Alley Bar 4 Premiere

Alley Bar 4 is premiering this Tuesday, April 24 at Breadsoda in Washington DC. Get all the details here.

LLoyd Vines Benefit Show

Local skater, Lloyd Vines landed himself in the hospital with a rare form of pancreatitis and has been there for the past three weeks. To help with the mounting medical bills, there will be a benefit show with raffles and giveaways. It's all going down November 25th at the Side Street Cantina at 9PM.

Six Years Of Mostly Skateboarding

Mostly Skateboarding turns six years old today. It started as a way to give my internet wandering purpose. That's pretty much what it still is today. I am so thankful for all the people who look at the site and make comments. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right. Thanks to Kevin Wilkins at The Skateboard Mag for giving me a job. Thanks to Shred or Die for buying footage from me when I lost my job. Thanks to those who have given me product and money. Thanks to my friends who put in work in front of my camera when I decide i want to make a montage.Thanks to my wife for too much to even mention. The biggest thanks goes out to all the skaters, filmers, and websites out there making videos. Without you I wouldn't have anything to post. Thanks to anyone else who has helped it means so much to me.

VX-2000 For Sale $1200

I am selling my video camera because I haven't used it in a long time and I figure someone else can get a lot more use out of it than I can. Everything is listed below. All the Mostly Skateboarding montages where filmed with this camera. there are a few scratches on the camera and lens body, but the glass is perfect and everything with the camera is in fine working order. I had the camera serviced back in 2007 by Video Electronics and have probably only shot three tapes since. I have taken good care of this camera. I have all the original packaging for the Century .3X fisheye. It is a good camera with a lot of life left in it. I'm asking $1200 for it. Listed below is everything included. email me if you are interested. (templeton.elliott (at) gmail.com)


Sony VX-2000
Century .3X Fisheye
NP-F960 Battery
NP-F750 Battery
Bescor Video Light and Battary
1 Sony Premium Tape
1 Dynex Head Cleaner
1 Sony 4-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable
1 Lowepro Phototrekker Classic bag.
Battery Charger (attaches to camera)
Battery Charger (separate)
Remote

Lensbaby Scout Fisheye review

I have been needing a fish-eye lens for my new Canon T2i HDDSLR for a while, so I was stoked when Lensbaby offered to send me their Scout fisheye to review. I had been looking at the verious 8mm fisheyes which provides a 180 degree field of view like the now classic death lens. The Scout is a 12mm lens and not quite as wide with a 160 degree field of view but is a lot cheaper than most fisheyes. As part of Lensbaby’s Optic Swap system, the fisheye optics can be switched out for other optics like pinhole or plastic lens. If you already have a compatible Lensbaby, you can buy the fisheye optic by itself saving around $100. I had been using the GoPro HD hHero for fisheye shots but that has it’s own limitations. Here is an unscientific comparison of the VX-2000 with a century .3X fisyeye, the GoPro, and the Scout.

I was impressed that the Scout was made of metal and has a very solid feel. The vignettes on the edges give images an early 90’s feel. The aperture is changed not with a ring like on other lenses but by switching out aperture disks. This requires you to unscrew the front element and drop the disk in place, a bit cumbersome when you are out in the streets but I doubt most people would need to change disks very often. I had a lot of fun shooting with a fisheye again and the Scout will likely be my go to fisheye for the foreseeable future.

If you are serious about shooting or filming skateboarding then you’ll want a wider, sharper, more expensive lens. If you are taking a more laid back approach and you think you may use other optics in the Lensbaby system then the Scout is worth considering. Below are a few skate shots taken with the Scout.

Williams Farm Update

As the sole street skater (as far as I could tell) at the meeting I still feel pretty good about what Team Pain is going to do at Williams Farm in Virginia Beach. At 20,000 square feet, there is plenty of room for giant vert bowls and fun street stuff. Tim Payne really impressed me as someone who really thinks about every aspect of a park from it's orientation and how the sun will be setting to what materials to use and how everything flows together. Preliminary plans where presented showing a long boomarang type shape creating a lot of space for continuous skating. There will be another design meeting in roughly three weeks where more detailed plans will be presented incorperating the input from this meeting. The main feature discussed was the bowl and snake run. The bowl will be 6, 8, and 11 feet deep, the snake run will go from small to big with hips and corners. The planned opening date is August 2012. Oh, and VB local, Joe Fernandez is working for Team Pain now and might be part of the crew building Williams Farm.

