Pedro Barros on the podium at Wellington Bowl-A-Rama 2010

Well I’ve finally gone through, sorted & processed the photos I shot at the Wellington Bowl-A-Rama. It was certainly a fun & action packed shoot. Congratulations must also go to Brazilian Pedro Barros, who not only took out the Wellington event, but backed up this weekend to take out the Bondi event too – see I told you he was a freak!

You can check out the Wellington Bowl-A-Rama photos that I shot (all 96 of them) here, or just click on the photo of Pedro about to receive his winners check in Wellington above.

I’ve also included a slideshow of the photos below, and if you want to see a higher resolution version of any photo in the slideshow, you can just click on that image to see it.

Don’t forget to check out the previous days blogs: Day 1 & Final Day

Skateboarding | Wellington Bowl-A-Rama 2010 – Images by Mark Gee

Brazilian Pedro Barros mid rotation during a 540 at Wellington's Bowl-A-Rama

As a photographer, you get to see & photograph lots of great events, this year’s Bowl-A-Rama was no exception. But the highlight for me was definitely seeing & photographing 14 year old Brazilian, Pedro Barros tear it up in the bowl. Pedro ended up taking out the pro division at the 2010 Wellington Bowl-A-Rama event & it was a title he certainly earned.

The kid is a freak…He started riding a skateboard at 2 years old & turned pro the middle of 2009 going on to win the Rock the Cradle contest in Texas in October of that year. I’m sure he has a big future ahead of him. In the pro final jam, Pedro went up against seven other skaters, all of them pushing the limits, but the standout was certainly Pedro. He has a smooth yet aggressive style, & was pulling off huge airs & 540′s wowing the crowd with every move. Brazil dominated the competition with fellow Brazilian, Otavio Neto placing second in the pro final & American Josh Borden taking out third.

I decided to shoot the final jam with a longer lens to get a little closer to the action. The edge of the bowl was pretty crowded with other photographers, so I tried to go for a few different angles rather than the normal wide lens bowl side type shots. I shot with a canon 70-200mm/f2.8 lens using a ND filter on it so I could open the aperture wide open to try to separate the skaters from the crowd. Following the action in a bowl was a little tricky with the longer lens, but I managed to get a few decent shots in.

I ended up with over 400 shots as well HD video footage shot with the canon 7D & fisheye lens, so I’ve got a fair bit of sorting & editing to do. I’ll post the rest of the photos once I get through the lot! But in the meantime make sure you scroll down to see a few photos from the finals jam.

You can also check out some of the action from day 1 here.

A complete set of photos can now be seen here, or check out the photo blog here.

Red Bull gives you wings...Pedro Barros backside air at the Wellington Bowl-A-Rama

Pedro Barros frontside air off the bowl

Brazilian Otavio Neto took out second place in the Wellington Bowl-A-Rama pro final

First round action at Bowl-A-Rama - Wellington's Argentinean import, Diego Casal with a frontside grab

Day 1 of Bowl-A-Rama 2010 kicked off at the Waitangi Park skate bowl in Wellington today. Rain threatened earlier on, but held off for just enough time to run a few rounds.

I went bowl side with the 15mm fisheye lens & off camera flash to shoot the action of some of the best skaters in the world. The guys were really pushing out there today & livening it up for all of us shooting photos & videos bowl side. And believe me you have to get within a meter & less of the guys to get a good shot with the fisheye, but the results are certainly worth it.

The above photo was shot with the canon 70-200mm/f2.8 so I was at a reasonable distance away from the action for that one, but the two photos below were shot with the fisheye.

I’ll be back for the finals action tomorrow – lets hope the weather holds!

You can now check out some of the finals day action here.

A complete set of photos can now be seen here, or check out the photo blog here.

I was asking for a skateboard in the head with this shot...Brazillian rider Otavio Neto getting height with a frontside air

There was some great light in the bowl late afternoon - the off camera flash added to it. Otavio Neto with a 5-0 grind