Standerd Slides

Subject: Glow
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Inside Back Cover, Page 122

Darin Shapiro and I were in Mexico shooting one evening when we headed back for the dock to race the sun. I had all my camera stuff put away and had my mind set on food and a few cervesas. The sun was on my left and the light kept peeking between the tress hitting me in the eyes. Each time I looked over I noticed it dropping faster and faster. With the palm trees blinking back and forth at me, I told the boat driver to slow down so I could get a shot or two. I got my gear out and ripped off a few shots. Turns out, the first frame I took was the best exposed. The more I sat there and adjusted and tweaked every little part of the photo, the sun kept dropping and the photos got worse. I think about that nearly every time I look at this photo. What if I never told the boat driver to stop?

-Meddock

Subject: Nick Tuten, Fireman
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, You Page, Page 117

A good friend of mine has a brother who is a fireman. About six months ago, we did a similar photo with the same fireman for book 2.1 but nobody ever saw it due to our Mexican friend making the cut instead.

Shooting the photo for this page is really one of the more fun things to do, per issue. Sometimes the image just comes to us, other times we have to hunt it down. The trick is having the subject hold the previous magazine, so right off the bat, we can’t shoot this photo until the magazine is in hand. Often, that will leave us in a pretty tight window of time to make something happen. Depending on the time of year, traveling can encounter great subjects for this page. Otherwise, we have to get creative.

I called up Nick and told him about the idea and that it was time once again to take a try at the photo. Nick is the driver for the number 10 truck here in Otown. Prior to my arrival, he jumped in the truck and pulled it out into the driveway of the station for me. Polished, washed, and waxed as usual, the sun was glistening off the red paint. We took a few shots in different positions around the truck until we found this spot in front of the engine.

The 9a.m. Florida sun was heating up as Nick stood there in full uniform for me. I didn’t want to take up too much time and add any more heat in his day than necessary, no pun intended.

-Meddock

Subject: Shane Bonifay
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Critique, Page 86

Chalk up another one of my favorite photos coming from my $30 camera I bought from the thrift store. I think my trip to Abu Dhabi with the Liquid Force team was the maiden voyage for that camera. I shot a few handfuls of black and white film throughout my stay there.

One evening at the Al Jazirra Beach Club and Resort, Shane and I were making our way toward the water’s edge where we’d load up the boat. Waiting on a few more people to arrive, Shane made sure his boots were nice and snug on the board by tightening them up with a screwdriver, obviously.

This shot was fun for me because at the time, I had still never received the results from the camera. I was aimlessly shooting, hoping for the best; a clueless type of fun that only a handful of photographers can understand and appreciate.

As Shane did his thing, I moved in close where you could see his last name “Bonifay” on the loop of the binding. Without the caption, I like the idea of the faceless person that only some would recognize as “Shane“. His arm happened to cross in front of his face as I knelt into position next to the binding.

-Meddock

Subject: Airports
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Photo Essay, Page 68

People watching is a great thing. People watching in the airport is even better. Every time I’m there I feel like I’m on a movie set. Think about it. Take a look around next time you are there. You couldn’t possibly cast a more diverse group of people in one room. I can’t help but notice and check over every little detail as if I had to cast them myself.

“Make sure you wear this, be sure that wheel doesn’t work on that bag, speak horrible English if at all, let your child scream loudly, be pissed at the person trying to help you check in, make up an excuse why you are late, don’t have your ID, transfer some shoes from one bag to another, break your makeup case and smear that plastic and powder into the carpet, burp your stank alcohol breath toward the security, and be ready to be re-routed where you’ll have a seat close and convieniently next to the toilet.”

A part of my enjoyment is seeing something similar to this scenario everytime I fly. I often mix it up in some destinations to see how the “cast” is acting in the crown rooms where everything is supposed to be more “normal” and luxiourious. After my free peanut and drink, I go smoosh my face against the window like a fish in a fish tank and watch the organized chaos of airplane traffic. Here, I got a shot of a parked plane…just outside the movie set.

-Meddock

As you may know, The Standerd went digital, offering all of the books for free to deliver wakeboarding and wakeskating to world with the highest quality and style.

