a brief glance issue_26 by a brief glance skateboardmag

issue _26

a brief glance

NYJAH HUSTON \ F/S NOSEGRIND \ CHINA \ DARWIN PHOTO

DCSHOES.COM

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Introducing

NYJAH VULC

T O TA L IM PA C T P R O T E C T I O N & E N H A N C E D B O A R D - F E E L . T W O F E AT U R E S N O T U S U A L LY F O U N D I N T H E S A M E S H O E – U N T IL N O W

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abg 26 _ New South Wales_Australia_Photo_Jacopo Carozzi.

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s like feature Skate ners and li s Pro rt sock ith Van ked w comfo m-pac s, Ortholite om .c sic is ja rea V Clas high wear a . Skate.vans new A in rip The all affle g erlays ap und um rubber w Durac g riginal Vans o

Switch Pole Jam Vans, Inc. ÂŠ2014

photo_Davide Biondani.

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EDITORIAL_26

“Skateboarding is the fountain of youth! It keeps me young and happy” (Daewon Song).

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PHOTO: SEU TRINH

TOREY 3 F E AT U R I N G

P H OTO : YO O N S U L

TOREY PUDWILL

Y O U J O I N E D T H E D V S F A M I LY T H E D A Y Y O U S TA R T E D S K AT E B O A R D I N G PA R T I C I PAT E @ D V S S K AT E B O A R D I N G O R D V S S H O E S . C O M / / PA S S T H E F I R E

ISSUE _26

CONTENTS

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FRAGMENTS_

a conversation with_Daewon Song_ Strange differences_ Places_Scotland_the Highlands_ (Never)Mind The Gap_Fred Mortagne_ Book_PORT LAND_Oli Buergin_ Photographer_DVL_ Dusted Off_Bruno Aballay_

photo_Davide Biondani.

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JOSEPH BIAIS - BACKSIDE LIPSLIDE - PHOTO: GUILLAME PERIMONY

EDITOR and CONCEPT_ Davide Biondani.

(davide@abriefglance.com) ASSOCIATE EDITOR_ Guido Bendotti.

ASSISTANT EDITOR_ Andrew Zolin. PHOTOGRAPHERS_

Leo Sharp, Kévin Mètallier, DVL,

Friedjof Fèye, Fred Mortagne, Paco Raban,

Gogo Cetiner, Fabio Montagner, Brian Gaberman,

Alan Maag, Erik Fasolo, Alex Berger, Davide Biondani, Carmin Santos, Bertrand Trichet, Jacopo Carozzi. CONTRIBUTORS_

Jonathan Levin, Mario Torre, Francesco Paolo Chielli,

Davide Martinazzo, Jerome Campbell, Samu Karvonen, Mark Baines, Ale Martoriati, Jacopo Picozza, Simone Bertozzi, Niall Neeson, Fred Mortagne. DESIGN_

Fake Donkey Lab. www.abriefglance.com

GET ALL THE INFOS at: info@abriefglance.com

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Ale Morandiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s knee_photo Davide Biondani.

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BOA

RD TRU

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COVER // Kevin Tshala_Ollie over the pole. Photo_DVL_

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Allies unite to form a battalion of footwear defense for skate brigades around the globe. Featuring a strategic tactile defense with high-impact rebound STI Evolution速 Foam.

//:MARANA OG

//:MARANA E-LITE

//:SCOUT BLUE DISTRIBUTION - WWW.BLUEDISTRIBUTION.COM

Bad Salo and Jacopo Picozza // After sesh refurbishing _Photo_Davide Biondani.

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FA LLE N R E P R E S E N TS TH E D E TE R M I N ATI O N A N D P E R S E V E R A N CE IT TA K E S TO R I S E A B O V E Y O U R LI M I TS FA LLE N F O O TWE A R I S D E S I G N E D , TE S TE D , & D E S TR O Y E D BY O U R TE A M TO E N S U R E Q U A LI TY A N D D U R A B I LI TY

I N TR O D U C TI N G TH E R O A C H J O N D I C K S O N S I G N ATU R E M O D E L

PHOTO: SHIGEO

Marcello Pettenuzzo, Bs noseblunt slide. Photo_Erik Fasolo. Padova. a brief glance

FRAGMENTS a brief glance

Dave Snaddon, Kickflip bs smith to fakie Photo_Davide Biondani. Bergamo. a brief glance

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FRAGMENTS

Cristian Trocker, Half cab flip in Photo_Alex Berger. Italy.

