Shopping in Oceanside

A couple weeks ago we got a crew together and headed up to Oceanside to check out the Swap Meet. Swap Meets don't really exist outside of California from what i gather? The experience was amazing. You could basically buy anything. Seriously anything. I think they might have even been selling donkeys.

This was the common set up. Some had better, some had worse.

Justin was seriously considering buying the USA jacket in the background of this photo. The lady wouldn't come down from the astronomical $40 price tag so he passed it up. Hopefully this guy bought it.

We had to wake this guy up to ask him how much he would sell the tool box his head is resting on. I still wish I bought it.

Jordan found the new camera he was looking for. I think some of the skate filmers are still using this thing.

We're Not the Boss

Lately the earth has been showing us who truly is the boss.

One Last Trick

1st photo of the trip...last photo of the Sydney post. These kids began playing SKATE outside the window of my hotel. Shot successfully poached;)

Cheers Mate!

As usual, NZ was a great time with a really good crew. Pretty stoked on the photos and video that we're coming back home with...Should have some good blogs in the next few days and weeks

Back to SYD

NZ was amazing but I can't wait to get home.....One more night in Sydney and back to Cali....Shot a few photos in the central train station the other day while trying to kill 12 hours between flights.

This guy actually turned around and asked me to stop shooting photos of him. Hilarious

This guy had no idea i was shooting. However there was another guy sitting next to him that noticed and moved.

I took the train out into the country. Got off at a random stop and realized i had a hour to kill with absolutely no where to go. Nowhere.

An NZ Standoff

Who's going to flinch 1st?

That was a First

I showed up at Snowpark yesterday, walked out on the deck to go up the hill, and there was a full on Orchestra performing for the riders. The US resorts really need to step up their game....HA...

Sydney on 4 wheels

Skate tourism has its perks...not only can you get around quite easily but you can photo's of yourself along the way

Stopped on the Sydney Harbor bridge to shoot a couple

Going downhill was a lot better than going up

Day 1 Down Under

After flying to NZ and having the flight turn around mid air I landed back in Sydney and proceeded to the hotel. After unloading my gear I quickly hustled to the Harbor area with one thing in mind...get some blog photos...Here is my take on things from the 1st 2 hours in an awesome country..pretty happy how they turned out

As you walk around the harbor you find a lot of people staring

I wish my street had a sign like this

As I walked under the Harbor bridge the sky began doing some pretty amazing things..

The light was ridiculous

I always find myself wanting to ask people to take their portrait and usually I find people get extremely weirded out when you ask them to do so....This guy however was super nice and I think he enjoyed people in front of the lens

While walking back to the hotel I walked by this pub that claims its the oldest in the entire city. These guys seemed to fit the atmosphere just perfect

Forced Tourism has its Perks

So as many of you know the weather on the South Island in NZ this week has been less than ideal for landing airplanes; which is why I had a quick 3 day stint in Sydney this past week....I can't really complain...I would have rather been working with the boys though and hanging out for 4 days alone gets a little boring.....Anyway...I'm gonna sleep but I got a few photos in Sydney the other night that I wanted to post before posting the meat of my Aussie blog

You can't really mess up a photo of the Sydney Opera house since its one of the raddest buildings I've ever seen but a nice moon and a slow shutter helps the scenery.

The slow shutter also works nicely when a ferry goes through your frame in front of one of the raddest bridges ever built...

Sydney did it right. Super nice scenery and equally as friendly humans.

Taking the Weight Off

Since i've found myself in forced tourist mode today in downtown Sydney, Austrailia and my feet hurt from walking around all day yesterday...I thought...post a photo of Cami taking the weight of her feet last week in DC

Im not complaining....really..

Went Over to George's House

Lately Ive been reading a couple books on George Washington and even though his house, Mt Vernon, is only a few minutes from where i grew up I can't really recall ever going there? Since Cami was in town and we were playing really good tourists we decided we might as well check it out.

I was pretty happy this bird decided to fly by and make this photo that much better

Unfortunately, the front of the house was under construction. I think they are installing valet parking for the horses

Georges house backs up to the Potomac river. Across the river they have restricted building anything as too, "not mess up the view from Mt Vernon"...A pretty awesome concept

Until I read the books "1776" and "Washington"- by Ron Chernow. I had no idea how solely responsible Washington was for America's survival as a nation. It was pretty eye opening heading to Mt Vernon and seeing his spot 1st hand.

That was, until it started pouring rain and lightening bolts.

The Face of the Nation-als

While back in DC last week Cami and I hit a Nationals game. It actually wasn't 100 degrees and we ended up getting pretty decent seats.

Somehow we avoided thunderstorms and got sunsets instead

I've never been able to figure out why fans score the game in their seats when there is a 200ft HD scoreboard right across from them

The game was actually pretty exciting...Alot more so than this guys crossword puzzle

Even though the NFL has pretty much surpassed baseball as Americas pastime...Going to games never gets old.....Neither does 1$ hot dog night

A Night with Motley Crue

After a good day warming up for The Crue I gotta say I was pretty excited. My Mom got me Dr. Feelgood for Xmas in 6th grade and I've been a fan ever since. She also got me Appetite for Destruction that Xmas too...Prolly the best Xmas gift I've ever gotten....

They opened with Shout at the Devil and after they finished the song Nikki Sixx jumped in the crowd to beat up some fan that threw something at Vince....HA...classic

Notice the large circle structure in the back. This was actually built for Tommy Lee who's drum set went around the circle upside down while he played the whole time. Pretty rad and classic for a Crue show.

The entire band actually played really well. Including Mick Mars who is as good and creepy as he's ever been. The crowd was super into it and the smoke in the air sums up the vibe

The person that wasn't stoked was the guy that had to clean up the mess the fans left. I forgot to mention. Someone decided to burn down a building next door to the show. Perfect way to end a perfect Fredneck day. Cant wait till next year.

Welcome to Fredneck

A few months back my good friend Drew mentioned checking out this Motley Crue/ Poison show in Frederick, Maryland. After thinking about it for one millisecond I decided it was a great idea and we figured out the tickets. For those of you that haven't been to Frederick- its in the cut. The full on country, located right next to one of the biggest battlefields of the Civil War- Antietam.

Upon walking in I realized we were in for one of the best days ever. Both Music wise and people watching wise. I could wait to start documenting it all

We were there for about 30 min before Poison started their set. A friend from a while back hooked up backstage passes so we had a pretty good view of things and got to meet some special guests.

After Poison played we decided to walk around and take some photos of the surroundings...such as....The beer line

Or, some of the local patrons of the show...America's finest

As the sun set...everyone started to get excited for the Crue, who would start their set at dark...I hadn't seen the Crue before and they were actually way better than i expected. Especially considering how old they all are.

Oh yea, the special guest...If you come see Poison you might as well hang with Bret 1st

29 Leftovers

Had a couple more shots I wanted to post from Two Nine

Mike Holland is good at FS Blunts...Actually so is Neil who happens to be watching

Rachel, Brenden, and Cami stayed at the house this year. Its always super fun waking up to a house full of old friends.

For the 1st 8 years or so females actually weren't allowed at Two Nine until after we skated...Not really sure what we were thinking with that one? This year we had a great crew of ladies hanging out in the shade