Some time in ‘99, I got a call that a crew of US pros had rolled up to Matt Russell’s Te Machine park on Hutt Road, Wellington, so I dropped what I was doing and headed down.
There’s a bit of etiquette when you show up, and a team or mag crew is already there. Dimitry Elyashkevich was shooting, so I kept it low-key, chatted to Matt, and just watched for a bit. Most of the crew had been skating all day and were starting to chill.
Alan Peterson wasn’t. He was still charging, pushing fast laps and hunting for something weird. It didn’t take long before he found it – an ollie off the office roof with little to no run up, over a full-size fun box and into a quarter.
He had to tidy up the run-in, and while he was doing that, I asked if he minded me shooting it. He said, “Go for it.” As I started setting up a flash, Julian Stranger came power-walking across the park, yelling at me to stop. I didn’t.
Alan stuck it on the first try. Julian kept yelling. I packed it up and bounced.
I’ve always been an Alan Peterson fan. After that, even more so.
First published in Manual Magazine, Issue 75, May 2026.
