Standerd Slides

Subject: Dana Preble
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Vintage section, page 119

For the record, I have to thank Dana for the countless times I would call her and ask to come over to shoot. She was such a great friend that opted to be my muse in learning the camera.

This may have been one the first days that I got a water housing for my camera. I was so psyched. Dana always did these crazy grabs like that.
Tipan, chicken salad, behind the leg, over the knee…something weird. At the time (1997), it was amusing.

- Letchworth

Subject: Danny Hampson
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 90

I just like the spirit of this photo. If you’ve ever been around Danny, you realize quickly that he lives life to fullest extent.

Sometimes he can just put his arms and up and it says it all. He really does feel it and the photo shows it. This is actually the same lake as seen in the opening panoramic of Critique. We stopped to see this beautiful view and everyone was in the best mood ever.

It’s moments like these that really wake you up to life’s wonders and the people that we get to share it with.

- Letchworth

Subject: Thomas Horrell
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 98

This was our first stop on The Human Trailers tour through NZ. We had an Olympic size swimming pool to ourselves from midnight until 6am.
We were all so out of it. The jetlag, the chlorine burning our eyes, the beer…we were a mess by the time the sun came up.

We dropped this rail in the middle of pool and had to hike up to the weight room and lug about 500 lbs of lead down to the pool to get that thing to sink. It was ridiculous.

It always amazes me what you can get away with in other countries. No one seems to care quite as much as they do here. The guys in charge of the pool were just like, “sure, go ahead.” Thomas did a frontboard 270 shove after a few tries. Everyone else got some too. Good times.

- Letchworth

Subject: Nick Taylor
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 88

We were in the Keys shooting for Nike and this day was blown out bad. When the wind starts to blow in the keys, its hard to find anywhere to hide.
We really had to get a few more shots before we wrapped this thing up so we searched all over and found this one little stretch of calm water tucked behind some mangroves.

I had Nick do about 20 frontside flips in front of me. I am the king of “just one more.” The tide was dropping, the sun was burning hot and there were jellyfish everywhere stinging the hell out of us. Somehow, some way, its always seems worth it.

This is one of favorite wakeskate shots that I’ve shot to date. Thanks for the patience and hard work, Nick.

- Letchworth

Subject: Brian Grugg
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, pages 102-103

Another stop on the Human Trailers tour. We stopped in the little beach town on the east coast of the South Island. We were looking for a spot to winch and considered doing something along the beach in the surf. Grubb was out walking on the rocks and I followed him with the camera.

Man, I’ve always got a camera on me. I can’t go anywhere without one. As soon as you leave it in the car, the mind starts racing through all the images that you could be capturing at that moment. It will drive you crazy. I love grainy black and white film and this image works perfect for it.

- Letchworth

Subject: Shawn Watson’s truck
Photos: Shawn Watson

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Chronicle section, page 32

So this is a before and after picture of my truck! And this is the second time it’s happened. I’m now on my third set of wheels, haha…

The first time it happened my truck was actually stolen and recovered down the street on blocks like you see here. The “before” photo was taken a while ago just after I got my second set of wheels, and after the first incident I always keep my truck in the garage overnight. Well as you can see in the “after” pic, my boat is still attached to my truck. I flew in late one night, picked up my boat from the Nautique factory and drove home. I didn’t get home until about 1am and was planning on getting up at 7 am to drop my boat in and do a photo shoot that next morning.

So I wake up and walk out my front door to this.  All I could really do was laugh because what are the odds of that happening to me again. So now I have really learned my lesson and no matter what circumstance it is my truck is in the garage at all times, haha!

– Shawn Watson

Subject: Shaun Murray
Photo: Joey Meddock

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Profile section, page 55

A few years back, I shot some stuff with Murray spelling out his name at night with a sparkler. Since I was making my trip to the firework store to get morters for the July cover shot, I thought I’d buy some much needed sparklers as well. I wanted to recreate the idea but didn’t want to directly rip off what I had done in the past.

We went over to his parents’ house to try this idea again. I took a few packs of sparklers, an intern, a flashlight and a tripod. Getting him to spell out his name backwards was nearly impossible so I had him spell it as if he was writing on a chalkboard, then we’d flip the image in photoshop so it would read correctly to the viewer. The hard part about that was making sure his t-shirt didn’t have any writing on it. If it did, it meant when we flipped the image it would be a dead giveaway what we did cause his shirt would read backwards. So rather than you figuring it out on paper, you are figuring it out here on StanderdSlides.com. Bonus.

Basically, I set the camera on a tripod, opened the shutter, had Shaun light the sparkler and do his thing, then pop him with a flash when he was done writing…all while the shutter is still open. When the sparkler ran out, he just threw it behind and got into position to pose. POP! Wallla…

-MEDDOCK

Subject: Jim Leatherman
Photo: Josh Letchworth

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 104

So the Red Bull Human Trailers tour had gotten us all the way to Queenstown, New Zealand on the South Island. I’ve said it before, but this is best traveling crew that i have ever been a part of. It just works…lets just say that. Ivan, you are amazing. He kept telling us about this place called St. Bathens that we would eventually make it to.

The mostly-cloudy day finally came upon us and we piled in the van and headed up there. Like most places in beautiful country of New Zealand, it was in the middle of nowhere. The lake was formed from gold mining era in the early 1900s. It’s an unreal sight when you roll up to it, just a huge hole dug out of the earth that you look down into. Not to mention, the deserted town that surrounds it has this bar called The Vulcan. Kick ass place. It has a section of one of the original sluice pipes mounted in the wall that you could pass your body through if you dare. Thomas and Grubb did it.

Anyways…. we built a little rail, Thomas did a bunch of long-line whips and we all got a chance to ride. When Jim rode, I hiked up to this high bank that overlook a really nice section of lake and posted up. Don’t let the “team manager” title fool ya. Jim still rips. That dude can go a year without riding and get out there and kill it. He definitely likes to carve and here’s one of them from above.

- Letchworth

Subject: Nicole Zinke
Photo: Joey Meddock

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 97

The curvacious Nicole has great assets. Can you tell? This was originally done for Reef but they weren’t into it for some reason. I went digging through my archives of photos and these pics kept jumping out at me. Like many photos I have laying around, I thought to myself, “I bet the subscribers of The Standerd would like a nice piece of eye candy for once.” So there you have it, take your time digesting.

-MEDDOCK

Subject: Shawn Watson
Photo: Erik Abbadessa

TSQ Location: Book 1.2, Critique section, page 97

The day before the carnival, Watson, Ruck, Colin and I set out to go surfing. Me not being that savvy on a stick I decided
to bring my camera instead. After seeing the waves we opted for some grub then it was on…We meet up with Jd, Wolf, Aaron k and a few others once we got on the sand.

I’m sure everyone knows how talented these guys are on wakeboards, but if you ever get a chance to watch these guys surf you’re in for a real treat. Everyone straight up rips. This photo is one of the many great pics I got that day…

Watson will you teach me how to surf like that???…..Abba