canada’s original skateboard magazine
Issue 127 2013 photo annual free
SEE ALL COLORS AT LAKAI.COM LAKAISTICKERS@SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM / SUPRADISTRIBUTION.COM
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BOARDSLIDE | BLABAC PHOTO
The Priority
Brian Caissie,
photo editor
brian caissie
The role of photographer sure has changed a lot in just a few years, and so has the magazine world. With website and social media promotion being a hot ticket for skaters and the brands they ride for, it’s getting tougher to save and later release photos in print. There’s a strong thirst for regularly letting the world know what’s going on right now, while magazines tend to release content in a slower and more calculated manner. Is it worth the wait? For maximum impact, I’d say yes. These skaters work hard during a time when it’s increasingly difficult to stand out because the bar has been set so high. They fall, they get hurt, and they sometimes even return to a spot three or four times (and for hours each time) to get a single trick. The images and articles in this issue are obviously dedicated to the people who care about skateboarding. But also to those who care about photography being presented on coated paper stock, rather than a collection of pixels on a screen that’ll quickly be washed over by millions more on countless blog rolls and social media feeds in the hours to come. We had so many submissions from all over for this year’s Photo Annual, making it very difficult to edit them down. However, being confined by a page count means filling them with the best possible content is the absolute priority. That’s what makes print amazing. Enjoy…
MATT BERGER
daniel curtis
cover Logo
To create the one-off branding for this special issue, I cut down a giant tree, slashing out a slice of paperthin wood and painting it white. Then I dove into the ocean, wrestling a gigantic squid for his finest black ink. Nothing beats freshly squeezed squid ink. A little splash and dash with a brush and a 1984 Macintosh computer, and there you have it… Just kidding. I sketched it out loosely, getting wild with it after chugging a few coffees. Using some chosen typography as a base, I gave it a grittier look and splattered white ink from above like a sober Jackson Pollock. I painted a black strike-through line with India ink, which is inspired by JeanMichel Basquait, who once said: “I cross out words so you will see them more…” After hand drawing “Skateboarding” in BLAST, my own font, I shot the whole shebang with a camera to seal the deal. I was humbled to work with the rad team at Concrete, as it has always held a special place for me as a Canadian skateboarder.
daniel curtis,
8
guest designer
BACK TAIL
E T N I E S P R O U D LY W E L C O M E S
J U L I A N D A V I D S O N
Facebook.com/timebombtrading | @timebombtrading
issue 127 / 2013
FEATURES
22
Disposable Vancouver:
34
The Unseen:
44
Patrik Wallner:
56
Exposure Gallery:
70
Ryan Allan:
A Weekend with Young Lakai
Digital Infrared Photography Facing Obscurity
A Canadian Collection
Discoveries
Patience and Rain cover photo & caption by
Brian Caissie
The weather in Vancouver can be a real pain sometimes. While driving to this bump-to-bar it rained twice, making me think we’d definitely have to save it for another day. But MAGNUS HANSON had been here a few times before and was ready to roll away from a SWITCH KICKFLIP. After some close tries, the rain started up again and came down hard, soaking the ground and ending the session. Or so we thought. Magnus decided to wait it out for an hour-and-a-half until it was dry enough to skate again, and even then the occasional drop landed on our cameras. Right when the rain began falling heavily, he quickly ran back for one last attempt, leading to a perfect ride-away and a flurry of high fives. There’s nothing better than getting what you want thanks to a little patience and some rain.
ADAM HOPKINS FRONTSIDE OLLIE
photo BRIAN CAISSIE
DEPARTMENTS
14 18 86 90
Past Blast: 2005 Photo Annual Art Blender: Daniel Curtis 5 Spot: Scott Pommier Above & Beyond: Magnus Hanson
& Wade Desarmo 11
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The issue you’re holding is the ninth special edition Concrete Photo Annual. So let’s take a look back at the first one, which was released during the summer of 2005...
CONCRETE POWDER
PHOTO ANNUAL 2005
Mike McDermott switch ollie [o] scott pommier CONCRETE POWDER
2005
This spot was close to Supra Distribution’s office at the time, on Lougheed Highway. When I was living in Vancouver I always prided myself on skating spots that people didn’t touch. Photographers would think I was pretty anal, and you know what? I was. For me it was never about being the best, I just wanted to be seen as the first person skating something and making it look proper—the aesthetic. If it was now, skateboarders would be switch flipping this. I didn’t want to jump over it [laughs]; I remember stalling a lot around the neighbourhood, like, “Let’s go get a snack.�
I felt really privileged to be shooting with Scott Pommier, and he nailed it. I didn’t think of this as being on the Photo Annual cover, but I was flattered and justified it in my head because it was a nice picture. I remember wearing a yellow shirt that day because it would contrast with the bushes, and I wore a Matix beanie that had nice toneage. I hated the fact that I killed myself, but didn’t do the trick properly enough to use the footage. If I was on Baker? Sure, everything would’ve been great. Luckily this wasn’t the cover of the Footy Annual. —Mike McDermott
14
4$055 10..*&3 1035'0-*0
Concrete Powder
Skateboard Photo Annual
2005
Canada $4.95 USA $4.25
an caissie
brian caissie deville
jody morris 95
Arron Johnson - ollie.
75
Jordan Hoffart - smith grind.
41
dave christian
40
jeff delong
brian caissie 66 131
Sheldon Meleshinski - gap to noseslide.
52
Corey Sheppard - 3flip to fakie.
96
Josh Clark - ollie into pool.
53
jay bridges
jay bridges
brian caissie brian caissie
brian caissie
70
Nathan Lacoste - backside kickflip.
71
110
102
Spencer Hamilton- fakie kickflip.
