I just tell people to persevere and don’t take no for an answer and just keep doin’ it….never give up!
Grant Brittain started shooting in the early 80’s when he worked at Del Mar Skate Ranch near San Diego. He’s captured some of the most iconic skateboarding photos of all time by adding an artistic touch to some raw skateboarding style. When you get a chance, take a look at his work and see for yourself some of the biggest names in skateboarding when they were in the prime of their careers. He is also one of the founders of http://theskateboardmag.com . A magazine that remains true to skateboarding roots. Recently, Skateboarding Japan had a chat with Grant at the Yokohama Greenroom Festival ’14 where he hosted a photography exhibition.
SJ: What brought you to Japan the first time?
GB: Well, I came in 1988. We came over for a trade show with Tracker Trucks. Yeah, and a bunch of people came over. Tracker Larry and Tracker Peggy and Lester Kasai and Peirre Andre and then they left after a week and we travelled around Japan for about three weeks after that….so, I was here for a month. Then I came over in 1989 when they did the big pro contest. The Lotte Classic or whatever it was and Nishi, (Devil Man) set that whole thing up.
SJ: Describe your feeling when you got your first shot in a magazine.
GB: Well, I had had before Transworld existed and before Thrasher existed, I had a little ad, a little Z Flex ad of the Stillmaski brothers in I think Action Now in the back, but it was like that big. And then, when Thrasher started up, I would give them photos now and again. I lived in San Diego in Cardiff near Del Mar and Del Mar Skate Ranch had just opened pretty much and I started to give to Thrasher in 1980….1981. I gave them some photos when they needed something from down south, they would call me because they were up in San Francisco.
SJ: What was your most memorable shoot?
GB: I’ve had a few. The Chin Ramp, of course was pretty amazing. The ramp was only up for a week. They built it fully on the sly. They didn’t have any permits or anything. The city showed up right before they were gonna start filming and tried to shut it down. I think a guy from a government group for the environment showed up and there was a rare snail that was in that zone. And they were saying, “Who gave you permission to build this?” And they tried to get it torn down, but they couldn’t work fast enough! Stacy Peralta just banged it out in a few days and we got all the footage. Back then, they would split up with Powell when they were filming Animal Chin. Some of it was with me and some of it with Thrasher, so Mofo shot some of it. I think he shot the motel section of that and the Wallows in Hawaii section and I got the Chin Ramp.
SJ: That’s amazing…snails!?
GB: Yeah I was pretty stoked, but yeah, a rare snail almost cancelled getting the Chin footage done!
SJ: What advice can you give someone who maybe one day wants to become a professional skateboarder or a professional skateboard photographer?
GB: What I always tell kids is just never give up. Follow your heart and do what you want to do. When I started, there was no job as a skateboard photographer, it was just something I got into because I skated and I was hanging out at Del Mar…working at Del Mar and I was shooting my friends and it was just something….I didn’t have anything else to do, so I became good at it. In the early 80’s, there were only four photographers. Now there’s thousands…hundreds of thousands probably. So I just tell people to persevere and don’t take no for an answer and just keep doin’ it….never give up!
SJ: Grant, can I just ask you, what was your inspiration behind this Rodney Mullen print?
GB: Well, this is at a contest at Del Mar and they were trying to make freestyle look really good and everybody was shooting from the other side. Then I started noticing right before the sun was going down these long shadows so I just focused on these long shadows and I told Rodney, “Hey, can you do a few tricks right there?” I have other tricks that he did, but this one just looked cool and it’s become a pretty iconic image. I just wanted to do something different. Usually you shoot with the sun behind you to get perfect lighting and this is perfect lighting, but kinda breaking the rules.
SJ: Yeah, but rules are made to be broken, right?
GB: Yeah, but you’ve gotta learn the rules first!
SJ: Grant, just one more question. Where can our viewers buy your prints?
GB: I sell them online at jgrantbrittainphotos.com or you can go to my website, jgrantbrittain.com and it has a link to my online store. Or come to a show! Come to Yokohama and buy one. Today…last day! At 9:00 tonight, half price! You can follow the links below and get your own J. Grant Britain photos: http://www.jgrantbrittain.com http://www.jgrantbrittainphotos.com http://theskateboardmag.com
Skateboarding Japan 