If you’ve been skating around the West LA scene for awhile, you’ve no doubt passed by Taylor Fitz-Gibbon at one point or another, regardless of whether you know him or not… You’d recognize Taylor, if not by the beanies and hats he manages to wear in 100 degree weather, by his massive backpack he is always rolling to the skate spots with, as well as his wooden tripod that, oddly, looks as if it were crafted somewhere around the Civil War era. Well my friends, within that enormous bag he lugs around rests a camera that I truly wouldn’t know what the hell to do with; but Taylor sure as hell does.
Everyone knows one of the biggest necessities for a good skate spot is a good flatground area. Paul Revere has no shortage. Here Taylor catches Christian Schulz from the Paul Revere gym rooftop as he flicks one of his ever steezy 360 flips.
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Throw his photos down on a table with the likes of the top skate photographers, Atiba, O’meally, hell even throw Grant Brittain in there (yes, bold statement, I know), and when you pass over Taylor’s photos you wouldn’t see the tiniest dip in quality in contrast to the rest. He’s possesses a natural eye for skate photography that you’re either born with or without, and that eye produces some damn fucking good work. So let’s get some background info on our droog here:
Taylor likes this photo since it "reminds him of a piece of paper"... I'm guessing because of the lines... either way who cares it's a sick fucking photo! Max Schwartz skims across a school bench down in the Valley...
I don’t use the word “droog” lightly, but Taylor gets the credit here today since the bastard actually WAS born in England… Newcastle to be exact. Granted he didn’t reside there long before moving to Los Angeles, but hey, he’s most likely way more British than you are so shut up! After I sent him an email regarding this artist watch on him and pried him for some info, he humbly gave out his mini bio, followed by him explaining how he “feels like a cock for talking about himself” hah. But I wouldn’t expect anything less from Taylor, he’s a solid down to earth guy, and talking about yourself always gets them types put on the uneasy.
One of the coolest spots to snap photos from in LA in my opinion (well technically Santa Monica but fuck off). This spot has seen the likes of many of the top pros, Josh Campos throws a blunt to fakie while Taylor gets the high shot from up on the walkway. Can you tell if he used a fisheye??? No, you probably can't... or maybe you can, no one cares if you can.
At the moment he is 22 years old, and is soon to graduate from UCLA. While his photogz are about as spicy as they come, he is NOT planning on pursuing photography for a living, but hey, you never know. Right now he’s planning on going for a Ph.D in Psychology or Anthropology when he gets to grad school, so maybe one day you’ll be lying down on a bed telling him all your problems, or he’ll be sitting at your dinner table taking notes on how your family interacts, while eating your food and drinking your beer. Oh on that note, I feel I should mention he’s a big fan of local CA breweries and yeah, he’s that guy that buys their lame t-shirts and gets really hyped on it, probably scaring little kids by waving the shirts at them screaming shit like “IN YO FAYCE!”. It’s cool though, those kids can’t drink yet anyway.
If you don't know Jake Eames you should... Jake + Skateboard = something I don't really know what to call... but it's fucking rad... Taylor snapped this picture of Jake pushing up to a gnarly wallride on the side of the I-10 freeway. Taylor doesn't even need the skate trick in the photo for it to look good.
So to sum up, Taylor is just a rad guy, I’ve been lucky enough to tour with him on skate trips, get to be a part of multiple sessions where he’s produced some amazing work, and can say the guys got some sick talent. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves now.
—Huck
