Red Bull #Unlocked - Library Gardens

Red Bull Unlocked kicked off in SA last year with an event at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. The 'unlocked' part of the name is what makes the competition so cool. Skaters often get a bad wrap and are never allowed access to landmarks, which is a pity because most places are nothing more than huge playgrounds if you're even at least just partly talented with a deck. 

This edition of #Unlocked saw a bunch of SA's most talented skateboarders descend on Jo'burg's Library Gardens. As Red Bull tell us on their site: "Every city has their iconic spots where the local skateboarders meet up and roll together. Barcelona has MACBA and Parallel, London has South Bank, Philadelphia has Love Park and San Francisco had EMB and Pier 7. In Johannesburg that spot is Library Gardens."  That's the old name for the place though; it's been officially changed to be more politically correct and is now known as Beyers Naude Square. "LBGs is one of the city’s few public spaces and has been since the Public Library’s creation way back in 1935. The square is situated in the centre of downtown JHB and is often referred to as the ‘Heart of the City’" according to the site.                     

Skaters were ripping up the course to compete for some pretty serious prize money. 1st prize was a cool R10,000, 2nd was R5,000 and 3rd prize was R3,000. Not bad going at all! I arrived at around 13:00 and got to see the last heats and the finals followed by the Best Trick comp. There were 100 skaters entered and when the course was open it was pretty chaotic, but these guys are used to it, everything flowed great. During the heats I missioned around to find some cool angles to get pics from, I think it worked out pretty well, I'm stoked with the shots I got. It's been a while since I shot an event like this. It made me miss my skating days. Good times. 

Moses Adams took first spot, Dlamini Dlamini took second and Khule Ngubane placed third. Big up to Red Bull, Vans and Skull Candy for a wicked event. I definitely want to do more events like this. If you're doing something similar and need a photographer, hit me up, I’m keen.  There's a selection of pics below, but the full gallery is available on Facebook.