Issue 1
Contents Archive
A few forgotten about photos from the past and what it took to get them.
Portfolio
Nate Roline Sarah Molder Ian Twa
A mini photo portfolio of three amazing skateboarders.
Captioned Scott Bakwill Morgan Smith Scotty and Morgan both gave their side of things by writing the captions for photos we’ve shot in the past.
Contact Sheet Photo Gallery
More skateboarding photos from the archives.
TJ Rogers, Backside Smithgrind.
Photography All images in this issue shot by Owen Woytowich Contributing Writers Scott Balkwill, Morgan Smith Contact owen@atgroundmag.com
Kevin Lowry, Crooked Grind.
Introduction In keeping with the old adage “a picture says a thousand words’, I present to you the first issue of Flatground Mag. I can say from experience that whenever a photo is shot, there are much more than a thousand words that can be said about it. It’s more than a trick done at a spot. For me, each photo tells of a great, or sometimes not so great experience. But it’s that experience that really makes the photo for me. Regardless of who shot it, I know that the subject and the photographer have a great story to tell about how they got it and I love peering into each photo like I’m reading a visual novel. The problem however, is photos which are shot are meant to be seen and enjoyed. Sadly with only so much space available in print publications, only so many ever get shared. So at the risk of silencing these millions of thousand-word-stories, I decided to dig into my archves, past and present, and allow some of them to be seen. Although social media has made provisions for this in some ways, there’s just something special about seeing an image everyone worked hard on in a magazine—even if it’s a digital one… For myself, this has been a great jog down memory lane. For those who were kind enough to allow me to point a camera in their direction, I hope you enjoy them too. And for the rest of you who may be seeing them for the first time, I thank you for your interest and your support, and hope you enjoy them as well. - Owen Woytowich
Cover Photo: Jason Gordon, Kickflip.
Taylor Senft, Backside Tailslide.
Dan Arget, Ollie.
“I remember this day being so much fun. All the Windsor Hut boys were out filming for the ECW vs. NWO video. In the process we met up with Dan Arget, AKA ‘Gnarget’. We also ran into about 10,000 baked protesters marching through downtown Toronto on International Marijuana Day, as well as a George W. Bush motorcade. But anyways, Dan was on a mission to huck, and this uphill runway where he had to cut around a corner right before snapping his ollie was the choice. It didn’t take him long to nail it and I remember when he rode away it was into a sea of homies and a massive cloud of smoke—one of the happiest sessions I’ve ever been on.” —O.W.
Devin Komarninski, Nollie.
“This photo was shot about twelve years ago in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The guy in the photo is Devin Komarninski. I always remember Devo being one of the gnarliest guys I’d ever seen. His skating was so well rounded and he wasn’t scared of trying anything. This particular spot wasn’t a spot at all, really. It was an eight-foot flat spot into a two-foot wide steep bank...with no landing. To me the sketchy homemade landing is what made this so crazy. He was going so fast that as soon as his wheels would touch that plywood mess it’d slip out like ice, throwing him face first into a busy intersection. Like I said, Devo is gnarly!” —O.W.
Kevin Lowry, Crooked Grind. “The tricky thing about this particular rail is that the roof over head lies really low and has a history of clipping hands and even heads. To remedy the problem we simply took the wood off of it, which left more headroom. We ended up tossing it outside in a snow bank until we were done. Despite being covered in snow from outside, we put it back on, and both of us figured an indoor rail with snow on it was unique enough to merit a photo, so Kevin hopped on this crook for one. Now that the question of ‘where’d the snow on the indoor rail come from?’ is answered, the next ‘wher question is ‘where’d the wood banister go now...’” —O.W.
Beaster, King St. Skitching.
“Skitching cars and trains in downtown Toronto with the Windsor Hut boys will always be some of my favorite memories. Cruising the streets with the best of homies is what skateboarding is about to me.”—O.W.
N
Nate Roline
Tailslide Hardip.
I’ve known Nate for a long time now and have always been amazed at how insane he is on a skateboard.. Smooth, effortless style that is a pleasure to watch everytime. Although it’s been a little while since I’ve seen him in person, Nate keeps me ever entertained with the most hilarious cameos on Timmy Oberg’s Snapchats. Can’t wait to see you again soon, bud!
Backside Tailslide.
Backside Kickip Switch Manual.
Crooked Grind Nollie Frontside Flip.
Sarah Molder
r
I remember remembe the ďŹ rst time I shot photos with Sarah years ago: Her mom actually drove her almost three hours from Regina to Saskatoon just so we could hit up some street spots. I remember her being this timid little thing armed with her board and her helmet. It didn’t take long for her to shake her nervousness by shredding all the spots I took her to. Fast forwarding a few years, Sarah has grown up a ton and her skating followed suit. She still rips better than most of the guys, and I’m stoked to say that Sarah is one of my all time favorite skaters. Keep killing it Sarah!
