TBT: Louis Pilloni and Levi Hawken in San Diego

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For this #TBT, I’m throwing it back to last year when I traveled to California to meet up with Sector 9 Skateboards for the their Boonies to the Bay road trip and I cruised back to San Diego with them, crashing at the ol’ pad with A.J. Haiby and Jacko. Louis Pilloni took me out to a sweet spot in the area with no car traffic and a gate. Levi Hawken from New Zealand was also in town, but still sore from a bad crash at the start of the Boonies to the Bay trip. He still managed to put in his all and I got a few shots of him in addition to Louis.

I wanted a photo of Louis Pilloni because the Magazine was doing a Day Job feature on him and his work with Sector 9 and R.A.D. Wheels, but I also saved one photo for the 2016 Photo Annual. Grab a copy to see the full page photo of Louis if you haven’t already. Here are some other photos from the session.

It’s always nice to have a spot that is closed to traffic. This particular spot was a privilege to go to as it was a gated community we had access to. When you have that opportunity, you treat the place with respect and you don’t bring too many people out there. Louis and Levi know the deal.

It was a pretty hazy day in SoCal and I shot Louis through a telephoto lens for my first few shots. Without any editing they were coming out with really drab colors and low contrast. I decided to boost the contrast and convert to black and white in the editing process and the photos turned out alright.

I decided the photos would turn out better if I got closer to the subjects. I put on a wider lens as the sun crept closer to the horizon.

Around this point in the sesh, I was shooting the photo that was selected for the Photo Annual. It was at the peak of the beautiful sunset lighting and Louis pulled a long stalefish grab as he slid for the dropping right.

Cheers to great spots. Keep them protected and do your best to avoid blowing them out. Big thanks to Louis Pilloni for showing Levi Hawken and I a proper spot for a sesh.

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