Wade Desarmo - varial heelflip over rail.
111
brian caissie
nathan matthews
Rick McCrank is high up on my short-list of all-time favourite people to shoot with, and he only gets better with time. Frontside ollie in some rusty fullpipes.
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ETNIES:
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92
Trevn 137Sharp- pole jam.
skelatorrr Land of Ditches
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15 likes skelatorrr My hand looks huge right now... #peefreely #almostsenthome #toomuchbeer #headdown #marshmallows #albuquerque view all 7 comments palmerspool First and last time in Albs... tyler_martin typical tumia trying to tinkle. gullwingtruckco Sick trick, not prick summyunguy FINALLY, some nudity!
daniel curtis
B
orn in Edmonton, raised in Calgary, and now living in Gibsons, BC, Daniel Curtis is cutting his own unique path. He did a film school stint at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, later recieving his associate degree and furthering his knowledge through various libraries around the world. Daniel has also padded his education by attending art courses in Australia and Vancouver. His inspirations come from a multitude of sources—his travels, the natural environment on the Sunshine Coast where he currently resides, artists such as John Baldessari, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Bill Murray, Michael Leon, Matt Irving, Gonz, and of course skateboarding. Daniel has already done a good number of graphics for Kitsch, the Vancouver-based board brand. Owner Geoff Dermer says: “As we started to work together, it became clear that Daniel was as passionate about making skateboard graphics as myself and the rest of the team was about skateboarding.” It has proven to be a rewarding collaboration for both parties. The artistic style Daniel utilizes at this point in time is a mixed bag of media that rolls photos, drawing and some type into one package. He professes to constantly be refining and rotating his manner of creation so that he doesn’t become complacent. With an art show tour slated for Summer 2014 called “Smash Blast”, and a goal of possibly going south to the San Diego area in the future, Daniel is sure to blaze an even wider trail. —Randy Laybourne danielcurtis.ca
“Daniel once told me he thought obsessively for two weeks deciding on the perfect colours for a Kitsch board series he art directed. I thought that was perfect, as it reminded me of how a skateboarder can take forever nailing a trick and getting it exactly how he wants it to look.” —Geoff Dermer
left to right: Kitsch “Ripper Misfit” deck Kitsch “Ripper Dirtbike” deck Kitsch “Pals” deck Art School “Ripper” deck Neon Nude “Rip” deck Kitsch “Prism” deck Kitsch “Aztek” deck Kitsch “Expresso” deck Source “Creeping Death” deck Source “Fine Dining” deck KNOW?MAG #11 (2011) layout Endeavor “High5” snowboards
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“Murray Moto� by Daniel Curtis. Created exclusively for Concrete Skateboarding. visit concreteskateboarding.com to download art blender wallpapers for your computer & mobile device.
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ToNy TAvE
sWiTch FLiP
LifeExtentionSkateboardGroup>LEskateboards.com
In an age when photography gets so washed out that your uncle
the city, each toting a disposable camera. During our two-day spot
can gain online fame by shooting iPhone photos of his cat wearing
rage filled with Mexican meals, mini pool tournaments and of course
underwear, you too may find yourself in a situation where you realize
skateboarding, these 35mm throwaway cameras captured worthy
how much soul has been sucked out of snapping a great flick. In my
moments during their brief stay. With only 27 exposures and no
opinion, it’s nothing to get too bent out of shape over. Let your common
instant preview, there’s no relying on Instagram filter-applying skills to
sense decide what’s cool to look at and what’s not. But when you find
beef up a sub-par photograph and hide poor framing.
yourself bummed out after your little brother says, “Steven stopped following you because you’re a feed clogger,” you must check yourself.
As you’ll see, this photographic-journal provides you with a look through the eyes of these four guys. For some it was their first time
When a few young members of the Lakai Limited Footwear team
experiencing the city, and for some it was their first visit to Canada.
arrived in Vancouver, covering the trip was an obvious decision.
Young Lakai, meet Vancouver.
However, the duration of the trip was only a few days, which led to the decision to take a different approach. So Riley Hawk, Jon Sciano,
lakai.com
Sebo Walker and Miles Silvas took on an action-packed weekend in
supradistribution.com
22
Riley’s laid-back attitude made him fit into the Vancouver vibe right off the jump. Coming from the San Diego area, Riley was pretty impressed with what the city had to offer. “The scenery is super epic and super green,” he mentions. “Other than that, Vancouver isn’t too different aside from the Loonies and Toonies.” Riley played the icebreaker role on this trip as the first one to get a clip and a photo. As we strolled through Hot Spot, he took a look at this rail and returned to it after about five minutes at the Plaza down the street. With local crackheads dancing on the sidelines, Riley made this boardslide fakie happen in no time before rifling off a few more moves. 25
This was Jon’s first time out of the United States. He’s a Florida-to-California transplant, and I’m sure this visit to Vancouver was only the beginning of tour life for him. When he wasn’t skating, he was always hyping up the guys and making sure they stayed motivated. At one point, across the street from where we were skating, there were two young ladies practising pole dancing on a No Parking sign. Lo and behold, Jon was the first one taking pictures and hanging out with these girls while the session continued. It might be the same fearless approach that helped him adapt to Leeside’s unforgiving terrain so well. Jon handled this nosegrind while going about Mach 10. Believe me, it didn’t stop there. 26
Being from the Pacific Northwest, Sebo wasn’t shocked by Vancouver’s landscape or climate. “It reminds me a lot of Oregon,” he says. “Fresh air and clean water; two things that are very important to me.” His lifestyle choices to keep skateboarding consistent in his life are among the best I’ve ever seen. Who else is pushing their way onto some great companies while fully living out of a van? Our friend Willa Holland helped drive us around and she had this rad helicopter hat that Sebo claimed right away, using its lift-off power for this crook nollie frontside flip on a new bench. 28