VB Park Meeting Tonight

Don't forget to come out to Diamond Springs Elementary School today from 6-8PM to see what Team Pain has in mind for Virginia Beach's new William's Farm Skatepark.

Team Pain To Build Williams Farm

It looks like Team Pain is the company designing Virginia Beach's new Williams Farm skatepark. Come to the design input meeting on April 7th to make sure they don't build some unskatable vertical monster. I'm really hoping for a small bowl that is more fun that scary.

Chimbo Playground Meeting

I just saw this on, Richmond friend, Tim Lamb's facebook. It looks like there is a meeting at Chimbo Playground regarding Skate Facilities there, this Saturday, March 19th at 9AM in Richmond, VA.

Suffolk Update.

If you planned on skating the new Suffolk park at Bennett's Creek this weekend, you might want to change your plans. According to the sign the park isn't opening until April 2nd. The flat concrete at Lake Meade was being worked on today, and according to the contractor, the concrete will be stable enough to skate on in three to four days but they are probably going to be doing landscaping so I'd expect an April 2nd opening date for that park as well.

Slacking

I know it looks like I've been slacking if you just look at the blog. But I'm constantly posting videos on Twitter and cool images over at Tumblr in addition to what I do here at this blog. The easiest way to keep up with all of this is to "like" Mostly Skateboarding on Facebook where all three feeds are posted as status updates. You can always just look over to the right and see the latest twitter links if Twitter's not your thing.

Lake Meade Progress

I thought the new parks in Suffolk would have been done by now but they are not. I found myself in Suffolk on Saturday so i stopped by The Lake Meade Park to check on the progress. It looks like True Ride is the company doing the work.

Suffolk Park Final Designs

After some process drama, the two new Suffolk skatepark designs are here from Spohn Ranch. Suffolk was working with a small budget and wanted two parks. Originally one was going to be a bowl, but budget and site constraints kept that from happening. Personally I am stoked on these parks. No fences, no monitors or passes. No giant vert walls. Just fun stuff to skate. I'd like to see other cities building more smaller parks instead of one giant park. What do you guys think?

Gear 4 A Year

The guys at Shred Or Die are doing Gear 4 A Year again and are really looking for more East Coast submissions, so all you east coasters should get on it. Also they are giving away one of those GoPro mini HD cameras every day for the next two weeks to the most interesting video uploaded each day, so even if you aren't gnarly you can get some goods.

Mostly Turned Five on Sunday

I always for get MostlySkateboarding's birthday, but I noticed today that the blog turned five years old on Sunday. Thanks to everybody who looks at the blog, makes comments, and especially to everyone who makes skate videos for me to post. Number by Alexander Crispin.

Northside When..?

I stopped by Northside today and it looks like they haven't done much with the park accept put a fence and guard house up and sweep away the gravel. The bank to bank gap still isn't finished so I wonder if there is some drama going on with the park. I've been told the park will open in September, but that could mean the first or last day of September.

No Clip But Clips

No skate clip today, but the Mostly Skateboarding twitter feed is always going off and I started a tumblr blog last week with skate and non-skate stuff I think looks cool.

Northside Progress

Lots of progress is being made at Northside. It all seems a bit tight to me right now, maybe when it's all finished I'll feel differently. It's coming out pretty close to the original plans accept there is a silly hump where a smaller set of stairs and rail was originally planned.

Free Cinder Blocks

Someone in Newport News need to go get these free cinder blocks someone on Craigslist is offering up. They look like the right kind for building ledges. Get those blocks and start building. And when your done or if you need any help with construction, let me know

Skatepark Art Wanted in Norfolk.

The City of Norfolk, Virginia seeks to commission an artist to create artwork for the new skate park.

       Artists are invited to submit qualifications to create a fun, bright, edgy piece that will serve as a signature marker for the park.  The exterior artwork should express to visitors the function and philosophy of the skate park and speak to the skateboarding community.  Skateboarding has served as an outlet for many over several decades and artists are encouraged to explore the history of skateboarding and skateboarding art.  The artwork should help elevate the sport and generate respect for skateboarding. The committee hopes the final art installation will be inspirational, dynamic and powerful as well as represent the people and subculture that will use the park.

Budget:                                            $76,000
Deadline for Submission:                1:00 PM EST, July 14, 2010
Project description to apply:            http://www.norfolk.gov/cultural_affairs/artists_opportunities.asp