William Sharp Book Project / Progress

William Sharp and I are progressing forward. We had to buy a very expensive scanner that would be capable of scanning color slides and B&W negatives. In December, we ordered it and ended up two weeks later with the wrong scanner delivered to us. Back to the drawing board. Reorder. As it went, we had to wait two more weeks and this put us behind a bit. The new scanner is in our hands and working well. The images that are seeing the light of day are nothing short of astonishing. Bill and I are super stoked and the project is becoming really neat. I have completed some work with Jerry Valdez, Dave Ferry, Kent Senatore, Tony Alva, George Orton, Teddi Bennett, Scott Foss, Eddie Elguera and a few others. There are many more to be dealt with. I am letting the principal players tell me what occurred during this awesome time in skateboarding. There are no versions of the truth. The truth is the truth. Tony Alva told me that during the time this image was shot, he was between board companies. ALVA skates wasn’t going yet. He said that he would just cut out solid oak decks and write with magic markers all over them. He called it a “Model T”. Tony went on to talk about Pipeline Skate Park.  ”When we went out to Pipeline, there were some guys really ripping. Salba, Tay Hunt, Dunlap, Schneider, Strople and Wally… they were all riding really well. It was a pretty crazy time.” Bill Sharp and I continue on with the project and when it becomes overwhelming, we tell ourselves that it will be okay. After all, these images have sat unpublished for thirty years. I must do them justice. I will not rush things… I will not bend or break. The skateboarders themselves and the images demand my very best work. Skate- Ozzie