Miles is one of the newest members of the Lakai family and he’s sure to be a long-lasting name in skateboarding. Arriving a day late from San Francisco, time became an issue on this already short trip, so he went straight from YVR to the streets. Surprisingly, this backside flip over a rail and ledge was not cooperating with Miles at first and left him sliding out repeatedly. By the time he landed it, the cracks in the ground had completely ripped out the back of his pants through to his boxers. Needless to say, this spot was followed up by a hotel visit. 30
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BYDEVILLENUNES DEVILLE
34
shaneborland
Frontside Air • Mammoth, CA Nikon D600 • 2013
Sure, long-time Concrete contributor Deville Nunes is based in Huntington Beach, but he sometimes chooses to shoot skateboarding amongst those typically sunny Californian backdrops with a different colour perspective in mind—by utilizing digital infrared photography. “IR photography offers the opportunity to explore the unseen, meaning electromagnetic radiation that’s invisible to the human eye,” he explains. “IR light is on the right side of the spectrum when it comes to visible red light, so its wavelength is longer.” What this means is exposure to a world that looks very different from what human ocular perception normally allows. “Colours, textures, vegetation and human skin tend to reflect IR light in a unique and interesting way,” Deville continues. “Plant life looks completely white because it reflects almost all infrared light, the daylight sky appears almost black because no infrared light is scattered, and human skin looks pale and ghostly.” As you’ll see, the unseen has never looked so interesting… —Frank Daniello
36
Lipslide • Anaheim, CA • Nikon D600 • 2013
CHARLIEBLAIR
BOOJOHNSON
San Bernadino, CA • Nikon D60 • 2010
ALDRINGARCIA
Backside 180 one-foot • Long Beach, CA • Nikon D60 • 2010
When I first became interested in infrared photography, I tried to duplicate it in Photoshop for months, but it just wasn’t the same (yes, there are limits to what you can do with Photoshop). I was interested in creating IR landscapes and portraits, but I ultimately wanted to show skateboarding in a new way. IR film was an option, but it also has its challenges. For starters, the film is very sensitive to both IR light and visible light, so you have to handle and process it in total darkness. A special infrared filter also needs to be attached to the front of the lens when shooting to ensure that what passes to the film is confined to infrared light. The downside of this filter is that you’re unable to see through it because it’s opaque black to our eyes, blocking all visible light. Composing and focusing on the subject one wishes to photograph is impossible since you can’t see anything through the viewfinder. However, a workaround is setting up a shot before fitting the filter to the camera. Another drawback with using infrared film is that you can’t change the ISO rating of the film you’ve purchased, making it more difficult to adjust to varying light conditions that happen while shooting. It’s also hard to get the right exposure with the film, so multiple exposures are recommended (one must be precise when taking a shot in the dark). Then there’s cost, which runs anywhere from $6-$9 USD per roll, plus developing, which is about $10 USD per roll. Since colour IR film is no longer produced, one has to rely on black and white.
BRADMcCLAIn
Fastplant • Mammoth, CA • Nikon D600 • 2013
FELIXARGUELLES
Los Angeles, CA • Nikon D60 • 2010
38
San Bernadino, CA • Nikon D60 • 2010
KEELANDADD
INFRARED Filters Explained
It costs a lot every time you have a DSLR converted, so it’s important to choose your filter carefully.
590Captures a surreal colour scheme for your IR photography. Vegetation has a golden orange tone and the sky takes on a royal blue.
665Especially suited for colour IR photography due to its great saturation and range. B&W looks good as well, although it has a bit less contrast.
720My personal favourite. It’s the most well-rounded; all of these photos have been shot using it. The 720 patterns a certain colour in the sky and in the foliage. Colour IR is possible although not as saturated as the 665. B&W IR has good tonal range.
820Captures the image as B&W infrared straight out of
LUISTOLENTINO
5-0 • Los Angeles, CA • Nikon D60 • 2010
the camera. Photoshop is only needed to fine-tune the appearance. The 820 is strong, creating the blackest of skies and snowiest of vegetation.
@devillenunes
40
The good news is that the digital equivalent is a reality. So I saved up, bought a DSLR in 2010 and had it converted. That first camera was a Nikon D60; the IR conversion was done by Pro Camera Repair Inc. in San Diego and came at a cost of $300. They used a cheap plastic filter, which actually produced my favourite colours out of the three cameras I’ve had converted. However, it wasn’t very good with any ISO other than 100, and it was also hard to focus. In 2011 I converted a Nikon D5000 (also by Pro Camera Repair Inc.) with a 720 filter [see Infrared Filters Explained]. It had better ISO and
I could take IR time lapses, but it was still very hard to focus. Trial and error prevailed and I finally saved up for a good camera this year—a Nikon D600. This time the conversion with a 720 filter from Life Pixel [lifepixel.com] had a price tag of $475. They also showed me better ways to white balance, and the D600’s focus is much better using “Live View Auto Focus”; this just means the mirror is raised and the shutter is open, allowing a live view of what the image sensor “sees” when taking a photograph. At the end of the day, this just makes proper IR skate photography a lot easier.
The way digital cameras are converted is by removing the filter that blocks IR light and replacing it with a filter that enhances the light. There are a bunch of filters to choose from, including black and white and even some that enhance blues and yellows. When you convert a camera to infrared, it’s important that it focuses for infrared. Because IR light is longer in wavelength than visible light, I recommend converting a camera that has the “Live View” option. White balance can also be an issue, depending on what camera you get. Basically, the better the camera, the better your infrared photos will turn out.
