Craig Stecyk is an American artist, photographer and writer. He is mostly known for his conceptual art pieces of the 1970s and ’80s, and for documenting surfing and skateboarding culture in particularly via a series of influential articles for Skateboarder Magazine in the mid-1970s describing the innovative developments of the Z-Boys skateboarding team. Stecyk created designs for the skateboard brand Powell-Peralta, having coined the name of their team, the Bones Brigade, and produced advertizing photographs. Stecyk coined the phrase “Skate and Destroy.” Stecyk was also involved with the founding of the Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions surf shop in Santa Monica, California.
This black and white photograph is of group of skateboarders in the suburbs in New York. This gang image looks to be very grainy and raw which could suggest that this images was taken on film. This documentary style image captures these boys posing in front of the camera in the middle of the street which could suggest that they could be causing havoc whilst skating round. This would link to typical stereotypes of skateboard gangs as they are usually portrayed as causing trouble within populated areas due to skateboarding in areas where they shouldn’t. This image was taken with dull natural lighting due to the fact the the tones and shades of their surroundings are very dull and also the characters themselves. Furthermore, this image projects different races interacting with each other. The three dark skinned boys and the white boy look to be part of the same group which could possibly challenge typical stereotypes as white people usually think they are a superior race and don’t hang out with different races however it is not seen like that within this image as they look to be part of the same group. A fast shutter speed was used as within this image the subjects that have been captured are clear and are all in focus and allows for the reader to focus on more than just the main subjects at the front.