Portraits on film
A Melbourne Flatland BMX social media post was put up by a friend literally the day before this event. I’m sure there were more posts within the flatland community but it was this one that caught my attention. With nothing in the calendar, and assuming my wife & daughter wouldn’t mind a trip into the city, we headed in to see what it was all about.
As you may have seen, I’ve been shooting BMX for a bloody long time but flatland isn’t something I’ve photographed a lot. Mostly because I’m not ‘in the scene’ like I am (was) with freestyle or even race BMX but given the opportunity, I’ll jump at the chance.
This discipline is beautiful. The time and dedication it takes is wild. There’s no shortcuts, either. It’s a case of you either spend the countless hours mastering the tricks, or you don’t do the tricks. There’s no foam pit, then resi, then real ramp progression. Just hours of failures then a rare glint of success and any doubt is forgotten until you have the trick down.
The guys and girls you see effortlessly floating between move, they’re the ones who’ve dedicated their spare hours, and probably some of their not-so-spare hours fine tuning every ounce of the dance they’re performing. It’s really a magical thing to watch.
Anyway, interrupting their runs and talking shit with a bunch of the crew, a few were kind enough to sit for a quick portrait on Ilford FP4+.
Thank you kind friends!
Please note: all photographs are subject to copyright.
If you’d like to save and share one on your personal socials, please don’t hesitate, but if you could mention @gorakphoto (Instagram) or just my website anywhere else, that’d be awesome.
For any prints or commercial uses, please reach out to me first.