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+ + + words / frank daniello + + + It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Patrik Wallner is from, or where he’s at for that matter. “I grew up in Germany and in New York until I finished my education,” which foreshadowed his future penchant for geographical pursuits. “After that I’ve lived in various places in Europe and Asia, but now I can finally call Shanghai my new home. Also, this little village called Szödliget in northern Budapest, Hungary, where my parents live. I’ve heard, ‘Wherever ones’ extra underwear are is their true home.’” One thing that isn’t difficult to explain is where the 25-year-old’s talents lie. Patrik has taken part in notable video projects for the Ride Channel, Converse China, Red Bull and Skateboarder. Meet The Stans comes to mind, which features Walker Ryan, Dave Bachinsky, Kenny Reed and more exploring the ancient Silk Road that traverses China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. “I survive by doing commercial filming and editing for various companies, but what I look forward to the most is doing my own projects, which involves exploring Eurasia on skateboards,” he explains. “We’ve already done a big portion covering the route from Moscow to Hong Kong via train, then with motorcycles from North to South Vietnam, and a road trip from Vietnam to Myanmar. Also Bangladesh to Sri Lanka, around the Black Sea and so on.” Patrik also wields an analog still camera on his journeys. His work has been published in European, South American and U.S. magazines—Playboard, Kingpin, TransWorld and Thrasher to name a few—and we’re happy to import his photography into Canada via this feature. Amongst his stills are stories about struggling to hydrate in Doha, Quatar, during the Muslim fast of Ramadan, visiting the seldom-traveled North Korea and much more. As he says: “I just enjoy filming and taking photos in diverse places, getting to know the people while experiencing something visually ornate.”
+ + + Ordos, China / 2012 + + + I am not a big fan of horror movies, but when asked to join a trip to a ghost city in China, I was more than thrilled to tag along. This metropolis consists of completed buildings, statues and parks, but barely any human beings because of high real estate prices. It’s now considered a joke and a slap in the face for China since billions of dollars were spent for nothing. After skating everything the city had to offer we ventured into the nearby desert and ran down some dunes.
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+ + + Michael Mackrodt, ollie Kabul, Afghanistan / 2012 + + + Afghanistan might not be the ideal location for skateboarding, but when we got denied trying to enter Turkmenistan, we were already right around the corner in the Middle East. Since we became friends with a Afghani who offered us safety and a good time, we decided to go check it out. Afghanistan still has to recover from the Taliban’s destruction to get to the point where I would consider going back for a skate trip. But even within destruction you can find beauty like Michael’s ollie into a bank filled with huge cracks caused by the Taliban’s AK-47s.
46
Who has influenced your filming and how did you become so fascinated with shooting in obscure locations? I have to admit that the Around The World videos by 411VM and ON Video were a big influence. I was always looking for something more than just skateboarding, and shooting in obscure locations evolved from my curiosity. I felt ignorant discussing current events and politics about places I’ve never visited, so the only way to understand the culture, people, language and customs is to actually go within. In many cases I just use skateboarding as an excuse to go somewhere, but it seems to work. How did you get into photography? My mother has been shooting photos of the family my entire childhood. I think I just picked it up from her. But I didn’t really do much with it until I turned 18 or so and got my first analog camera. Since then I’ve been
+ + + Kenny Reed / Dhaka, Bangladesh / 2011 + + +
+ + + Pyongyang, North Korea / 2012 + + +
obsessed with shooting analog film. I love the developing and printing process, but it is pricey. What still cameras do you shoot with primarily, and what types of film do you tend to work with? I’ve been shooting with a Nikon F3 for the past six years, and went through phases with my Bronica ETRS medium format camera before I started hating the weight. Film-wise, I love Ilford Delta 100 and Kodak Tri-X 400. For colour I tend to just buy cheap 100-speed rolls. What do you appreciate most about traveling to foreign lands? The customs. There is nothing better than going to a new place and being confused about what’s going on. The reason I like going to Islamic countries
is because I learn something new every time. One time I flew to Qatar during Ramadan—the annual fasting for Muslims—to experience a place that doesn’t consume food or drink water for a month during daylight hours, when the sun is beating and it’s over 43°C. How did that pan out for you? I wanted to see if I could make it for at least one day without eating or drinking. I was walking around Doha with a shirt around my head, and I remember drying out. So I bought a bottle of water from a hesitant salesman. Foreigners are actually allowed to drink in their hotel rooms or indoors while the fast is happening during daylight hours, but I was too far from my hotel. So I hid in an alley and chugged the bottle, thinking no one was watching, until I turned around and saw two barbershop men staring at me in disgust since they assumed I was Muslim.
+ + + John Tanner, kickflip / Phnom Penh, Cambodia / 2011 + + +
+ + + Sofia, Bulgaria / 2010 + + +
Unfamiliar places tend to yield situations that test the boundaries of those involved with a trip. Can you comment on this based on your personal experience? Once situations get out of hand, the real characteristics of an individual do tend to surface. I mean, being scared tends to put people in a different state of mind, but overall, on our trips we’ve gone through hell and back, and have dealt with some sketchy situations. Things like Mongolian taxi drivers who wanted to literally kill our guys, people trying to rip us off in various situations, and so forth. But in the end you tend to forget about those events and remember the good times more. We’ve never had anyone along on a trip who really blew it because he couldn’t handle a situation right. I tend to bring friends that I trust.
48
What languages do you speak and how much do you rely on tour guides? I speak Hungarian, German, English, and now I’m learning Chinese. We rely on tour guides all the time; the countries we tend to visit don’t have ties with the English language, so communication is always a big problem that needs a solution like a local skater who wants to show us spots in his city. Which travel destination is your favourite so far? The weirdest place I’ve been to is North Korea, but I loved it. You’re surrounded by propaganda with virtually no advertisements in sight, and I was fascinated that one country was able to stay remotely socialist—not communist, because that has never actually worked—even after the Cold War ended. I read numerous books on North Korea and just love going back every time, since it feels like getting on a plane to the ’70s.
