Dave Mirra

I worked at DC Shoes for about 7 years, and a lot of that time was spent hanging out with the athletes and shooting photos. Dave Mirra is one of those guys that has a talent for 2 wheels and he does things on a bike that I would never think of trying- in fact I barely understand half of what he does. I've stayed at his house and witnessed some pretty mind blowing things he would do on his heavy-as-bricks bmx bike. I've also seen him slam so hard on the ramp, that the platform we stood on would shake under my feet. He would often just dust himself off and climb back up the ramp to try it again. He didn't always walk away from it though, and he's got a list of injuries to show for some of it, including breaking the ball end of his arm off at the shoulder. When it came down to shoot him with some of his X-Games medals, I could only think of some sort of Mark Spitz rip off shot in the studio. Halfway through the shoot, I had him grab it with a fist and shove it in the camera lens. I think it captures his personality and style a bit better. We used it in all sorts of advertising including Rolling Stones magazine. We had a few beers together in those days.