Throughout the 1980s, Helge Tscharn advances into the ranks of Europe’s most influential skateboard photographers and continues documenting the very scene to which he belongs. Tscharn photographs Claus Grabke, Lance Mountain, Ray Barbee, Tony Hawk and many others. His own affinity for hardcore music is also reflected in his work, through photo shoots with bands including Pantera, Monster Magnet and Motörhead, among others. Many of these portraits are shot using a fisheye lens, resulting in the kind of distorted, immediate visual style that would become Tscharn’s trademark at an early stage.
Architecture also plays an important role in Helge Tscharn’s photography. His shots are never merely about the skateboard trick alone. The skateboarder in an urban environment – all at once an organic component, a lone warrior and foreign body – is the major theme of many of Tscharn’s photos from the 1990s. These are monumental images in a signature telephoto style; many in grainy black-and-white, others in the typical, crystal clear and “frozen-in-time” look that is his unmistakable trademark. Order the book „Urban Secrets“, go to contact!