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FRAGMENTS

Danny Brady, Karsten Kleppan, Ollie up to blunt slide down. Bs smith to fs out Photo_Henry Kingsford. Photo_Davide Biondani. Catania. Sicily.

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PLANES, TRAINS, AUTOMOBILES AND A BBQ

a night between the Alps with the DVS team.

Photography_Davide Biondani. Words and interview_Guido Bendotti.

a conversation with // Daewon Song_ a brief glance

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Having the chance to talk to Daewon was really fun, because despite his 25-year long â&#x20AC;&#x153;careerâ&#x20AC;? (yes, twentyfive!) his numerous videoparts, constant innovation in skateboarding, dozens of magazine covers, hundreds of pro models, and ten shoe models, well basically heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s still a skate rat who just wants to skate as much as possible. Having been one of the pioneers of modern street skateboarding, having been part of one of the most exciting realities in skateboarding (World Industries in the early 90s), and having given all of us headaches with every video part of his, has not made him too dissimilar from me, you, or any other skateboarder on the face of the Earth. He simply loves skateboarding and it simply shows. In an era when every AM landing a few hammers acts like a rock-star, Daewon Song shows that you can always have something in common for the sole fact of being a skateboarder, just like it was twenty-five years ago, and how it should still always be, in theory. We spent a few days with the DVS team during its last Euro tour Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and spent a magical evening in the heart of the Alps for a skate session and BBQ, where everyone skated, had fun, and where we had a chance to have a nice chat with Daewon. Thanks Daewon. (gb)_

Torey Pudwill, Paul Shier, Flo Mirtain, Adrien Coillard.

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Daewon Song_Blunt tre flip out.

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It’s been 25 years since I first heard of you, I remember the World ad with Kareem and Daniel Castillo. The white power ad!! Yes, how was your life back than? It was pretty crazy, ‘cause I was a little kid and I didn’t know what was going on, I was so young and sponsored for skateboarding, so you know, when you’re that young everything is so exciting, like, “OH MY GOD IT’S CHRISTMAS,” every time a box showed up on my door. You received decks and stickers, and you put stickers everywhere, on your fridge, on your face…It was such a new world, but I didn’t realize what came with it, all the pressure that later came with it. But before that you were on Z-Roller !!! I wanted to be on Z-Roller trucks really bad! Seriously? I was a Z-Roller wannabe (laughs). When I got on World Industries, I rode for Z-Roller, and I was afraid ‘cause they wanted me to change trucks. The team said they had a bad look, but I loved my trucks! After 5 months I changed over to Venture trucks. Well… I tried Z-Rollers back in the days, but seriously, I never liked them. You just roll, you don’t really grind. I know. When everybody was tryin’ to grind something they would yell at me: “Hey, it doesn’t grind, there’s no wax.” I’d just get onto that thing and crrrrrrrrrr! You can grind or roll forever (laughs). Yeah (laughs). I know what you mean, everybody said the same thing back in the day… How long have you been skateboarding? Me? Well… I think since ‘87 or ’88. That’s amazing!!!! Well… I’m not good though (laughs). Well who cares, you have other things to keep getting better at, but you still keep skating. It keeps you young. To me the best thing about travelling is meeting people that grew up

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skating the way I grew up skating, because we witnessed everything for the very first time ever. New tricks? First time. Launch ramps, wall rides, late flips, combo grinds, we’ve seen it all, and we’ve seen it come back again as well. We got to see it first. And then we also got to see people going bigger and bigger, we’ve seen it all. Like the hardflip that you invented. Well, Rodney Mullen told me one of the guys did it, but we never saw it, so we kept trying and trying, and then I filmed it over the gap in Love Child, and man, that was a really ugly one. Yes… it was kinda sketchy ah ha ha. Yeah (laughs), but you know that back then we didn’t know what it was. We called them the “inside varial flip.” I think this guy Dan Gallagher was the first to land one. I remember his check out in TWS… with a nollie flip 180 on flat. Yeah, it was him! But there was no footage, so I was the first one to film it. How was skating for World Industries really early on like? It was crazy, because people were doing crazy stuff, with Big Brother magazine, and graphics, and Rocco doing whatever he wanted to do. Like with the graphics, when you slid them, under the first graphic there would be womens’ private parts (laughs). And Rocco was making fun of big companies like Powell or Santa Cruz, and stealing their riders. It was such a great time, it was hardcore, like, “fuck you and fuck you all!” attitude. Rocco was a crazy genius. I wish skateboarding could still be like that, nowadays people in skateboarding wanna sue each other if we do things like that.That’s just not funny anymore. People are so serious! Like when Foundation announced its new rider Richard Mulder in an ad. Rocco didn’t like Tod Swank at the time, and simply stole Mulder from Foundation, and put out an Ad as the new Blind team rider… it was so funny! It was a funny period, ‘cause skateboarding was taking a new direction.

