Encinitas resident J. Grant Brittain has spent his life documenting and showcasing world-famous skateboarders.
Recently, the 67-year-old photographer memorialized a portion of his decadeslong career in his first published book, “Push: J. Grant Brittain – ’80s Skateboarding Photography.”
The throwback collection features many of Brittain’s most iconic skateboarding photos — from skaters riding in backyard pools to sliding down concrete pipes — forever etching his name alongside some of the greatest skaters in the world, including Tony Hawk, Mike McGill and dozens more.
Brittain held his third book signing on April 23 at Barnes and Noble in Encinitas, sharing his career stories with fans.
The book’s cover photo depicts Tod Swank “pushing” his board along a sidewalk in a captivating black-and-white image. The picture is widely considered one of the most recognizable skating images ever.
“Like every photographer, you want to put a book out of your work,” Brittain said. “A book kind of lasts forever. I wanted to show some of my best shots and give props to the skaters.”
Brittain was born and raised in Fallbrook but now lives in Encinitas, where he archives thousands of images from his career as a magazine photographer. While surfing and skating in the 1960s, he was a product of societal change. But his life changed forever when his neighbor, pro skater Wally Inouye, landed him a job at the Del Mar Skate Ranch in 1978.
Borrowing a friend’s camera, Brittain discovered his love for photography and started shooting skaters with a Kodachrome at the Skate Ranch for several years, submitting his photos to Carlsbad-based Transworld Skateboarding magazine. Eventually, the popular skateboarding magazine hired Brittain as a photo editor.
After spending 20 years filling the glossy pages of the popular skateboarding magazine classic skateboarding images, Brittain left to start The Skateboard Mag, where he worked for 13 years.
“(The Skateboard Mag) was social media before social media,” Brittain said. “People would wait two months for it to come out.”
During the bookstore signing, Brittain also touched on the origins of skating in 1947 in La Jolla. As counterculture took hold in the 60s, Brittain said skating exploded in popularity, producing the first skateboarding magazine in 1964, Quarterly Skateboarder. But safety “experts” reportedly deemed the sport to be unsafe and urged stores to stop selling them, causing a crash in the sport’s popularity.
Regardless, Brittain continued to take pictures, documenting rising stars like McGill, who invented the 540-degree inverted mute grab known as the McTiwst, and Hawk, landing the first-ever 900-degree caught on film at the 1999 X Games and helping to catapult the sport to new heights.
In recent years, Brittain has experienced an increased interest in his photographs from the ’80s and ’90s, which many younger enthusiasts consider vintage works.
More photos from Brittain’s new book, “Push.”