+ + + Joey Pepper / Near Dalat, South Vietnam / 2012 + + + Joey was the modern Indiana Jones when it came to crossing this wooden bridge on his bike in South Vietnam. It took only minutes of hesitation and reassurance that it could hold his weight after he observed a local woman crossing it on her bike first.
Where would you like to go that you haven’t experienced yet? Once I work my way through Asia, I do want to finally explore a bit more in Africa. For example, Senegal is a country I’ve been wanting to visit for a while. China and North Korea have ties with the northern African nations, mainly because of natural resources. I want to visit more of these countries like Ethiopia, Mali, Libya, Mauritania, Chad, and Niger. You can find gems to skate anywhere.
“ o v e r a l l ,
o n
t h r o u g h
o u r
t r i p s
h e l l
a n d
w e ’ v e b a c k ”
g o n e
+ + + Kenny Reed, 360 flip / Bangalore, India / 2011 + + + School children just love to play pranks, especially Indian kids. The ones that weren’t busy playing cricket pretended to look rather distracted and annoyed while Kenny skated this bump spot.
+ + + Pyongyang, North Korea / 2012 + + +
+ + + Balkh region, Afghanistan / 2012 + + +
Can you explain the scariest moment you’ve experienced while traveling? In 2012, when we got denied at the Turkmenistan border and decided to make a detour to Afghanistan. I must admit all of us were a bit frightened of what might happen, but we made friends with a local Afghani who had security guards for us in Mazar-i-Sharif, so we felt a bit safer. But after a couple days in our hotel, everyone knowing we were staying there so I had a hard time falling asleep thinking that anyone could have come up with explosives. Actually, there were some suicide bombings just prior to visiting Kabul. Pretty scary.
What are some of the most amazing experiences you’ve had traveling? The best experience is finding a unique spot in a place you would have never expected to find anything. I think probably the most happy and excited I was while traveling happened during my first visit to Shenzhen, China, in 2007. Then there was the time we found an amusement park filled with natural spots in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, and of course my first trip to North Korea. Georgia was memorable, after kind of starving on a ship sailing the Black Sea. But now, thinking over all these experiences, I must say the best of the best was just being on a train with a good bunch of friends, playing UNO while drinking beer and wine. Nothing better falling asleep with a slight buzz on a 31-hour train ride from China to Kazakhstan.
“ T h e
B e s t
+ + + Walker Ryan, backside noseblunt Berlin, Germany / 2012 + + + When he’s not writing a journal entry or rereading Catcher in the Rye and pondering what J.D Salinger really meant to say, Walker is killing it on a skateboard like he is right here on a German ping-pong table.
e x p e r i e n c e i s
f i n d i n g
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s p o t y o u
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+ + + visualtraveling.com + + +
t o
a n y t h i n g � 53
© 2 0 1 3 J S LV | D I S T R I B U T E D B Y U LT I M AT E
JAMIE PALMORE
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E XP OS U RE
Andrew McGraw backside kickflip [o] Brian Caissie
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E X P OS U R E
E X P OS U R E
Alexis Lacroix backside noseblunt
[o] Nathan Ethier-Myette
Ben Paterson crook pop-over [o] James Morley
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E X P OS U R E
Nick Moore
front board over gap [o] Brian Caissie
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Jamie Walker backside kickflip [o] Rich Odam
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Michael Ray backside smith [o] Rich Odam
Dan redmond 360 flip
[o] Rich Odam
Mark Appleyard frontside nosegrind [o] Jon Coulthard
E XP OS U R E
Cephas Benson switch pop shuv [o] Rich Odam
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“What kind of camera do you use?” is the most common question people ask when they see my photos or my gear—and I’m not even a REAL photographer, so I can only imagine how often photographers hear it. It’s not necessarily a bad question, but more an odd one in the sense that every successful skateboarding photographer I know has the potential to, and will, share a vast wealth of knowledge and experience beyond the words “Canon” or “Nikon” to help you progress in this field. Ryan Allan is one of those photographers. “I answer gear questions all day long,” Ryan says. “And I’ll also reply, ‘Get better at networking.’ I swear it’s something I had to learn, because I’m a quiet introvert. Sometimes I’ll go to skate premieres and nobody will know I’m there and that’s what holds me back. I’ve seen people come up with next-to-no talent, but they’re really good at being the life of the party, and that shit goes miles. It’s both infuriating and hilarious. Like, ‘Wow, that dude is making it because he’s funny and buying people drinks.’” Have you ever seen Walk the Line—the Johnny Cash movie with Joaquin Phoenix? Or the film Pollock, starring Ed Harris? Nearly any story about creative legends has that scene; the moment where the struggling artist realizes their place in it all. For Cash it was upon receiving hundreds of letters from prison inmates who were moved by his music. For Jackson Pollock, it was accidentally spilling paint on a blank canvas in his shed and then continuing to haphazardly and purposely do so. For almost anyone who’s “made it” in the arts, they have similar stories. And trust me, experiencing that moment is far more exhilarating than finding out if your favourite photographer prefers film over digital.
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David Gonzalez
Frontside Ollie
Near William, AZ - 2006
Jake Johnson
Switch Back Nosegrind Revert
Portland, OR - 2012
“I didn’t figure myself out until a Flip tour with French Fred [Mortagne],” Ryan Allan mentions. “Hanging out with him, I realized that, for me, this has to be more about aesthetic and things looking rad, and less about sports photography.”