Adrien Coillard_Crail tail bash.

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Torey Pudwill_Fs kick flip over the BBQ.

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You’re really loyal to the ex-World group, now Dwindle. At first I was on S.M.A., Rocco division, then World, Deca, and now Almost. Always under the Dwindle Umbrella. Same place my whole life. You never left, and that’s a pretty uncommon thing these days, with agents and stuff… A lot of people have agents. They’re like, “Talk to my agent, talk to my agent.” Maybe it’s fine for them, but I’m more old fashioned… “Talk to me!” (laughs) You’re right! If it works, why change? For a couple of years, like 94/95, you disappeared from skateboarding... Yes… I quit. I was involved with gangs, driving cars, and had girl problems. It was a bad time in my life. It was around the time when everybody took off to start Girl skateboards. All this stuff was happening, and Rodney was really upset, and he called me to know what I was going to do. Rodney did so much for me growing up, so that was a wake-up call for me. I started thinking, “What am I doing? Drop the cars, drop the bad habits and start skateboarding again!” We started filming for Trilogy, and the Rodney Vs Daewon thing started. We brought back our names, filmed for the videos, and here I am! In the right place in my opinion! You came back with the TWS interview… with a 360 flip over a fire hydrant! Yes, that was my first project after I quit… you remember it! You’ve been on DVS ever since the beginning... Kind of, I got sponsored by DVS after 4 months or something… Yes. You’ve seen all the changes. Yeah… the team is so different right now, and everything is changing, but we’re still a core brand, and we wanna keep it core. The team is smaller now, but I like it, ‘cause it’s more for skateboarders, and we can do things for skateboarding. We don’t have high-caliber riders, we have really underground skateboarders that skate so well, they’re amazing, and people will find out how talented they are. I love being involved with new guys, and a team that people

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don’t even know who they really are and how good they are, ‘cause it’s new, it’s new inspiration. If you could bring back one DVS rider from the past who would that be? Zered Basset for sure! He’s so underrated, and he’s so fucking good!!! In my opinion, you’re way too underrated as well! You keep pushing and pushing, always skating and filming, and you keep advancing… please stop, ‘cause it’s embarrassing us! (laughs) No! We have to keep going! We have to let people know that skateboarding is for all ages, that you can keep progressing, and that you can skate, skate, skate! SKATEBOARDING is the fountain of youth! It keeps me young and happy. Is it true that during a demo in Australia, you sometimes missed tricks on purpose so as not to embarrass the other skaters? (laughs) No, it’s something that somebody put out there, and it stuck. You know what? During that tour I was skating and I wasn’t feeling my trucks, so I took off all my bushings, and skated the demo with no bushings. I can’t remember, it was a crazy time and I was a little drunk (laughs). Australia? Oh my God, even here in Italy you can drink wherever you want! Don’t you think that right now skateboarding is way too serious at times? You know, everything changes, and skateboarding evolves, but yeah sometimes it gets way too serious. Everybody is too serious! Can we all just have fun again, can we just enjoy it, without all the big and weird sponsors? The ones that say, “Put the stickers, where are the stickers, where’s the logo t-shirt… blah blah blah!” Somebody has to do it, they have contracts, but for me it’s a big NO. I’ve never signed a contract where I have to wear something. I just wanna enjoy myself, and not think about all the sponsors under my deck, like, “Oh my God I shot the photo and I wasn’t wearing that t-shirt!”

Jon Nguyen_Crooks transfer.

