What Makes A Photo Memorable?

Throught the 15-16 years that I have been paging through magazines, there have been many photos that have stuck in my memory for various reasons. More often than not, it's usually because the photo includes a famous skater, an iconic spot, or a crazy NBD, or some combination of all three of those things. But there are also some photos that don't include any three of those things that are still memorable. Dave Caddo's backside flip off a bump photo in the June 2010 issue of Skateboarder is one of them for me. It is a testament to the individual talent and unique style of the skater and photographer when this happens. The constant progression of increasingly difficult tricks being done on larger rails, ramps and gaps is exciting in its own way, but what makes skateboarding so unique and special is that it is primarily a way for an individual to use their individual talent and style to creatively express themselves with the physical spaces that surround all of us. So, Dave Caddo's backside flip wouldn't score big points in an Olympics or X Games contest, but it's still so much more interesting to me than any contest trick could be, because of the spot he chose (narrow stone bump on a sidewalk bench), the trick he chose to do on it (backside flip), and how he did that trick on that spot (popped very high, which is hard to do on a bump that narrow and steep, and caught the flip in a stylish manner). Couple that with a good photographer who can capture all three of dynamics at once in one frame (Jonathan Mehring in this case), and you have an iconic skateboarding photo.