of photography". So rad.
I feel fortunate to call Grant a friend, and it's obviously no surprise that the dude has stories for days. He doesn't just know about skate history—he literally created and captured an entire era of it!
So, with that said, I'll let him tell the story (that he shared on IG):
"Everything starts somewhere. You get up in the morning, just another 1979 morning. You’re 23 years old and You work at a skatepark sweeping out pools and serving Cokes and Twinkies at the snack bar and decide to ask your roommate, Rich Apple if you can borrow his Canon camera. He loads a roll of Kodachrome 64 slide film into his camera and tells you to shoot at 1/500th of a second shutter speed (whatever that is?) and match the f-stop (whatever that is?) needle in the middle of the little circle and make sure the sun (you know what that is) is behind you. You go and stand next to the Del Mar Skate Ranch Keyhole and ask local ripper, Kyle Jensen to do some tricks and you manage to take a couple of peak action shots."
He continues the story with, "Your roommate tells you to take the roll to a photo place and get it developed, and a couple of days later the slides come back from Kodak in Los Angeles and you to your surprise actually manage to get a cool one, but then again, how would you know if it’s good? I shot this in February 1979, that’s 46 years ago in 'People Years' and I count that as my first day of photography. Just another day."
For as long as I've known Grant, I'm actually surprised I've never heard this story. I'm even more surprised that I never asked! I know all about his early days at Palomar College (probably because I went there, too) and starting TWS, etc.
But as far as the day he claims as his first day of photography, well, that's pretty special.
Grant continues to inspire skateboarding photographers of all ages to this day, and he's actually working on a book with Tony Hawk right now that might possibly drop this year. With an archive like his and a relationship spanning decades with The Birdman, I'd say this book is a long time coming. Stoked!
Anyways, thanks for the story, Grant. I think it's one all of skateboarding needs to hear. Never stop reminiscing! And yes, I know, I still owe you a cold one.