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Louis Taubert_Fs kickflip.

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I want it too. Ok, is there a trick that you can’t do? Mmmm switch flip to switch back noseblunt slides are really hard for me. Ok, I hate you... c’monnnn you’re killin us. Ah ha ha well… switch hardflips… I can do it, but I don’t like ‘em. I do them really bad. During games of skate I can do them, but they are sketchy. Talking about games of skate, why have you never participated in the Game of Skate at the Berrics? I’m so nervous in front of people. During contests they call my name and my knees tremble… missing kickflips and stuff. I get so nervous. In 22 years of being pro, as soon as the demo starts, my heart starts pumping, and I get butterflies in my stomach. I can’t do it… even today at the demo. At first I was so nervous. It took me some time to feel comfortable and see people smiling. They didn’t care, they were having fun, so I started feeling better and skating better. I made sure to sign everything they put in front of me, to make kids happy. I like to make kids happy, even if they don’t skate. Maybe they’ll watch the name, then watch some skate video and start skating. Is skateboarding still fun? YES!!! Skateboarding is the funnest thing ever. It’s fun as long you keep it fun, so it is up to you to have fun. Sometimes during tours it’s hard for me, ‘cause I’m not skating what I like to skate. But skateboarding is the only reason why I breath, ‘cause I’ve got my skateboard. If somebody takes me off my skateboard, I will die!

Daewon Song_Fs air.

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Strange

differences Phtography_Davide Biondani_ Words_Jacopo Picozza_

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What difference is there between going on tour and doing a photo-shoot? When you’re on tour you switch off everything: brain, wi-fi, any worries about work, your mobile phone, and all you think about is the next spot to skate. During a photo-shoot things are different: the travel-mood is less evident, but everybody is more at ease because it often takes place closer to home. So this time we decided to experiment with a new formula: the riders farthest from the Veneto region had to feel “mentally” on tour, and part of the team was to film the last tricks for their video-part. Yes, because everything was born from the need to complete the new Strange video due to come out very soon... so what better excuse to gather the team together for a few days? My favorite superhero Jacopo Picozza traveled across Italy to catch up with us and do some of the best tricks I’ve ever seen him do. He who traveled over 500 km at sunrise to go straight to the spot and land the first big trick of the mission has the duty of describing this trip with his team-mates. (Davide Martinazzo)

Often, while browsing through a skate magazine, you tend to look at photos of tricks and judge them for what they express visually, and at times it is interesting to get some info about the specific circumstances in which the trick was done. Often, the mental and urban contexts are not the best, other times on the contrary, they are like a flash of lightning in a clear sky, full of adrenaline, and deserving to be described. Adrenaline and the desire to skate were the elements that spiced things up during our sessions; definitely two inseparable ingredients that often push you to see, do, and experience your environment in a distorted, blurred and sublime manner. This wasn’t exactly a tour, but more like a photo-session to get as much material for the video we’re working on. Behind every photo there is a story and a context that is described synthetically without taking away from the viewing of each photo. ( Jacopo Picozza)

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Jacopo Picozza // Kickflip over the rail and into the bank. After spending a whole day looking for a decent spot to skate, we decided to go up to this hill that oversees the city. My legs were sore, but I was excited because this spot was so cool, which definitely made me overcome the tension due to the old ladies cursing at me during the run-up to this kickflip over the rail of the church. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m so damn happy about this trick. .

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“Often in photos you can’t understand how difficult a trick really is.”

Alvin Francescato // Blunt slide to fakie. Alvin is a man of few words... not because he is stuck-up or feels superior to you in any way, but because he prefers to let his skateboarding do all the talking: he gets to the spot and skates. Alvin is a guy I’d call every day to go skate, he knows how to behave in public and on tour as well... and that is not something to be taken lightly. Nobody likes too much chatter. More skateboarding, less small-talk.

