Being a photographer at the Maloof Money Cup is definitely a great experience, watching the pros skate and getting to shoot photos with them is such a pleasure!  I spent more time this year hanging out with the guys and gettin to know them a little better.  It seriously helps for the photography side of things and you are no longer just some random guy shooting photos.  I took Braydon and Garrett to see the Lions at a sanctuary just outside of Kimberley…  All the animals on this farm were pretty much rescued from being hunted.  There are many ‘canned’ Lion Hunting farms around Kimberley, it’s absolutely disgusting on every level.  I was really stoked to take these guys to this farm and see that there are still people trying to do some kind of good out there.  Braydon was definitely not too sure about being in the cage with the Lions, as you can see…  Garrett didn’t mind it too much!  Braydon did teach a small Bat Eared Fox about Ozzy Osbourne though…

It was definitely a privelage to meet and hang out with Braydon at the recent Maloof Money Cup here in South Africa.  Nice to see a pro-skater that get’s involved with everything that’s goin on with the locals.  I think my favorite memory was walking across from our hotel to the campsite late one night to see what was goin on.  There were kids everywhere, just goin crazy!  We walked to the back of the campsite where some locals had formed a huge cirlce around some burning tyres!  The scene was insaen and I’m sorry now that I never took my camera with me.  Kids were standing around the tyres as the smoke bellowed into the skies above and some other brave dudes started jumping over the tyres, through the flames!  Once the locals realised that Braydon was there, they went comepletely nuts!  Once again, so cool to see a famous guy just hangin out and getting the locals stoked!  Braydon even joined the craziness and jumped through the towering flames and thick black smoke which got the locals goin even more!  Here are a couple portraits I shot with Braydon during some “free time” away from the skating and all the craziness.