Yonnie Cruz Picks Up The Camera

Jonathan Quinones - nollie inward heel over the pyramid hip

Jonathan Quinones - switch backside heel flip over the pyramid hip

Robbie Kirkland - hard flip wall ride

Robbie Kirkland - nollie backside flip over the pyramid hip

Jonathan Quinones - nollie heel lipslide on the bump to flat bar

Jonathan Quinones - nollie front board on the bump to flat bar

Jonathan Quinones - nollie half cab heel on the hip

Jonathan Quinones - nollie frontside nosegrind on the bump to flat bar

Jimmy Desimone - nollie back heel over the hip

PJ Castellano - 360 flip over the hip

Somehow Isaih Quinones caught this backside flip and rode away clean

Isaih Quinones - kickflip front board on the bump to flat bar

He couldn't remember who this is doing a frontside smith on the flat rail

This is the money shot that set him off on a mission to get an upskirt from every chick in the joint, no matter what the fallout

Scotty Conley and some random Puerto Rican chick

Sorry, but a lot of these are too hot for SPoT, the website that is

Our trip would have been pretty dull with out Tito from Team Pain showing us what's up with Puerto Rico

He almost had a good one here. Would you like a leg or a thigh?

Well at least this girl had bikini bottoms on underneath, or some $4.99 KMart undies

I'm sure this one was definitely without permission

I don't even want to know what that red dot is

I love the sneak attack photos where he doesn't even ask the chick if he can take her picture

Another sneak attack photo, definitely aiming down

Yonnie asked Terry Kennedy how much that chain was and he held up seven fingers

Chris Troy, that's me, Rob Meronek, and Scotty Conley getting excited over something good

Andrew from Circa, Greg Myers, and Branen Fitzgerald

Branen Fitzgerald with a nice sample of Puerto Rican females

That's Brandon Boehm from Texas on the left and Cody Hale from Vermont on the right. I can't remember the dude in the middle, but we were good bar friends by the end of the night

Branen Fitzgerald reacts to Yonnie's photos

He definitely aims down every time he takes a shot. This is one of many girls in bikini gear at Pier 10 in Puerto Rico

Words and captions by Rob Meronek
Photos by Yonnie Cruz

First of all, congrats to Yonnie Cruz for getting on Lakai and Matix flow. You can tell how good he is by the amount of jealous hate he has posted on a bunch of his photos on the site. If that’s not enough, Terry Kennedy is completely hyped on the kid and wants to hook him up. Anyway, Yonnie’s been messing around with my camera stuff lately and is taking some decent photos. I set up the basics for him so he can just point and shoot. Check out a few to your right that he took today on the Street Course.

Below that, check out a few party photos he took while we were in Puerto Rico where anyone can drink in the club even if you look 12 like Yonnie. I had to save him from getting in some hot water a few times for these photos. He lasted about two hours with me giving him warnings like, “Don’t drink anymore, you’ll be sorry,” before he passed out on the dance floor, puked, and ruined the rest of his night and most of the next day, where he continued to puke in the van. The club was nuts - every now and then, someone would say something in Spanish on the mic and suddenly anyone who lined up around the stage could get a shot poured in their mouth directly from the booze bottle. Branen Fitzgerald threw down some moves and got the biggest breakdance circle going while everyone from the Contest joined in - Collin and Cody Hale, Chris Troy, Robert Lopez, etc. We all made at least 10 new friends that night. What an amazing time. Hopefully we'll see you next year.

If you’re interested in photography, here’s what I use to take all the photos for the site. I’m a total amateur at it and I barely know what I’m doing at times, but this set up gets you by for the basics:

Camera:
Nikon D70 – about $700 or so
Lens:
10.5mm Nikon Fish – about $600.00
Flash:
Nikon SB 600 – about $200

The D70 is a digital camera that takes sequences at only three frames per second. That’s not fast enough for skating unless you skate slower than your mom, so that’s why there are never any sequences on the site. The camera doesn’t shoot video either.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me. I'm still new at this, but I know the basics.

Rob rob@skateparkoftampa.com