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Michele Salini // Tre flip off the bump. When you’re on tour you’re motivated and hyped to skate everywhere, there’s that mood of wanting to land as many tricks as possible and have the best street session ever. Bad Salo is the baddest gangsta rapper, we all know that. He’s always smiling, gesticulating while talking, hypes you like no other when you’re skating… and comes on tour with his BMW with alloy wheel rims. Even though the spot was rough, and we were all really tired at the end of the day, he still wanted to show us how BAD he really is. Perfect tre flip during a line. a brief glance

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Strange Strange

differences

Fabio Montagner // Kickflip crooks. Montagner got to the spot with not the happiest face on Earth: because it was morning. Skating a rail in the morning is not everybody’s thing, especially if the trick you’re trying to do is a kickflip crooks. The rail isn’t big, but it has its imperfections typical of any street spot. Fabio warmed up and as usual showed us that when he decides to do a trick he always lands it. After about ten tries he stopped bouncing on the ground like a meatball and landed the trick perfectly. You wanna see it? The new Strange video is out in November bro!

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Alvin Francescato // Crooks pop over. Alvinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s style is just the type of style I like, I like how he stands on his board and how he catches his tricks. We got to this spot that I really loved aesthetically, especially the color blue on the wall of an abandoned building on a road in the suburbs. Crooked grind the whole bar to pop out at the end... think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s tweaked enough?

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Jacopo Picozza // Fs feeble grind. Often in photos you canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t understand how difficult a trick really is. I remember that the rail in question had these metal supports on the side of it that, together with the aesthetic ugliness of the context, definitely took away some of the magic and motivation to skate rails as the first spot of the day. I was sitting on my board with sunglasses on, meditating on the fact that I was sleepy. Fortunately Montagner helped me to wake up by landing his trick in front of my eyes. I was hyped, but my legs didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t feel up to it, although I did feel like skating. Fs feeble isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really my forte, and while grinding there was the possibility that my nose would hit one of those metal supports. This whole boring situation is completely overshadowed by the beauty of this photo. Creating, re-evaluating, and re-inventing something beautiful in a barely appreciable urban and mental context is also what makes skateboarding beautiful.

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Michele Salini // Fs kickflip. This spot is insane. The whole team was skating freely, trying tricks, falling, yelling like mad, and just basically skating hard. Among this chaos made of transitions and skaters, Bad Salo hyped us all with this fs flip.

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Jacopo Picozza // Bs smith grind. I got off work around 3.00 am in Latina, got my bags ready, jumped into the car towards Rome, got a high-speed train to Verona, high-fived all my mates as soon as I got to the spot, took a shit on the sidewalk at the spot, set up a new Strange board, silently camouflaged ourselves behind the columns to avoid the cops, had a few laughs with meatball aka Fabio Montagner, and with no sleep at all landed this bs smith grind on the school hubba. Really happy.

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Fabio Montagner // Blunt slide. It is usually very difficult to do a trick at a super-skated spot like this and refresh its value. After the first try on this bluntslide, I motivated him by saying, “Fabio, you’ll never land it!” Ha ha ha. What asshole friends… ha ha ha. A couple liters of sweat later… he landed the trick. Monty knows.

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Jacopo Picozza // Tre flip. This spot is like a really smooth cement snakerun in the middle of some woods: I‘ve never seen anything as nice and fun to skate. Its countless curves made you wanna try every trick. It felt like those humps were just waiting for somebody to do some tricks on them. I landed the tre flip more than once during some lines, and didn’t notice good ol’ Dave was capturing every moment. I love seeing things from a natural and beautiful point of view, in the purest and truest sense of the word… this photo embodies just this, doesn’t it?

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_SCOTLAND

PLACES

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the HIGHLANDS

Photos_Friedjof FĂ¨ye.

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SCOTLAND

the HIGHLANDS

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( Never) Mind The Gap_

Jacopo Carozzi & Fred Mortagne // a few hours in Lyon.

Photography and Words_Fred Mortagne_ Portrait_Davide Biondani_

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A sad thing in life might occur when the generation gap between two

persons is too big. They are so different that they cannot understand and

comprehend each other, and therefore cannot communicate properly. This seemed to happened more in the past, and could often seen in families, between parents and their children. But it is still part of life in general.

When you are out in the streets skating, a lot of older people look down on you and give you shit, for being out playing, instead of being at work

for example! I hear this so many times. Total non-sense of course, coming from older generations who didn’t grow up with their lives revolving

around having fun. They lived so much their life with the idea that it can only be tough and difficult, having to work hard, that they cannot even

imagine one second, that some youngsters having fun out in the streets, might actually be earning their paycheck.