Smithgrind
Frontside 180
Frontside 180
Switch Boardslide 270
Backside Smithgrind
I met Ian on this trip to New York City a few years ago. I had a pretty good idea of how talented he was at skating from tale videos and magazines, but seeing him skate in person was a big eye opener into how rad he actually is. And trust me, he’s really rad! Watching someone who has that ‘East Coast style’ skate classic East Coast terrain made this trip one of my favorite ones that I’ve been on. Thanks Ian!
East River Board Rescue
Backside HeelямВip
Nollie Backside Kickip
Scott Balkwil
Captioned
ll
“I had returned from a long skate trip to Regina, Saskatchewan and had planned on doing nothing but eating and sleeping. The minute I arrived back home I received a call from Owen asking if I wanted to shoot the back smith I had been talking about. I reluctantly agreed to further punishment after a full day of skating. After only a few brutal failures things came together and I was already heading back home to collapse into bed. One of my favorite things about skating is totally total exhausting myself and the rewarding rest that follows.” —Backside Smithgrind, Gap Out
“To get to this spot we drove 150 km to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Upon our arrival we were greeted at the spot by security and a knobbed handrail. I immediately began trying to reason with security and his response was empty. He just turned around and went back into the school. After this confusing interaction we proceeded to skate the handrail by just gaping over the knobs. To this day I’m still not sure why the security guard surrendered so easily or why the knobs are located so high on the rail.” —Gap Back Lip
“This was a rough day. I threw my carcass down this thing for over an hour before landing it. Drops, gaps and sets just aren’t my thing. I don’t understand how people can skate them. Props to all those who can.”—Backside 180
“This spot had been on my mind for a while before shooting this. When the time final everything came together perfectly. Sheets of plywood in the parking lot for extra ru kept security from coming around, and Dan Watson was there to film it on his fancy thing that didn’t help the situation was a drunken passer by who decided to take it u his insights on skateboarding. It’s always a sure sign that your in for a treat if someo conversation with, “yea, I used to skate...” —Boardslide
lly came to skate it, un in, renovations new camera. The only upon himself to share one starts the
“This spot is located in the core of an industrial district, the type of place I would expect to get hassled by workers. Half way through this session, an employee came out to see what all the noise was. After realizing what we were doing, he gave me a nod and told me to enjoy myself.” —Tailslide
“This spot is in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and is well known as being the rail that Trent Young feebled a number of years ago. Since then Jamie Tancowny did a 50-50 pull in and I did this front smith. Fucking hyped to say that I have a shot on the same rail that both Jamie and Trent have tricks on ...both those dudes fucking kill it.” —Smithgrind
“Skate missions are always more productive when there’s a hype man on the scene and DaBeav was the designated hype man during this weekend. Whether its putting bets on a land, shooting shit like li a bauwss, or making runs to the liquor store, DaBeav had it covered. It was also nice to have a homie sponsor me a couple beers after finding out the hard way (twice) that this rail was sackable.” sa —Lipslide
“This photo was shot at 3:00 am in downtown Calgary. Leading up to this photo we had been skating downtown and consistently running into drunks. Trying to block out drunk assholes is a pain, but its worth the hassel to go on night missions with the boizers.” —Bluntslide
“This was another occasion when I went to a spot twice, once for a photo and again for the footage. Both times were sketchy because of a high likelihood of getting caught and it didn’t help that my university’s files name was already on the uni for multiple skate offenses. Fortunately for us this time we didn’t run into any security. Other times we’ve managed to outrun them, but this occasion would have been far more diff icult, because running with flashes is usually a loosing race.” —5050
“Days before this photo was shot I prepared the spot by sanding it with a rub brick, covering it in clear coat, and caking on wax. With the ledge facing a busy street in downtown Saskatoon, I’m hyped I didn’t get caught. After that first successful night mission, I have gone to do several others. Looking back on it now, my only regret is se that I didn’t start when I was younger. Half the enjoyment of skateboarding comes from skating risky spots at night and the prep work that goes into them.” —Boardslide
