Tuma & The Fatty  1987
Josh “Bagel” Klassman
Photography
29” x 30”
@jbk_photos
This was taken in 1987 at the Venice Break Water / Venice Pavilion (RIP) of my good friend Eric “Tuma” Britton. This was taken right before he did a skate session inside the Pavilion with 2 other friends of ours that were there that day, Joey Tran-Vo and Eric “Lil Man” Garber. This is 1 of 21 photos from that smoke / skate session. I was 17, Tuma was 15, our other two friends were 15 & 16, all underage and long before bud was legal and long before there was a skate park in Venice. The Pavilion wuz our OG skate park. I used my Nikon FM2 with a 28mm Vivitar lens that I still shoot with to this very day, somehow it’s survived the years of abuse I put it through over the decades, and I shot on Kodak Tri-X 400. If you stare at this photo you can get lost in it especially the texture the smoke makes overlapping Eric’s skin. It makes for a really cool and gritty contrast. This image has been etched into my brain for life as a very cool and fun memory and it transports me back to that exact moment when I look at it. I remember that day like it was yesterday