I think that a lot of the older skateboard generations, who grew up

trying to fill up their lives with as much fun as possible, are trying to

not reproduce the model of their parents. They want to keep having as much fun as possible, despite having to have a “normal” life, to work to

earn money to support their families! These days, everyone still skates at

some point, or at least tries… people over 40, around 50, and that’s great. No one gives it up. In fact the more they get old, the more they get back in skateboarding, knowing this might be their last chance! Lots of them

gave it up for years, and after realizing their body is changing and that in few years, things will really start to be different and more difficult, then they get the boards out of the basements or the garages. In their heads, they try to stay as young as possible, and try to stay connected to the

child they once have been, simulteanously of being responsible adults.

This kind of process surely helps reducing the generation gaps between

the parents and their kids, who can share more things together and stay more connected.

No comply to fs crail slide_

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“No one gives it up. In fact the more they get old, the more they get back in skateboarding...”

I’m not a dad yet, but it’s something I think about. No matter the years passing by, I’m trying not to forget where I come from, and try to stay

connected to a part of my younger life. In our societies, people seem to

want you to grow up and become a man, and to forget about your inner child. My feeling as always being the opposite, thinking the world in

general and its people, are being to dam serious. This doesn’t mean I want to remain an irresponsible kid! I’m trying to compose with what I think

are good values for me, and for what I can positively bring to the world. Sorry kids, I got pretty philosophical here!!! I thought about this while trying to find an idea to write this text, about these couple days when I met Jacopo who came to skate in Lyon. He’s 21 years younger than myself, and it wasn’t a problem for either of us. In fact I discovered a

pretty interesting kid, speaking amazingly great english, and who was

generally open in life. Communicating was easy and mutual respect was present. We only spent two days together, so I don’t know much about him, but it was cool.

I like to know that younger skateboarding generations are paying attention to what has been happening in the past, before they even started

skateboarding themselves. They pay attention to the historical aspect of

it, which is a good thing, because there is much to learn, and inspiration

to get. It’s very wise to be able to look back. Flo Mirtain is like this also.

And I think this brings much to his skateboarding. They understand the

importance of historical knowledge and culture. That’s very wise. Oh did I mention Jacopo is a true killer on his board? Fuck yeah he is!

Barley grind revert_

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photographer_

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DVL_

interview

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DVL / portrait Paco Raban.

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Personally, I have much respect for people who are very passionate about their jobs, that take great care of the things they do in an almost “obsessive” manner, because they love what they do. I met Davy first through his photographs and then in person at various events around Europe. I’ve had the pleasure of knowing an excellent photographer and an authentic person, passionate and absolutely humble. Davy Van Laere started skating in 1985 and at the beginning of the 90’s was in the Deathbox team, which then became Flip Skateboards. For over 15 years he’s been publishing his great photos in all the top skateboard magazines around the world. DVL kicks ass. _db_

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Ross mcGouran // Lien air.

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In 2005 you won a photo contest in Rotterdam, what do you remember about this experience? An amazing experience I sure will never forget. Winning this as an underdog was a bit… unexpected! It really motivated me back then. Of course shooting photos isn’t about being number one, or being the best. There is no best, everyone has a different taste. There were a few other amazing images, somebody else could have won easily as well. I guess I had a good image and got lucky that day. With the money I won, which was quite a lot, I bought some new photo-gear that I really needed, it helped me out a bit. And of course I gave some of the money to the 3 skaters that had joined me for those three days of shooting. The photo with which you won the competition was a grainy black and white analog silhouette shot, most of your photos are (or were at least) color images shot with flashes, did you spend all the money you got from the photo competition to buy flashes? Ha ha ha… I bought some pocket wizards, and probably some second hand flashes. It was a while ago. I think I was shooting with wires before the photo contest. Back in the days it was a bit more expensive to buy wireless transmitters, and generally, when you start shooting photos you’re not earning money right away. Can you imagine shooting a photo with 3 flashes that all are connected with long wires to the camera, hilarious when I think about this now! This was really in the beginning when I got back into photography. During the early nineties when I was about 17-18 years old I shot some photos for English skatemags such as RAD and Skate Action, but it was more like I was skating somewhere and took out the camera for an hour to shoot some. Nothing too serious. It was only like 13 years ago that I really fell in love with photography.

