Southern Cross has had a bit of a ropey history when it comes to skateparks. I heard stories of the unpopular skatepark plotted behind the police station and I was witness to the, hap hazard construction of the old one, with its metal pre-fab construction at the side of the basketball. The two efforts couldn't have been more of a deterrent to taking up a new hobby.
I managed to find some photos of the old setup.
More recently though, everything changed. The Shire of Yilgarn, brought in the experts at Skate Sculpture to consult and design the next big thing in Southern Cross. With a bit of feedback from the local school kids, they went and built a brand concrete skatepark at the park.
Even though the skatepark has been open and finished for sometime now, they've only recently added turfing on the edges and really finished the job. I was tasked to take a handful of photos before the grand opening.
Saturday 3rd December was the grand opening. I've taken photos of sports before. Though it was more event photography, taking photos of skaters and bmxer on a skate park was new for me. On the plus side it was a lot less tiring having to circle an AFL oval.
Now, my photos started off with landscape and travel photography, I've always enjoyed telling a story with my photos. I've started exploring into people photography and enjoyed sports like cycling and AFL. and even events. This one was different, skaters don't necessarily want to be the focus. Any tricks need to be part of any equipment that made the trick as well as scale. So, if its a photo of a jump, then the whole ramp and sufficient background of the park is needed. It was a challenge, and certainly meant the telephoto zoom didn't get much use.
Here are some photos I like from the day, not all of them though ;)
