Thirteen Hours at the Bro-Bowl

   Thirteen hours of shooting time lapsed photos at the Bro-Bowl in downtown Tampa with Lance. That is how I spent one summer Sunday in August 2009. From sunrise just around 7A.M. until sunset just after 8P.M. Lance had set our shooting location just off to one side of the bowl, under some large trees, parallel to the snakerun that led into the bowl - just before the end of the run using a wide angle lens shot looking straight down to view the entire bowl. There we sat, on our skateboards - on the tree roots with our cameras on their tripods, watching the sunrise over the old graffiti splattered worn cement bowl, including the city scape off behind us to the right. I had only four hours of sleep and I knew the day was going to be long and slow. I knew we would see action - just didn't know when or what kind of action the day would bring. The sunrise at the bowl with the city in the background was amazing. I knew no matter, it was to be a good day.

   After the first hour or so there, the itch to skate was kicking in for the both of us. So Lance and I started taking turns cruising about the bowl. Blasting early morning down the snakerun, carving the walls of the bowl up around the few puddles which remained from the previous days rain storms. And even on this Sunday - the threat of rain would again show. Dark blue-gray rolling clouds would pass us over head throughout the day. We would hear great bellied laughter, rumbling of thunder off in the distance over the city. But only drizzles of sprinkles came. No heavy rains this day. Some time about half past 8A.M. (I think), maybe an hour or so later, I slipped out on a move and my board rolled, fully submerged into the biggest, deepest puddle in the bowl. End of the day, at the beginning of the day.

   The morning moved slow. The clouds passed quickly over the city. When they would break to free the sky, the bowl would brighten up with an inviting glow - come schralp! Cruise. Ah yes, as I've said many times, city streets - cruise, four wheels and a wooden plank, an absolute freedom only a great few truly understand. As the morning continued and the warmth of the day krept on, the bum sleeping under the roof of the old unused locked up bathrooms awoke but stayed in the shade of the roof. He stayed under that rooftop for most of the morning before moving on to nowhere. Another bum came along collecting aluminium cans to recycle and make a small bit of money. Lance and I swapped good mornings with the kind sir and we all smiled and wished good spirits, good journies.

   Still later on into this long Sunday morn, as bums and random couples stroll by, another photographer, his assistant, and their model - a blonde chick with an Element deck showed up for their little photo shoot in the bowl. As random or odd as it may seem - a model photo shoot in the Bro-Bowl isn't so uncommon these days. This type of thing has actually been happening off and on for sometime now. They were done and gone within ten minutes. From late morning to early afternoon few random folks came and went. Short stays, lingering cruise lines around the bowl, over head passing clouds with drizzle break way to let the sun through to finish drying the puddles.

   At some point in the slow warm late morning I fell asleep on the sidewalk that runs down alongside the snakerun, across from Lance where the cameras were set up. I slept Dharma bum style for a half an hour or so - according to Lance. It was only early into the afternoon, and we knew Robert and Shannon still wouldn't be coming for a couple of hours. Hunger was starting to come on. I had a taste for Chinese, some white rice with vegetables and tofu. Lance was keen on the idea of Chinese as well. Another hour or so and we made a phone call to Robert to pick up the Chinese food. We still had yet another hour or so before Robert and Shannon and the food would arrive, so I went ahead on to a local grocery store and bought a gallon of green tea with honey and a bag of unsalted blue corn chips with jalepeno hummus.

   By the middle of the afternoon and later on, the session livened up with the arrivals of Robert and Shannon, Tre, Kevin, Tim, Sean, a brief appearance from LBK, and the event of three cars getting broken into. The clouds broke away for the last time and opened the sky to the sun. The day got warmer with nice refreshing breezes passing through the city. Just as I did in the late morning, I had an afternoon sleep on that same sidewalk along the snakerun. Another half hour or so. Wake up, guzzle some green tea, grab the skateboard and cruise fast. Then it's back to my post at the cameras. Just a little more than a few hours to go. With a day this long at the bowl, you would think one wouldn't make it without beer or weed. I had no weed and only drank two beers the whole day. I had no cravings or desire for any of it really. It felt good that way.

   Evening was now creeping in, the sun hung low in the sky. The evening rays peered through - between the buildings out to the bowl. The crowd of friends and others started to thin out now, but as for me and Lance, we still had a couple of hours or so. For us the day would not be done until full sunset - dark. And just as that Sunday morning, the evening moved on slow.