“This photo was taken on a day trip to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. By the time this photo was taken, things were winding down and everyone was just chill’n. Goofing around and being a real dummy led up to me bonking this handrail. Moments like this are the best. No plans, no concepts, no hard work. Just a couple the boys acting like dummies.” —5-0
“At a spot like this I would normally try and spend some time warming up to the rail, but during this particular occasion the trick went down first try within minutes of arriving. Owen hadn’t even got his camera out yet so I had to do it again for the photo. Since then I’ve acted pretty casual about how it all went down, but in reality when I first landed it, I was actually attempting to 180 over the rail. I just couldn’t get the right angle to get over so I changed my mind mid air. Accidental boardslides, the best kind.” —Gap Boardslide
“I can honestly say that out of all the photo’s I’ve ever gotten, this ones my favorite. It required skating through traffic, an afternoon of attempts, and avoiding the city workers filling in the spot. When I finally landed it, the police showed up and we all suffered simultaneous cases of stupidity claiming that we were totally unaware of the laws against skateboarding downtown.” —Backside Lipslide
Morgan Smit Captioned
th
“This was our first night in Portland. It was raining so our loc on cool manny spots, and I think our whole crew was too, so have shitty ones, so I'm always hyped if I get one half de
cal tour guide showed us this covered spot. I'm always stoked we lit this thing up and seshed it. I love frontside flips, but I ecent on film.” —Frontside Flip Manny, Backside 180
“Back tail fakie at a ledge spot in Oakland. I remember having high hopes for this spot and thinking, ‘Oh it's a ledge spot, maybe I can get something cool without having to toss my haggard body down something.’ But nope, just another old faithful back tail. I remember the ground being kinda crazy and the ledge being super rounded. How's that for excuses! Ha-ha.” —Backside Tailslide, Fakie
“This was at a DIY tranny park under a bridge in Portland I'm pretty sure. I remember I just wanted to get in there. I didn't want to not skate the park at all so I needed to step up my tranny game. This was basically the mellowest quarter pipe in there, but I still felt hesh.” —Front Crook Fakie
“I believe this spot was in Oakland as well. It was a pretty fun little manny man spot. I would like to go back here and do something else. I think we got kicked out quick or something.” —Nose Manny Nollie Tre Flip
“Kick crooks at a ledge spot in Sacremento? I remember these being really fun. Just some good no bust ledges, pretty much my favourite situation, my natural habitat. I don't even remember this homie lurking in the dumpster—gotta do what you gotta do, I guess?” —Kickflip Crooked Grind
“Wow....this is rare; Josh Clark and I shredding some Vancouver spots. You don't see that everyday, or ever. Looks like we are repping DC pretty hard here too ha-ha. I think we just both ollied into this bank once and decided we didn't want to skate it and left ha-ha.” —Ollie.
“Hmmm, no idea where this was, somewhere on the upper West coast of the US. I remember the photo I took of Owen here —he looked like a sasquatch lurking in the bushes.”
“This was that same ledge spot in Oakland. It looks like I'm getting suspect doing a front nose holding my sweater. What a kook.” —Frontside Noseslide
“That same manny spot in Oakland, and then manny trick. Like I sa —Kickflip, Nose M
, pretty fun to do a trick up the curb aid, I would like to go back here.� Manual Nollieflip
“This was in Vancouver. It was a really new spot at the time, we may have even waxed it up this day da and skated it. I remember this became kind of a hot spot and I'm pretty sure someone did this trick tri and plenty of better shit. I did this kinda shitty, but I remember being stoked.” —Backtside Tailslide Kickflip
“I really like this photo, stoked on it. Front crook at those same ledges in Sacremento.” —Frontside Crooked Grind
“Fuck this thing. Fatty to flatty from hell in Portland. Tried to nollie flip it...Baker makers all over the place.” —Nollie Kickflip
“That same manny pad from our the spot is easy to skate if I can —Switch Backside K
first night in Portland. You know n get two sequences on it Ha-ha� Kickflip Manual 180
Cont
tact Sheet
Mike Vince, Switch Lipslide.
Spencer Hamilton, Bigspin Flip.
Garrett McNevin, Lipslide.
Hill Sulpher, Backside Lipslide.
Cory Lakeman, Gap Noseblunt.
Nelson Berlin, Lazerip.
Antoine Asselin, Kickip.
Mike McKinlay, Backside Smithgrind.
Brandon Del Bianco, Gap Switch Crooked Grind.
Steven Loutitt, Backside Tailslide.
Mike Campbell, Heelip.
Danny Brady, Gap Backside Lipslide.
Packy, Smithgrind.
Dustin Crowder, Frontside Bluntslide.
Justin Schwan, 360 Flip.
Mikey Plantus, Polejam Noseblunt.
DMODW, Frontside Feeble.
Jordan Kneiss, Noseblunt.
Adam Mancini, Gap Backside 180 Nosegrind.
Noah Tynes, Switch Noseslide.
Ben Struthers, Switch Bigspin.
Jamie Tancowny, Nosegrind.
Skylar Heyr, Tucknee.
Paul Lilliani, Kickip Nose Manual Nollie Halfcab Flip.