Thrasher Magazine

           On the eve of yet another Zero Skateboards video premier I'm reminded of all the radical moves and exciting times I've experienced over the years with the League of Nil. Shooting with the boys in black has been a big part of my life as a skate photographer so it seemed appropriate to once again crack open the photo vault (in this case, several dozen Fed-Ex boxes,) and see what Zero stuff I could round up. You'll notice that this covers more of the 'classic' line-up, partially because those are the first folders I found, and to a lesser extent because they hired Joey Shigeo around 2004, leaving me ass out on most of the missions until the economic crisis thrust me suddenly back to the front lines. Glad to be here! The new video should be a real cooker. Congrats to all the new guys and thanks to all my Zero friends for the steady good times at the bottom of all those handrails!

This shit's gonna be out of order here and there, but one of the first missions I remember with the Chief was for the Hammerhead article. The pink Hosois I got AWH to send me (well before the ebay collector craze made such a gift laughable) were old piece-of-shit bootlegs - flat, flimsy and creaky when you stood on them. It's a miracle they survived the impact of this 5-0 which Jamie did several times in a row (as is his style.)

Yes, that's real-estate-broker-to-the-stars, Greg Harris, behind Lopes' back lip. How astute of you to notice!

Ellington on Fire, from the Misled Youth intro.

Mumford sequence, through the kink to the street. The red X's are the frames we cut for the final layout.

Bike locker street gap kickflip.

The Gorilla Pimpin' gap. Wouldn't be the last time I had to apologize. Anybody want to kickflip this?

Crooked grind though the kink at the Indian Restaurant rail. Is that a wrist bandana and one in the pocket? I don't know what the heck that means.

Went here with the Zero dudes on several trips.

The Mutt steadies a boardslide on a rail which later got longboarded and BMXed to death prior to it's eventual dismantling.

This one ran in the mag, not quite so chopped.

I have a bunch of Trainwreck somewhere. This was between heats on a Tampa Am trip. He would never wait for you to set up which coincidentally trained me for shooting with Tommy a few years later.

Bobier's gone from Lil' Buddy to Team Manager since I've known him. Can't wait to see his trick in the friend's section.


Pop shove in Arvada or Golden. One of those. This was on the To The Woods! tour.

Mutt gets caught up on a back 50 in Santa Monica. That's The Dude filming so this could be Duff's stuff.

Front board at 8 am at a mall in Del Mar.

Back decker in AZ. Mumford's the best.


Jon Allie was second-generation Zero but had definitely studied the playbook.

Ryan Smith, another new recruit, on an AZ mission.

Lindsey Robertson was the kind of skater Zero loved. Franklin ollie.

Jon Allie nosegrinds. Lance Jr was there that day.


Spring Break tour, Summer 2003. Capacity crowds at every stop!

This is what you looked like before smart phones.

Cap'n Cole. Unfinished biz.

Brockman has always been strangely awesome.

Allie left something behind on this trip ... his virginity (not shown.)

That Lopez has always been a sly one.

Yep, one more time before it got knobbed. You should cut those shits off, Piloto!

The Rattray / Mumford doubles photo that fueled endless weight-related debate and discussion.

Bobes is to the back 50 what Muska is to the tailslide.

If the demo gives you launch ramp, you make chicken wing.

Rattray got his first real taste of America. He loved it!

Flash n roll.

Where have all the salads gone? Seriously, what was the last salad grind in a video?

Garrett Hill tried this kickflip 50 in Denver until he'd broken all of my flashes and the sun came up. I remember hallucinating in a Denny's shortly after.

The Mutt's first frontal!

Dan Murphy, pre-Mystery but not pre-crazy.

Wearing an 'It's a boy!' t-shirt, I think this was when Julien was born. Musta been, right?

Is this still a spot? Seemed really good at the time.

Also gone/knobbed.


Here's that trick you were talking about, Ant.

T-shirt synergy.

Tommy got on around 2004? Posed for his first interview on the limo he won with his best-trick money.

Alt angle of his frontside nosegrind cover.

Last night before Dying to Live deadline. Switch ollie.

Lindsey, front nose in the height of his DC days. Hope he made a grip.

Mumford nosegrind. Night missions were very popular there for awhile. Glad that's over.

Waiting for the verdict.

Did you know The Mutt filmed big chunks of those videos?


Dying to Live billboard at Ken's old shop.

The Premiere!!!

The cops went nuts! Fuckin' nuts!

I got called into an attorney's office because the cops were trying to charge this kid with assault. Hopefully the photos I gave them helped him beat it.

Jamie attempts to restore order, piggy-back style!


Eventually it all worked out and the show continued. Here Jake catches up with a Christian superhero. This is when he promised him the cover if he ollied 25 stairs.

Lee Dawg and I conspire to gain and lose weight, respectively.

Rattray took the kilt on tour, upskirts worldwide for the next week!

Yep, it's been a righteous road, all thanks to this handsome cowboy. Congrats again, Chief! Nice work, Zeros!