Bjorn Eriksson & Nathalie Delcroix // Demolition Zeemanshuis // Seagulls in Marocco.

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Jonathan Thijs // Fs kickflip.

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What do you like the most about shooting with flashes? I heard stories about you shooting with 9 flashes… is it true or just a legend? I don’t know if I like to shoot with flashes that much at all. My favorite shots are probably the ones with natural light. Anyways yeah, I probably have shot with 7 flashes at times. Nine? I don’t know about that, maybe once with eight… ha ha. But it was more like for the main flashes, I put two Metz or Sunpack flashes together to have more powerful lighting. A pain in the ass though, ‘cause when you have seven flashes set up there’s always one that’s not working. But those days are luckily long gone. But yeah, once in a while my flashes are on strike and refuse to work. A common thing with skateboarding photographers I guess! When and how did you start getting interested in photo-

graphy? My dad was a passionate amateur photographer. He shot a lot of landscapes, portraits and nudes in his studio. As a little kid I walked into his studio more than once while he was shooting nude women, I will never forget that! When I was ten he gave me my first point-and-shoot camera, it was an Agfa. So I grew up with photos everywhere in the house. I guess that influenced me unconsciously. We also had a darkroom in the house which was pretty sick to have. But like I said the real passion came about 13 years ago. But I’ve been enjoying shooting photos since the day I got my first camera. Has the way you shoot changed over the years? What do you look for when you try to find the right angle/image? I guess you learn, you evolve, but in a way I think you develop your own style and you just try to perfect it more and more. I don’t think I shoot images too differently than I did a long time ago. It’s not that I ever check my old stuff and try to analyze what has changed. I try to go with my feeling, try not think about it too much. It has to come more from the soul, more naturally or something. You can learn everything about photography, but if you don’t have the eye

for it, you won’t shoot really good images consistently. For a long time I tried not to check too many photo books, I was just scared to copy a style! But then again you are unconsciously influenced by the things you see. You absorb little things here and there whether you want to or not. When was the last time you were impressed by a skateboard photo and which one was it? (after so many years, being impressed by a skateboard photo shouldn’t happen too often…) Damn, it’s hard to think about one particular shot right now. I’d rather tell you what the first skateboard images that impressed me were. I clearly remember the Matt Hensley interview Daniel Harold Sturt shot for Transworld back in the day. His photography really blew my mind. The frontside ollie on the roof that had the shape of a cowboy hat was so sick. I think they traveled like a day or longer just to shoot that one photo. I have nothing but respect for people with such a dedication! Also the shot on the transition under the tall highway bridge, total epicness! And of course I can’t forget the stuff J.Grant Brittain shot back then. So good! The Todd Swank pushing photo with the triangle shadow, straight up classic! Or the many amazing photos he shot of Chris Miller! Those guys changed the game back then! But the list of rad photographers and beautiful photos goes on! When did you start skateboarding? I know you were on Deathbox, I do remember your part in “Spirit Of The Blitz” from 1991. How long did you skate for them? I started skateboarding in 1985. Around the end of the eighties and early nineties I skated almost five years for Deathbox. I had a short skate career haha… But I’m super stoked I was a part of it!

Paco in Stockholm // Ed Templeton in Antwerp // Niki Waltl and Window girl in London.

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Youness Amrani // Bs tailslide.

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Deathbox, before moving to the States and becoming Flip Skateboards, was one of the very first European skateboard companies with riders from different countries, doing tours, ads on mags, videos, and so on; how was being on a European team in the early 90’s like in general, and compared to nowadays? Skateboarding was totally different back then. There was no budget with a European company like Deathbox. Tours were low budget, crashing wherever we could. I remember a tour we did in Germany, Jeremy Fox (the boss) had no money, so he had to play on some electronic gambling machine to pay the money for the hotel. Luckily he won. No crazy trips to the other side of the world, instead we would take a stinking van and drive it to Germany or France. If you got 2 boards a month you were already super stoked. Good times for

we watched it like 10 times or more. And in a way it got appreciated more. But then again, just concentrate on the good stuff. It’s just a bit time-consuming to filter out the crap sometimes. Of course I can go on and on about the negative side of the world wide web, but just accept it and try to see the positive side of it! As long as they keep producing books, magazines, etc… I will be a happy person.

