Cover Stories: Jeff Z’s 10 Favorite Cover photos

Jeff Z.

• April 08 2009
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Cover Stories

With seven years under my belt as a staff photographer for Ride, and close to 40 covers, I definitely have a few favorites. Here are my ten favorite cover photos that I’ve shot, (in no particular order) and some thoughts and/or stories about them. 

February 2003, Issue 81
Justin Inman, fufanu, Portland, Oregon

This was first trip to Portland and subsequently, my first time at Burnside, too. We did the usual wake up before the local skaters thing, and when we got there I remember being really surprised at how small of an area the spot was actually in. I was also pretty overwhelmed by how well the locals rode it. So I sat down most of the time and just watched the likes of Twin Fin, Jon Bristol, Little Jeff, and Justin Inman shred the place. I had also noticed a fence out of an 8” quarter that Justin did a fufanu on in the first Fit video. It was filmed with a fisheye from the deck and I remember being blowin’ away when I saw how much bigger it looked in person. When Justin showed up that morning, I boldly said something like…“That fufanu is amazing, I doubt you’d ever want to do it again, but I’d love to shoot it, I promise you’ll only have to give it one go and I’ll get it.” He told me he’d “think about it.” Later that night, Justin called the house I was staying and said we should go back to Burnside the following morning and he would see how he felt. He must’ve felt pretty good because he nailed it on his second try. And you can only imagine how psyched I was when I got the film back and realized I didn’t just put my foot in my mouth. 

August 2003, Issue 87
Corey Martinez, wallride, Los Angeles, California

In the summer of 2003, I flew to New Jersey with a very ambitious plan—a two-week trip across the country with Bob Scerbo, Brian Wizmerski, Josh Stricker, and Corey Martinez to shoot interviews with all of them. By the time our stint in California was over, the only interview that wasn’t entirely shot was Wiz’s. Corey did this wallride in downtown Los Angeles at the end of the trip. It was near dusk when we shot it, and I remember when Bob, Wiz, and Corey saw the photo after I got it back, one of them said something about me “turning day into night.” I explained to them that a maximum flash sync and a decent aperture at dusk would give you that result and then they laughed at my technical photography jargon. This cover was basically the closer of that trip for me, so aside from just being really psyched on the trick and the angle, this cover reminds me of the trip and all the fun we had. 

October 2005, Issue 113
Vinnie Sammon, over x-up grind, Moorpark, California

I’m always psyched when there’s a vantage point to shoot street stuff from a “bird’s eye view”, for Vinnie’s over x-up grind it seemed like the perfect perspective to show exactly what was going on. He’s in an x-up, hovering over the rail, with his lean on—even without the tiny cover caption, one might guess it was an over-grind. The slightly high perspective also helped make for a clean background with plenty of space for text. Although, the diagonal lines of the steps were a headache for our art director when trying to place cover lines, so he had to add those blotches behind the text so it would be easy enough to read. This was also the last time the color pink was used in the logo of a Ride cover. 

February 2006, Issue 117
Terry Adams, Katrina, Los Angeles, California

This was the first time flatland was featured on a Ride cover since issue No. 38, when Ruben Castillo had a split cover with Ruben Alcantara on the February/March 1999 issue. This was also the first cover I shot with my Hasselblad—once you shoot a cover with a $3,500 camera, you finally begin to feel like you’re making back your investment. Cover history and camera specs aside, I’m just really happy with this photo in general, the colors pop and the trick is totally nuts. Terry called this move Katrina, after the hurricane that ravaged New Orleans. 

May 2006, Issue 120
Gary Young, downside footplant, Los Angeles, California

I had seen this tiny billboard in L.A. for a while and I always thought it would be cool to paint a logo on it and shoot a cover. The billboard was in an inconspicuous spot, didn’t appear to really be in use, and not too high off the ground. Opportunity knocked when we were planning the first official Ride photo issue. We really wanted a unique photo-driven cover, so I planned to give the billboard idea a go. The spot was a few blocks from Jim Bauer’s house and we had talked about the idea together on numerous occasions, so he was in charge of actually making the logo. We decided that it would be best not to actually paint the billboard itself, and attach something to it instead. Jim painted our low-impact cover logo on to three panels of wood and then screwed them onto the billboard with a drill gun. Then we recruited Gary Young for the stunts and we had a winning combination. Jim and Gary manicured the lip a little, Gary did a few downside footplants, and then we unscrewed the logo and left the lip intact so people would see it and wonder, “Why in the world is this here?”

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