Dylan Rieder
Frontside Flip Sydney, AU - 2011
“I hit it off with Geoff Rowley shooting for Vans,” he explains. “So then I went on a Flip tour and he was like, ‘Come check out this stuff I have going on in the desert.’ He didn’t tell me much about it, but Fred was shooting a mini-ramp thing with some Flip guys for Extremely Sorry. I’d known Fred for a while, but really spent a lot of time with him on this shoot and was watching him do a lot of time-lapse dolly stuff. Things that people are just doing now, he was doing way back then. They weren’t HD cameras, but they were HVX kind of things. He had a ladder and a dolly and was measuring the distance in sticks from trees as he was moving the camera manually—without an intervalometer. Just watching him, I was like, ‘This dude is so obsessed with creativity, it’s awesome!’ I got so sparked from him. The stuff he’s done for Cliché; if everything in skateboarding were like that I’d be so hyped.” “I’m sick of third-stair-from-the-bottom fisheye shots,” Ryan says. “I still have to do it, because I have a commitment to the skater to document them. I have to get them in the mags for both of us to make a living, so there’s this frustrating battle when I get to a spot. Like, ‘I could shoot this really weird and it might not get run, but so-and-so needs a cover.’ So you have to shoot it standard, and when I’m doing that I’m like, ‘Fuck, there’s some awesome shit going on with five dudes hanging by the van having a beer and I’m here sitting under a rail shooting this trick.’ And that’s more what I want to do now. I want to shoot the hangout. It resonates with me. Even as a kid, Jason Lee talking about Benihanas in Video Days, for example. That’s the stuff I remember. The skaters are all having a good time. Kids don’t even see that in videos anymore.” 73
“The personality doesn’t come through,” Ryan continues. “Girl and Chocolate do a good job of showing that. A lot of brands ignore it. I’d love to be able to do that all the time, but I also understand I have a job to do. I’m fully a spoiled brat now and I get pissy and bummed. That’s the inner artist in me, not the reporter that’s documenting the back smith down the 12-stair.” There’s a conflict in skateboarding (and beyond) that you, the reader, may not be so privy to. One far beyond that of the internal artist vs. reporter plight. And that’s the constant battle between the artists and the businessmen—art and creativity vs. “getting the job done” by selling product and ad space. “I look back at old TransWorld mags with the ‘New York Minute’ by Ted Newsome,” says Ryan. “Those little slices of New York life were things that I loved. Now it’s all gone. I look in mags these days and all I see is the spot; I don’t get any sense of what the situation really was. And that column being gone, sadly, was probably about ad space. Some president or person up top saying it’s not an interesting story, or it’s better to sell an ad or run a photo of a smith grind where you can see every sticker and logo on the board, and what shoes the skater is wearing. I get burned out on that. I’ve worked for many companies. I’ve shot silhouette stuff and they’ll be like, ‘We can’t use that photo.’ But in my opinion it doesn’t matter. It isn’t bad that’s it’s a silhouette because it’s about the emotion. That’s what sells your product. They don’t need to keep putting more frickin’ logos in your face; that’s going to happen anyway. They don’t understand that a silhouette ad might actually stand out because it’s the only one anyone’s seen in a long time. That’s the constant battle I fight with myself all the time, but it’s also the world I’ve invited myself into.” Ryan has built relationships with some of the most photographically iconic skaters in the world—guys like Arto Saari, Dylan Rieder, Geoff Rowley, Stefan Janoski and more—as well as newer, yet equally photogenic individuals like Tom Karangelov and Ben Nordberg. Similar to that of, say, Tim Burton, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, these relationships between Ryan and his subjects can literally be seen through years of magazine and web documentation—and they are symbiotic. “Lets take Dylan, for example,” Ryan leads in. “I was introduced to Gravis and met Dylan through Arto because I was shooting for Flip and followed Arto to whatever program he was a part of. But the way it really blossomed between Dylan and I was with this kickflip photo at a sculpture in Sydney. I shot it pretty weird, down below. I’d shot with him before but I played it really safe because I didn’t want to say, ‘Sorry, Dylan. I blew it.’ Back then he didn’t talk and I fully thought he hated me. It turned out that he was living in a coma, but I didn’t have a read on him. I won him over by easing him into these weirder photos. He’s really into things looking good and I knew that about him. We both like fashion magazines. We just started to feed off it all and I think it started to click for him. He knew I worked a certain way; I’d throw ideas out and he’d be like, ‘Fuck yeah, we’re going to do that! People are going to think it’s gay, but lets do it.’ And that was kind of the beginning of the Dylan look that people recognize now.” “Ryan’s photography is top notch,” Geoff Rowley chimes in. “He enjoys the moment and is a pleasure to be around. He’s calm, collected and motivated. He shoots classic shots that are timeless, technically crisp and with good variety. He is well versed in different photographic approaches, from studio product shots to portraits to available light blackand-whites. Whatever it is, he can get the job done. He also isn’t afraid to get on the road and explore. He’s an easily pleased team player that adapts to his surroundings well.”
Kevin Terpening Frontside Wallride
Los Angeles, CA - 2013 74
“Rowley is my number one guy,” Ryan explains. “He gets it. A lot of skaters are like, ‘I have this spot; it looks so cool. It’ll be so great for a photo.’ Then you get there and it looks like total shit. But when Geoff says it, you know it’s going to be amazing. He knows spots and how they’re going to work. He recommends how to shoot things and I totally shoot them that way. He goes to great lengths, like getting mini-ramps built in the woods. He understands that if it’s a mini-ramp in a parking lot and you film a part on it, everyone will hate you. But if it’s in the woods and you do some crazy voiceover with the footage, that makes it rad.” So can a photographer indirectly and inadvertently learn from another photographer through a skater—the skater working as “medium,” so to speak? Legendary skate photographer Daniel Harold Sturt spent a lot of time shooting Rowley, and Rowley spent a lot of time shooting with Ryan.
