Helge Tscharn Capsule Fotobuch

Helge Tscharn – Four Decades of Skate and Grit

In 1981, just three years after skateboards first rolled in from the U.S., Helge Tscharn picked up his camera and began capturing the raw, untamed rise of German skateboarding. Not just a witness but part of the scene himself, Tscharn documented every twist, scrape, and shift in style over more than 40 years — from punk-fueled beginnings to hip-hop swagger, emo melancholy, and DIY revival.

The early '80s: grainy black-and-white frames steeped in punk energy and backyard ramps. The '90s: color film, fisheye lenses, baggy jeans, and boom boxes — a new era of swagger and street. Tscharn was there for all of it, front row and underground, watching legends rise and, sometimes, crash just as hard.

He followed the indie and emo tides of the 2000s, the gritty DIY ethos of the 2010s, and today’s mashup of everything that came before — reimagined by a new generation. His photos aren’t just pictures; they’re sweat-stained time capsules, each one pulsing with the heartbeat of a moment only skateboarding can create.

Featuring portraits of:
Lance Mountain, Jim Greco, Sonic Youth, Pantera, Motörhead, Mark Gonzales, Tom Penny, Prodigy, Aphex Twin — and many more who shaped the sound and soul of skate culture.

Hardcover

Publication Date
June 13, 2025

Illustrations
186 color illustrations, 87 black-and-white illustrations

Editor
Helge Tscharn

Publisher
Verlag Kettler

Page Count
160 pages

Dimensions (L/W/H)
30.4 × 24.6 × 1.7 cm

Weight
1,170 g

ISBN
978-3-9874120-6-6