Elijah Berle Week Day 4: Baby Pictures & Cover Talk
Posted March 8, 2012, 3:03 a.m. /
ELIJAH BERLE: THEN AND NOW
Ever wonder what some of your favorite skaters looked like when they were just starting out? Well, with Elijah Berle you don't have to wonder anymore. We hit up Elijah's mom and like all moms she was more than happy to hand over some baby photos of young Elijah. We, of course, refused the naked baby Elijah in the bathtub photos. Thanks anyway, mom.
So for the 4th day of Elijah Berle Week we take a quick look at where Elijah came from and then we marvel at where he's gotten to in such a short amount of time.
COVERS, BABY! COVERS!
There are seasoned skate pro veterans that have gone their entire careers without getting the cover of a magazine. Elijah Berle has managed to get three covers in less than 12 months.
So for our 4th day of Elijah Berle week we’re honored and privileged to have three of the most renowned skate photographers in the business (Atiba Jefferson, Ben Colenand Dave Chami) discuss the cover shots they took of Elijah.
Transworld July, 2011 Am Issue
Shot by Dave Chami
We went to this spot in South SF when Ty was up here with a bunch of the Chocolate dudes, not to skate this rail at all but rather the big blue flat bars that you can grind and transfer into this bank and drop off. It got dark and we called it a day. The next day I was moving houses all day and then that night I called Ty to ask what we were going to do the next day and he was like, “Oh, we went back to that school and Elijah grinded that handrail.” I was like, “No fucking way!” I think someone had tried to grind it, maybe Bob Burnquist had tried to grind it backside years ago. I don’t know if they changed the school but now it’s almost impossible to do because you have to skate at it on a 90-degree angle because of the building that’s behind it, by the runway. I was like, “Let’s go back and shoot the photo.” Elijah was into it but then he got hurt. He stayed in SF with some of his friends for like a week longer and I just waited until he was good enough to go back and we went back with him and a couple of his buddies and got him to do it again. He did it really quickly. He would carve in—that’s the craziest thing about it, the way you have to carve in and then you have to ollie beside it. But once he gets on he just rides down it no problem.
I knew there was an AM issue coming up and that could be a really good cover for it and he had a bunch of photos so he was probably going to have a little interview in there anyway. But it was kind of nerve-wracking because he had already done it and he didn’t really care that much. I was the one that cared about it. I was like, “Is he going to do it? Is he going to be alright? Is this going to suck making him do it again?” But it ended up being super mellow.
I had never even thought about anyone grinding that rail, to be honest. It doesn’t seem possible. When they told me he did it, it was insane to me. I couldn’t believe he’d done it. And the best part is that he wouldn’t have even cared if he had gotten a photo of it or not, to be honest. It’s not like he was, “Ty, I can’t do this without a photographer here.” And then it ends up being a cover.
Skateboarder Magazine 2011 Interview Issue
Shot by Ben Colen
Elijah's cover is shot at the same ditch as the bank to ledge spot that Guy [Mariano] starts his Fully Flared part. We were at the bank to ledge part first, I think AVE was skating that part, and while we were there, Elijah started fucking with the bank to wall. It was really gnarly; he had to start way down the ditch by rolling down the big part to get speed. It took a while but I think mostly because he had to start so far away. I don't think it really took him that many tries. I definitely didn't think it would be a cover at the time. I had to shoot available light because he was just going for it and I didn't have time to set up flashes. I was definitely psyched when Jaime [Owens] hit me up and told me they wanted to use it for one. Thanks, Elijah.
The Skateboard Mag, April 2012 Year’s Best Am Issue
Shot by Atiba Jefferson
It was a funny situation like, “What are we going to do for this cover?” It’s always a pressure cooker situation because you don’t want to tell them they’re going to get a cover, it’s supposed to be a secret but you’re supposed to get something gnarly. The thing with Elijah is even a lot of his really good stuff is sequences, as much as I don’t consider him a tech skater. This was just one of those things, we went there without this being the idea for the cover and I just shot it. I think the trick is great and he had done the trick before and wanted to go back and shoot it. To me, I thought it was the perfect fit. Not necessarily when I was shooting it but when I got home and looked at it thought it would be a rad cover. I liked it because it was something different and not predictable. It’s funny because I saw Jason Dill recently and he was like, “See! I paved the way to make it cool to do nosegrind tailgrab covers.”
I think it was cool just because San Pedro is going to be closed down for construction for some time, like a year, so any coverage we can give that place I’m always down. And I love watching Elijah skate this place. He’s amazing. I think the coolest thing about watching Elijah skate in general is that you can tell he’s still young and learning things. He’s an animal and just charges. He takes the gnarliest slams and gets back up. It’s cool to see the ADD at Pedro, he’ll be like, “I’m gonna go skate this. No this. No this!” He’s just cruising all around. He’s always pushing himself in a park like that to skate everything.
When it came down to picking Year’s Best Am I was like, “Dude! It’s a no brainer.” There are certain years where there are arguments but I felt this year was clearly Elijah’s year. You saw the other covers, you saw the other coverage and the big thing for me, when I vote, I’ll vote for someone from skating with them. If you skate with someone enough and see how hard they’re skating, see what they’re filming, I mean, he’s working on this Chocolate part, yeah, he hasn’t had a part and everyone is waiting but I know how good his part is going to be from watching him film it. This dude is clearly going to be the shit! And when people see the part they’ll completely agree.
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