Instagram gold here as the brilliant mind behind the @thebandwashere visited San Diego, California for his latest No Music Monday post. The spot in question? Beneath the I-5 freeway in Del Mar where Grant Brittain shot his iconic Push photo of then TransWorld dark room tech Tod Swank back in 1987. Check out the whole carousel:
“While visiting the area a few weeks ago for my Tony Hawk post, I couldn’t resist stopping by another Grant Brittain picture/location, another one of my favorite images by him. Unfortunately, they’ve since covered up the gap in the freeway above, which once allowed that incredible shadow in Grant’s image to form. From what I can tell looking at Google Maps, they must have done that sometime in 2007/2008.
Here are two quotes from Grant’s numerous explanations of the history of this iconic shot over the years.
“I honed my skateboard photography skills in the 80s shooting my skateboarding friends and the guys I worked with in the skateboarding industry. I drove by this shadow in Del Mar under the freeway everyday on my way from the Del Mar Skate Ranch to The Pannikin to get coffee and I always wanted to integrate skateboarding into the light play somehow. I got Tod Swank my friend and photo assistant at the time to skate back and forth until I got what I wanted after shooting 2 rolls of Kodak Tri-X B&W film. This photo ended up as a magazine cover and a lot of people have told me it’s their favorite skate shot.
It was so basic—it was the foundation of skateboarding, it was the first thing we all learn to do after stepping on a board, it was the essence of this activity we, who do it, love. We all have this in common: we push.
”This image adorns the cover of Grant’s book, titled “PUSH: J. Grant Brittain – ‘80s Skateboarding Photography.” If you have the opportunity to acquire it, I highly recommend doing so. Additionally, his website features prints of this image and many others. Notably, he offers a stunning 44X62” print of this particular image that is simply breathtaking that size!
My picture doesn’t do the original picture justice, so I’ve included a pic of the way it was shown on the cover of Transworld, on Grant’s book, the uncropped version, an outtake, and a pic of Grant holding a 44X62 print. Go follow @jgrantbrittain“
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We were lucky enough to have Grant on our Podus Operandi podcast last year where we talked all kinds of photo gold:
Related: Legendary skateboarding photographer Grant Brittain joins us on the Podus Operandi podcast
