Bande à part
We take a look back at some iconic shots by photographer Hugh Holland. Originally from Oklahoma, he has been living in California for a few years when he decides to seriously give himself up to his favorite hobby, photography. He sets up his own dark room at home and begins to photograph everything that comes into sight. Little by little he sharpens his eye. What attract him are shapes and figures. The year 1975 arrives, a blazing heat crosses California and with it a massive drought. Many swimming pools are drained either by evaporation or by their ecologically-minded owner. It’s a godsend for a whole generation of embryonic skateboarders who finds there a new playground available for trespassing. The invention of urethane wheels starts this revolution in motion; a small counter-culture movement arises. Among them, of course, are the famous Lords of Dogtown and the Z-Boys, immortalized in cinema by Catherine Hardwicke, in 2005.
Hugh Holland is then driving on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, a main artery in Los Angeles, when for the first time he notices these kids on a skateboard, carving up the concrete ditches intended for soil drainage, along the side of the road. It’s obvious; he has found his new work subject. For three years, he will follow these “outsiders” on a daily basis and will be the privileged witness of this youth both fiery and innocent in search of freedom and new sensations. Little by little, he is accepted, blends into the landscape and masterfully transcribes the beauty and grace of the style of each of these budding athletes, sacrificing nothing to the energy of the burgeoning movement at the root of skateboarding culture. Of undoubted historical value, his photographs were paradoxically only discovered many years later, in the early 2000s, when they would finally be exhibited in many museums around the world.
Here so, a glimpse of his early black and white shots, which announce his later color photographs, grouped together in the now legendary book, Locals Only. This black and white series is by the bye part of a new publication, Silver Skate 70's, published by Chronicle Books in 2019.
© Hugh Holland
SOLO AT KENTER, KENTER CANYON ELEMENTARY, LOS ANGELES, CA, 1976
© Hugh Holland
SILVER SKATER, DEL MAR RACETRACK, SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA, 1975
© Hugh Holland
DAY PIER, HUNTINGTON BEACH, CA, 1975
© Hugh Holland
SANTA CRUZ PERFORMANCE, SANTA CRUZ, CA, 1976
© Hugh Holland
DOWN ON THE STREET, HOLLYWOOD HILLS, CA, 1975
© Hugh Holland
NINTH AVENUE LOCALS, SAN FRANCISCO, CA, 1977
© Hugh Holland
BEGINNER, VIPER BOWL, HOLLYWOOD, CA, 1976
© Hugh Holland
HAPPY HOLLOW CONGREGATION, HOLLYWOOD HILLS, CA, 1976
© Hugh Holland
LAID BACK ON MOUNT OLYMPUS, HOLLYWOOD HILLS, CA, 1975