“We can just fuck around and shoot photos, play music, record music, get nuts, watch Arto build shit.”
(clockwise from top left) Dylan Rieder Steve Forstner Sammy Winter Arto Saari Gravis team, Australia
Mark was shooting a fashion editorial for Quiksilver when he first met the 10-year-old model, Rieder. “He showed up to a photo shoot and I was kinda just dissin’ him ‘cause I didn’t really care,” says Oblow. “Then he just came around to another one, and then we let him enter a contest, the Damn Am, and he won and that was kinda it.” Soon after, Oblow became a sort of mentor to the young Rieder. “He was quiet, he didn’t ever really used to talk, he would only really talk to me. It was funny, like we’d get in the hotel room and he’d just fuckin’ go nuts.” But Rieder’s parents trusted Mark and let him take a bit of control in guiding Dylan. “We just became really good friends and that’s the biggest thing,” says Oblow, “he’s like a son, he’s like a best friend, he influences me, so it’s just a really good relationship.” These days, when Mark isn’t on the road shooting a skate tour, or at Gravis/Analog headquarters, he’s likely in Costa Mesa at his studio ‘35’ with fellow skater/photographer Ryan Allen. Oblow credits Canadian-born Allen as a major influence in his current photography and so he decided to, “pop up a studio and a space for us to work in and we can
really try to push ourselves and take it to the next level.” But it’s not all serious in the ‘35’ studio: “We have a music room in there and all our camera gear and I have motorcycles and bikes and skateboards and it’s just rad ‘cause guys come in and we can just fuck around and shoot photos, play music, record music, get nuts, watch Arto build shit.” Mark is one of the few people on this earth who has a VIP pass to Arto Saari’s backyard pool. “I have the pass,” says Oblow, “but you can’t skate by yourself, that’s the hard thing, and the session isn’t quite the same if Arto’s not there.” He adds, “If he’s not home then I’m not skating really. It’s just what happens with getting old and working.” Work keeps Mark Oblow very busy. These days, Mark finds success even outside the world of skateboarding, shooting for fashion and lifestyle clients like Low and Adidas: “but not their skate, only their nieko squad. Shit like David Beckham and Katy Perry.”
And Mark’s got big plans with his studio too. “Ideally I want to open up a studio in Hawaii next, and then there were talks on this trip of possibly even doing a ‘35’ in Sydney.” And then there’s the Analog/Gravis tours still going off. “We’ve just got a really good crew and that’s what’s always rad is that we get to travel with our friends. It’s cool ‘cause we’ll be in L.A. and that’s Dylan’s hood and he’s dominating and then we go to Finland and that’s Arto’s hood so he’s dominating, then we get to go to Sammy and Luke’s spot, and then go to Toronto which is Ryan’s spot, and then we go to Hawaii which is my spot… We always seem to be able to get the best shit out of everything.” Surely with that kind of energy stoking his passions, the best of Mark Oblow is still to come. Thanks to Andrew Peters for conducting the full, extended interview with Mark Oblow which can be read at colormagazine.ca. Check out some of Mark’s work at markoblow.com
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