Manchester’s resident photography enthusiast Joe Peck comes through with his picks from 2011 in today’s installment of “Photographers Stories”, serving up a whole load of anecdeotes surrounding his favourite shots from the last twelve months.

Get your reading glasses on and scroll below now, then check back tomorrow for more!

Joe Gavin, Switch Backside 180, Manchester.
I’ve always been hyped on Percy Dean’s photo of Joe switch ollieing over this rail from an OG Big Push, needless to say I was even more hyped to shoot this. During a cold, damp evening skating at the Pumpcage there was nothing I wanted more than to get into my cosy living room. However, Joe managed to convince Dom and myself to have a little street mission in the wet. No sooner had we crossed the street did I find myself setting up, a perfect example of Joe’s ability to take a seemingly written-off day and make things happen! To be honest, I think that pushing up to this rail (especially switch) with the right speed and positioning is just as hard as jumping over it. Navigate!

John Bell, Backside 5-0 Frontside 180, Macclesfield.
For those who have never skated the Macc rails, they may look perfect but I can assure you they aren’t. The run-up is horribly narrow, the rails are super steep and chuck you into a sandpaper styled floor. John clearly likes to make things difficult for himself, judging by his choice of rail and trick combination. On our first attempt to shoot this when Phil Harvey was filming for ‘Keep Keen’, John broke three boards. With no more boards to snap, John had to go home battered and boardless.
A few days later we returned and John rode away within five attempts, breaking no boards this time. On both visits John’s warm-up involved ollieing over and backside 5-0ing the rail back to back, first go. “Keen” is an understatement! Who else would discharge themselves from hospital to go skating straight after being told that your leg needs urgent medical attention and surgery! Get ready for John’s full recovery early 2012, DEBRAH!

Mark Kendrick, Backside Flip, Braga, Portugal.
In the summer I joined Kendrick, Tony DaSilva, Dom Henry, Jed Coldwell and Tom Day in Braga where they were staying with Tony’s amazing Dad, Geraldo. At the same time as my arrival, Cricca Johnsson and Jesper Karlsson flew in from Stockholm to join the party. Tone and Jed picked us up in a black BMW and so began ten days of ‘crending’.
This photo took place on one of the first days, by which point we had a following of local skaters who were so hyped on having other skaters in their small town. They told us rumours (or myth) that someone had once upon a time ollied over this huge grid. Drinking our ‘Super Bocks’, we all soaked up the idea of ollieing it and I for one (probably influenced by the lethargy induced by beer and sun) was trying to get my head around why or how anybody would find the energy and effort necessary to clear this thing! Meanwhile, The Horse (Kendrick) was starting his trademark gallop towards the gap and myself. After almost trampling me, Kendrick fully committed to a backside flip. Why waste time and energy with an ollie? Whilst the rest of us drank and got excited, Kendrick repeatedly coated this religious floor with Horse sweat. If you haven’t already seen ‘Pusherman’, do it! Jesper’s expert filming allowed this trick to be an after black ender. This is definitely the cleanest/fastest/longest flip trick I’ve ever witnessed.

Tom Day, Ollie, Manchester.
Bored of sitting around the house one day, Tom Day and myself decided to explore the lesser-searched areas of Manchester’s eastern outskirts. After finding little to nothing and then being heckled out of a tiny ghetto skatepark by an eight year old – “Why are you skateboarding here? This isn’t Urbis!” – we decided to follow their logic and take our skateboards to the Man City ground.
Tom had had this idea for a while but I’d always put it off thinking it wasn’t possible, but then again, Tom can skate just about anything. These ‘banks’ are awkwardly curved, short and steep; you have to dodge a ledge on both the pop and the land. Oh, and the whole set up is surrounded by gravel. Tom was flying towards the channel full pelt and somehow maintaining control and speed after hitting the gravel run-up without slipping out. Nothing about this should have worked, but it did! Straight to Big Hands.

Tony Da Silva, Powerslide, Portugal.
I think of all the photos I shot for the Note/Braga article, this is the one I wanted in there the most. This was the one day we took the train to Porto from Braga; after meeting the infamous Nuno, skating a perfect ledge spot, drinking tiny bottles of fortified wine and getting sun-burnt, we decided it was time for some food and beers. We were sitting outside a restaurant just out of shot on the right when Jed initiated the drunken hill-bombing session. This hill gets gnarly as not only does it require you to dodge trams, but just as you’re mid-way through shitting yourself from speed-wobbles you have to navigate a sharp, blind corner into oncoming traffic! After a few near death misses with cars on his numerous trips down the hill, Jed hit the tram-track and took an involuntary flying lesson onto an already gruesome hipper. We caught the train soon after, on which Jed scared us all by passing out from pain and literally turning green. Over a week later, back in England, Jed found out he’d given himself a serious blood clot!