Here are some tips for getting the most out of StanderdOnline.com:
To get a better view, flip through the pages in full screen mode, by clicking the red icon with arrows shown above.
To quickly scan the book for your favorite image, try icon view by clicking the gray icon with four squares shown above.

-The Standerd

Subject: Erik Ruck
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Cover, Page 1

This shot almost slipped through the cracks of the editing pile. I remember digging through some slides looking for a different image when this one popped out at me. You know it’s got something unique about it when your head doesn’t move off the loupe at first glance. It’s easy to do when you look at hundreds and hundreds of 35mm slides, you just bounce from image to image until you see that one that clearly jumps out at you. It’s like a screeching halt, “nope, nope, nope, nope, ah haaaa.” This is the one.

-Meddock

Subject: Chad Sharpe
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Back Cover

Chad and I went out on the lake this evening with Benny G and Kevin Henshaw. We arrived with plenty of sunlight to go and just decided to head out and find some calm water. I was in another boat along side of the tow boat with a battery powered strobe. It’s hard to compete against the natural strength of the sunlight so I knew the later we waited in the day, the better the flash would work.

After the short lived, “who wants to ride first talk” I asked Chad to go and take a quick one knowing I wanted him to ride again when the light was better. Thank god I did, because that first set was rough. Chad took a bit to warm up, the water sucked, and my strobes weren’t working correctly. Henshaw and Ben rode a set then I had Chad go one more time. By this point the sun was right on the tree line in the distance.

Finally, we made our way across the lake and found some decent water. We ran along side of Chad in the chase boat then did some double ups on each end. By now, Chad had ridden twice and found his pop on the double ups.

Shooting wakeboarding, there’s always an area I call the ‘wet zone’. My boat driver put me right on the edge of that area when Chad hit this double up. I was a bit nervous because we were trolling into the spot as Chad was coming toward us. I knew we were close, if not too close, and I was ready to cover up my equipment anticipating a splash. Luckily, I was panning right as we were moving left and Chad passed just perfectly in front of us and the light. He boosted a big one and I got lucky timing the peak of the trick. POP, Back cover of 2.2!

-Meddock

Subject: Jeff Weatherall
Photo: Joey Meddock
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Critique, Pages 88-89

The whole time I was in Mexico I kept thinking “Jurassic Park” when I looked around me at the thousands of palm trees. I’m not really into dinosaurs, nor am I much of a movie buff, but the jungle-ish backdrop made my mind wander.

Jeff Weatherall, our driver Matt, and myself talked over this photo before I went climbing on the hillside. I took a two-way radio and gave the other to Matt so we could communicate the angles properly. This first or second double up was lining me up perfect. The ripples in the water give away our boat pattern from the previous pass but I still think this made for a great scenery photo from my Mexico trip.

After my climb up to my perch, I had to shoot between the frenzy of birds. Oh and the wild cats that were checking me out. That was weird. I sat on a perfectly white rock that smelled horribly awesome from all the bird terds. I wanted to get this shot pretty quick and get out of there. Who knows what else was around that corner, ya know? I didn’t want to find out. Could have been a raptor skeleton or something.

-Meddock

Subject: Ben Horan
Photo: Josh Letchworth
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Critique section, Page 82

Here is Ben making that walk that I  mentioned in a previous blog.  Everyone knows this sight if you’ve been winching.  I always wonder what they are thinking during that walk.  It’s often times a long one.  So you know they gotta have something going through their heads.  I bet Ben is thinking about chicken tenders from Carter’s right now.

-Josh

Subject: Ben Horan
Photo: Josh Letchworth
TSQ Location: Book 2.2, Critique section, Page 91

This is the winch pond that is adjacent to Ben Horan’s house up in Nahunta, GA.  He has an unspoken agreement with the land owner of the lake that allows him to do his thing.  Ben has got to be one of the most consistent wakeskaters there is.  I would shoot from one angle, get the shot I wanted, and then move to another spot.  I would end with 10 good shots that made it hard to choose from.    It was just him riding this day too, so he hit this rail for two hours straight, even with walking 300 yards back up the lake after each hit.

-Josh