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Mike Nicholls is a good friend and talented photographer who focuses on inline skating and skaters as his subject. You can see him regularly on Serpentine Road in Hyde Park behind him 35mm snapping away at all of us inline skaters.

It must have been early 90s. I was on the top deck of a 24, just coming across the junction from Parliament Street into Parliament Square heading round into Victoria Street. On the other side of the square the lights had just changed to let the traffic out of Victoria Street into Parliament Square, just by Middlesex Guildhall. There, right in the middle of the mass of cabs, cars and vans pouring into the square was a female inline skater going like a rocket and very definitely holding her own. It looked fantastic!

Didn’t think any more about it, really, but it must have sunk in. At the time I was fading away from playing drums, was no longer in any bands and had just finished a spell playing pubs down the Old Kent Road as well as playing in a friend’s jazz group up in North London. Photography was taking over. I’d always been interested in taking photos and had had a camera both at sea in the Merchant Navy and in the mob, driving tanks in Germany.

I’d managed to get in to Questor’s Theatre in Ealing in the 80s as one of the crew of photographers on call who took b&w publicity shots for the shows put on there. The kitchen in my flat was set up to transform into a darkroom, so Thursday evening at dress rehearsal you’d shoot around half a dozen films, then get home and develop. After a few hours sleep you’d need to be up early Friday to get contact sheets done and check that you’d managed to get about 9/10 good shots spanning the production. The rest of Friday would be spent printing. The finished photos needed to be up on the theatre promotion boards on Saturday morning.

It was great to do but a bit of a sweat, not least before you’d developed the films and were praying you hadn’t shot a load of unredeemable bollocks. Sighs of relief when you saw good images on the contact sheets.

Forward to the late 90s and walking in and around Hyde Park. Seeing all the skaters brought back memories of the girl cutting through traffic in Parliament Square a few years before (and all at once 10 years have passed…). Thought, ‘ok – like to give it a go now’ so bought some skates and started. Used to go up to Serpentine Road with my partner, Vicky, skate a bit, loll around a bit and take the odd photo. Eventually found myself having inline skating lessons and started to get some confidence.

On a brilliantly sunny Sunday afternoon in July 2004 was happily skating along Serpentine Road when a skater who’d been behind a row of people walking up the road lost control and fell towards me. Tried to get out of her way but caught an outstretched leg and took off. Was flying along horizontal to the road knowing that it was necessary to come down at some point but reckoned it was better for the crash not to be full frontal. Tried to twist in midair, so I could land on my back and break the fall by smacking my arms on the road (basic judo fall). It didn’t work. I landed on my side and my ribs took the weight. As I came up into a sitting position and tried to work out what hurt and what didn’t a woman walked past with her small boy. The boy obviously really liked the idea of skating and I just caught the end of his plea to his Mum that ‘..could he have a go?’ – ‘Nah’, she said, ‘you’ll end up on your arse all the time, like ‘im!’

I wasn’t working at the time so over the next month or two, while waiting for the pain in my ribs to ease, I biked up to Serpentine Road to hang out, see Mark, Lee Marshall, Alex & Will. Started taking a camera and taking more purposeful photos that showed the movements involved in skating. Lee M got Samy involved and the photos taken of Samy on Serpentine Road, then Lee and Samy on Duke of York Steps, really started skatephoto.net going.

Can’t take enough photos, although during the periods when I’ve got a day job things slow down. I still use film – there’s no way I can afford digital equipment at the same level as my film stuff.

Have loads of ideas about more skating photos in and around London and want to put them into practice. Would like to take more of the Skateninjas, more of the skate schools, more jumps, steps, slalom and slides. Would like to get some shots of the Urbanskaters street skates once they restart. Would like to get some shots of the speed skaters and definitely more hockey shots.

Is there time?

Author: Mike Nicholls
See Mike’s work at SkatePhoto