“I grew up with Sturt photos,” says Ryan. “The Sturt and Matt Hensley combination was amazing. Like, that’s me and Geoff. That’s what we want. A lot of people think that my container photo of Geoff is a Sturt photo. I didn’t even do anything Sturt-ish on it. And I feel honoured when people think it’s a Sturt photo. I’m just like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ I always wanted to pick up elements of him. Arto used to send me all these little videos that Sturt made of himself longboarding and getting caught by cops. They were crazy. That’s kind of what you want—a tweaked brain. Look at the Markovich Carlsbad water gap photo that Sturt shot. It’s just Markovich’s knees down and you can see Sturt’s shadow using a half-lens fisheye, pre-Atiba. It’s the craziest-looking photo, and there’s so much information about Sturt and photography in that photo. It’s so awesome. Sturt showed so much in that photo; that you can cut peoples’ heads off and it’s fine if it looks cool, and that you can shoot on two different cameras and not have to hide anything.”
Javier Mendizabal Stalefish
North Shore, HI - 2008
Sammy Winter Noseblunt
Montreal, QC - 2009
“I think if you have good taste, know what you’re doing and are willing to sit back and not join the herd, but rather, more strategically decide what you want to do instead of just throwing it out into the sea, that’s when you will stand out.” 77
Arto Saari Fakie Ollie
Los Angeles, CA - 2013
“There’s so much craziness and awesomeness in his work,” Ryan carries on about Sturt. “I’ve studied it for years. He made me realize that you don’t have to be up really close to see the action, but rather, step back and see the bigger picture. Think of the photo of Hensley doing the frontside ollie on the hat; if he shot that photo from the edge of the hat, it would have been terrible and you’d never even experience what Matt was skating. Sturt is one of the best people that ever happened in skateboarding. You have to embrace the weirdos. These days, skateboarding hates out everything that is weird and different, yet we unconditionally love someone like the Gonz. It’s such a conflicting message. You have to love those people. There are a million generic, personality-less contest skaters. I love the Gonz and Ed Templeton and Jason Lee. The fact that Lennie Kirk went crazy and all religious is epic. It enhances the bigger picture. Ed talks about books and art and that helps with creativity. I’m lucky I’ve met all those people and grew up in a time in skateboarding when it was encouraged. It’s important to do that now. There are going to be all these kids who grow
up at the skatepark and become like washed-up quarterbacks instead of learning a trade or art—all these other things that can help them beyond skateboarding down the line. They’ll blow their knee out and work in a factory because skateboarding didn’t bring them past that.” “Photographers are almost as popular as the skaters these days,” Ryan continues. “Look at Atiba—he’s a celebrity in his own right and it’s cool. There are more and more kids realizing that there are careers and a fun life to be had in skateboarding in any capacity, not just being a pro. And I think photographers have the better deal because I’ve seen some pros get old and the world gets harsh really quick. Their bodies are destroyed and they have no skill sets. They’ve traveled the world and been catered to, but when it goes away their world becomes a dark place. And I feel really bad. Sometimes I think I’ve got it easy. So all you kids out there who think that they want to become pro skaters, you might want to try something longer-lasting.”
The iPhone has quickly become the most popular camera in the world. Everyone has one in their pocket at all times and everyone is a so-called “photographer,” or wants to be. Instagram has become a real-time skate magazine of sorts. Skate ads and photos in magazines have been shot on iPhones, and we’re not talking silly enjoi ads either, we’re talking actual tricks. But how does a true and professional photographer feel about this shift, and how does it affect things going forward?
“What you can do on an iPhone now is insane,” he continues, “and the whole thing has proven that anyone can shoot a generic photo and get it run in a magazine. Even the kid down the street has a 16mm fisheye. Back when I started, a Canon fisheye lens was $800. If you had a fisheye in your city, you were the dude. Hopefully, people will eventually want a change, but I’m not worrying about that. For now, I’m just doing my best to be really good at what I do, focusing on portraits and behind-the-scenes stuff.”
“It’s weird and has made me pull back a lot,” says Ryan. “Because I see it so much now, I’ve avoided being the guy who has a camera on his back at all times. I think if you have good taste, know what you’re doing and are willing to sit back and not join the herd, but rather, more strategically decide what you want to do instead of just throwing it out into the sea, that’s when you will stand out.”
Most recently, Ryan got a gig as team manager (and photographer) for Asphalt Yacht Club. Like so many other creatives in our industry, Ryan knows it’s difficult—near impossible at times—to make a proper living without a full-time job or multitasking.
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Dylan Rieder
Costa Mesa, CA - 2010
“I’ve always used another outlet to get to where I want to be,” Ryan explains. “I started SBC because there were no places to sell my photos and because Appleyard was a rising star in Canada. We couldn’t get his photos published anywhere. America didn’t know about Mark yet, and Concrete was pretty West Coast-heavy at the time. So I was like, ‘OK, lets do something East Coast to promote Appleyard.’ From there, Mark blew up and got me a graphic design job at C1RCA, so I moved down to California. I’d already done four years of design working for the mag, so I started designing T-shirts and catalogues, then became their photographer.”
