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Jessica Bard: 80’s skater/photographer
From 1980 to 1984 Jessica Bard had access to free black and white film, paper and darkroom while
at Elisabeth Irwin High School in Greenwich Village. “I carried my camera with me everywhere, all the
time. I saw my world through a lens. The first urban image to stick in my mind was a scene from my
15th Street fire escape. Looking west, long, late afternoon shadows highlighted a skateboarder below,
swooshing down the street like a surfer carving the waves.” She didn’t have her camera with her just
then but she did run out and buy a skateboard. “It looked so cool, so fun, so free…”
Freshly transplanted from upstate New York and just starting 9th grade, Jessica found the perfect
used stick. “It was covered in graffiti, worn grip tape and had four different wheels. But I was thrilled and
got the hang of it pretty quick.” It started as simple transportation but she soon learned to carve. She
hung out with the guys from school but soon started to meet other skaters on the street and then groups
of skaters. Being one of the only girl skaters didn’t faze her. She soon turned from being a novelty to
just another skater. From uptown, to downtown, she hung out and learned more maneuvers. Somehow,
everyone just met up. There were no cell phones then, just a good ‘ole sense of time and place.
Most of Jessica’s images were captured during her time spent in Washington Square Park (near the
local skate shop Dreamwheels, a convenient starting point) the Brooklyn Bridge Banks, even Central
Park, Harlem, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. There are too many memorable skaters for her to
name but Jessica insists on pointing out that Pepe Torres, a skater transplanted from Ecuador, played a
major role in her skating and life throughout the 80’s in NYC and the East Coast. They remain friends to
this day. “Pepe emails me regularly from Guayaquil. He still rips it up, sometimes doing Red Bull skate
events and is an inspiration to the younger generation”
In the fall of 1984 Jessica went off to college at SUNY Purchase, in Westchester. She joined the
student newspaper and quickly became the photo editor with free film and a darkroom at her disposal
for another five years. She met some great skaters but skating was relegated to campus in the
beginning and she continued to make forays back into the city Then she landed a part-time job as
assistant photo editor for the World Wrestling Federation in nearby Stamford, Connecticut. She met
some friendly skaters ripping it up in the parking garage. They were intrigued by having a girl skater in
the midst and tentatively turned her on to the local ramp scene. It wasn’t long before they had Jessica
dropping in. “I wasn’t a daredevil kind-of chick, I just liked to ride the ramps, grind the coping, then hang
out and shoot other riders and the scene. Most of the skaters liked having their pictures taken.”
She dabbled in color photography but still shot primarily black and white. “Looking back, I so
appreciate developing an eye and learning photography skills before the digital age. Basically, learning
to do everything before the digital age has helped me to better understand my creative processes. It
wasn’t even until my senior thesis that I got to type on a Macintosh Apple II, one of the first personal
computers. .” For even more perspective, the Sony Walkman was still the only concession to one’s
personal listening pleasure. Jessica notes that she hardly saw skateboarder s wearing them, mostly the
roller skaters.
Throughout the 80’s Jessica was not always able to skate. There were injuries along the way and after
a broken ankle and three knee arthroscopies; Jessica had to turn in the board.
She moved back upstate to the family farm and enrolled at The Culinary Institute of America. “The
crazy world of cheffing replaced the thrill of skateboarding in my life.” As a student, she wrote and self-
published An Apple and Art Recipe Book. Upon graduation, the school hired her on in the cookbook
department as photo editor. For 5 years she still handled film but watched the digital photography age
come in. She got her own PC at work and was one of the first to have internet access. The work flow in
digital had begun. (She finally got a giant cell phone too!) “Making books is a very slow process and I
was eager to try out the faster pace of magazine publishing.” Working with food photographers as a
trained chef led Jessica to become a talented food stylist and producer of food photography for Fine
Cooking Magazine.
Jessica Bard is currently a cooking teacher, food writer and professional recipe tester and
developer. She’s published many articles on her favorite topics; food, hunting, and beer. For more
information visit www.jessicabard.com. She lives in Rhinebeck, NY with her husband, Callum Benepe,
drummer for the ska-swing band, TriStateConspiracy.
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