Adam McLaughlin Switch Heelflip Irvine, CA - 2007
After C1RCA, Ryan freelanced for various companies over the years, including Gravis. “It’s always been photography-based,” he says, “but the pitch was always: ‘I can shoot all your photos, but I’m also a commercial photographer and can shoot product and save you guys a shit ton of money.’ In skateboarding that’s the clincher every time.” “AYC came about through Ben Nordberg, which is crazy because I pick on him all the time,” Ryan begins explaining his new role. “Ben was like, ‘They’re looking for a team manager; you should talk to them.’ Team managing isn’t my favourite thing, but I did it at Gravis because they were my friends. AYC is real team managing for me—a lot of time on the phone and emailing. But I’ve got to do it, you know? My creative photos don’t make the bank. But it’s cool, the team is awesome and everyone is rad. I really want to help. It’s a gnarly uphill battle and a social experiment for me. Like, ‘Can I bring an aesthetic to this team that, on paper, looks crazy?’ Aesthetically it’s not my style, but I think I can do something with it. That’s what’s nice for me. I’m not stressing if this comes or goes. It’ll be interesting for sure …” 81
tom karangelov ollie
photo brian caissie
concrete Est. 1990: Canadaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s original skateboard magazine
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Scott shreds. The first time I saw him was in a 411VM shot at Tampa AM. He nollie hardflipped into a hubba while riding across the flat part up top. Gnarly. Since then I’ve seen him do other amazing things, like ride off the side of the road on his motorcycle and not get hurt. This made me wonder how he ever had the focus to do that nollie hardflip? One only has to look at his photography and how magical it is—the final product always being an amazing image that most mortals could never create—and we have the answer to his journey into the ditch: he must have seen, off in the trees, that the light was perfect for getting a photo. This could also mean that the lighting in the Skatepark of Tampa was bad, so Scott was able to focus on skating without being distracted by his abilities as a photographer.
andrew norton
—Keegan Sauder
Cameras You’ve Used
Photo Subjects
1. Pentax 67 II 2. Mamiya RZ 3. Pentax K1000 4. Canon EOS-1V 5. RED One MX
1. Pretty ladies. 2. Large machinery: planes, trains, automobiles. 3. Fashion, but no pointless jumping or weird body shapes, please. 4. People working; I like it when the subject is focused, as well as being in focus. 5. Landscapes; an unmistakable sign of aging.
Dream Cameras
Skaters To Photograph
1. ARRI Alexa 2. RED Epic Dragon 3. Linhof Master Technica 4. EOS-1DC 5. A camera that photographs dreams.
1. Geoff Rowley; always up for an adventure. 2. Mark Appleyard; powerful and stylish. 3. Rick McCrank; capable of almost anything and fun to skate with. 4. Ryan Smith; I shot him doing things I wasn’t even sure were possible. 5. John Rattray; delightfully witty conversation and imaginative ripping.
Job Perks
Motorcycles
1. Having a creative outlet. 2. Setting your own (fucked up) hours. 3. Not having a daily commute, except to the yoga studio. 4. A little variety is built into your life. 5. Looking forward to a whole lifetime of learning and evolving.
1. 1969 Harley-Davidson FL chopper that’s sitting in my garage. 2. 1946 or ’47 Harley-Davidson EL. 3. KTM Enduro; something modern. 4. ’90s Harley-Davidson FXR; something to match my Sons of Anarchy-style leather vest. Am I joking? 5. 1955 Harley-Davidson FL (work in progress).
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Inspirational Photographers
Books
1. Daniel Harold Sturt 2. Sally Mann 3. Mitch Epstein 4. Joseph Szabo 5. Sam Haskins
1. Cat’s Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (Atheist’s bible). 2. Galápagos, Kurt Vonnegut Jr. 3. The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor (my current pop-psych pick). 4. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams. 5. Kodak Guide to 35mm Photography (taught me all the basics).
Canadians
Travel Destinations
1. David Suzuki 2. Rick Moranis 3. Terry Fox 4. Lister Sinclair 5. Mr. Dressup (Ernie Coombs)
1. Big Sur, a truly incredible stretch of northern California coast. 2. Corsica, France, which is the murder capital of Europe (and beautiful!). 3. Iceland, because some guys are into geysers. 4. Toronto, because there’s no place like your one-time home. 5. The Moon (aspirational).
Go-To Tracks
Skate Videos
1. “Age Of Consent”, New Order. 2. “Atmosphere”, Joy Division. 3. “Happiness”, Elliott Smith. I added a “t” to Elliot, my middle name, in his honour. 4. “Oh Sister”, Neutral Milk Hotel (live version). 5. “Farewell Transmission”, Songs: Ohia (R.I.P.).
1. Shackle Me Not (1988) 2. Questionable (1992) 3. Video Days (1991) 4. Eastern Exposure 3 (1996) 5. Anything that comes up under a YouTube search for “Dennis Busenitz.”
scottpommier.com
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SWITCH BS FLIP / PHOTO: ZASLAVSKY
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brian caissie
photos
wade desarmo
The camaraderie between filmer and photographer instills confidence in a skateboarder, knowing that their trick will be captured well. In a lot of cases, you don’t want to go back to a spot to re-shoot or re-film something, so the goal is to handle both mediums at once. This was the plan at Burnaby, BC’s famous Alpha Gap, although I was handling filming duties and there was no photographer available. That is, until Wade Desarmo stepped up to the plate. Instead of getting in on the session, he offered to shoot the sequence of Magnus Hanson’s nollie varial heelflip with my camera gear. “Are you sure you got this?” I asked, just so Magnus didn’t have to do this rare move twice. But Wade assured us that he had both the situation and the right angle under control. I was a bit nervous, but I dialed in the correct settings for him and after a few tries Magnus nailed his trick. Lo and behold, yet another of Wade’s hidden talents was revealed—photography! Enjoy the sequence he shot and yes, we’ll be sending him a cheque for his hard work. 90
brian caissie
words
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BILLY MARKS
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GAP TO BACKSIDE 5-0. OAKLAND, CA. PHOTO: CHAMI
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