How was filming a video part at the time? You did it in a couple of days haha. Sometimes a bit longer. It’s not that you had filmers that came along all the time. You really can’t compare it with how it is these days!

Do you skate now? The last couple of years I haven’t been skating a lot, just been working really hard. If I skate I just ride some transition stuff, and will do a little no comply here and there. Street skating fucks up my body too much, I’m kinda over being injured! Nowadays once in a while ontour when we stumble upon a cool natural transition I mightskate for fifteen minutes but then my camera is calling me.I really enjoy just pushing down the streets, even with theheavy photo-bag on my back. But trying to skate a bit moreis definitely on my to-do list.

sure! Very pure! I wouldn’t say it was better. These days some things may be less pure, but I’m sure there’s still a lot of people who are doing it in a nice way. Even if there are a lot of bullshit I don’t like, the level of skateboarding nowadays is so insane that it’s hard to hate on skateboarding. I think right now we’re in a really interesting period in the history of skateboarding. Look at the stuff Pontus does with Polar for example, fucking rad! A lot of new small ‘skater’ owned companies popping up. And so many rippers that kill it in the streets but also on transition. There’s such a large diversity of styles which makes it really interesting! Just concentrate on the good stuff in skateboarding and everything will be all right.

Is there something you miss from how skateboarding was at the time? Of course there are some things I miss these days, especially with all that internet stuff getting injected into your brain every day. Like back in the days you had to wait for months to see some video coming out, so when it was finally there

Is it true that you got hurt really bad and you had to quit skating for many years? No, I quit for two years around 93’ or 94’ when all that pressure flip, baggy pants and the super small wheels stuff was going on. This in combination with the pressure of being sponsored took away the fun out of skateboarding for me. I was an ok skater I guess, but not as talented as Alex Moul

or some of the other great skaters back then. I had to work hard to get stuff done. Not every one is made to have longevity in skateboarding. But at the end I don’t regret anything, it is what it is! I tore my ACL a couple of years later, and then 6 years after that I ripped the ACL in my other knee. It’s a pretty heavy injury. But there are always worse things that can happen to a skater.Look at Belgian ripper Hans Claessens. A long time ago hetotally blew his knee, probably every single injury you can haveon your knee happened to him, his nerves were barely attached. The doctors told him if he was ever gonna be able to walk again he should consider him lucky.This guy is still charging hard nowadays. I have so muchrespect for him!

Pete Eldridge, alley // Black is beautiful.

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Jarne Verbruggen // Fs nollie. Jarne Verbruggen // Fs nollie.

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Since you have started taking pictures on film and then having lived through the transition to digital, what’s your opinion about digital photography? I just like digital and analog. They both have their pros and cons. At the end of the day it’s about an interesting shot. Back in the days you had people like Saul Leiter and Elliot Erwitt for example shooting beautifull analog photos. But these days there are also many good photographers shooting digital. Take for example Sebastiao Salgado, he shoots great stuff on a digital! A good image is a good image, it doesn’t matter if it’s shot with a digi, analog, iPhone or whatever. After all these years shooting skateboarding have you ever felt the need of something different under a professional point of view? How do you deal with the uncertainty of skateboarding when it comes to being around for a week to bring home maybe 3 good pictures? That’s the choice you make! If you can’t handle this then go shoot something else! I feel so blessed to be able to make a living just by shooting the things I really like, I travel a lot and no one is telling me how to shoot something. How much more freedom can you have in life? To me this freedom and experiencing different cultures means being rich! I would never wanna shoot stuff I don’t like and earn a lot of money! Ok, once in a while I’ll shoot something I like less to make some extra bucks, but that’s pretty rare.

Taipei.

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Fries_Taillieu // Bank to bank fs nosegrind.

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Kevin Tshala // Mallorca.

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What other types of photography are you interested in? Do you shoot other things besides skateboarding? I shoot whatever my eyes like. Portraits of interesting people, landscapes, and a lot of street photography, that’s what I try to do on tour, shoot things besides skateboarding. At most of the spots there’s always interesting stuff happening on the side. I’m also part of the Antwerp City Photographers. Gallery Fifty One, a really good photo gallery in Antwerp is organizing this. It’s a collective of ten totally different people/photographers, we shoot whatever we want in our city over a period of four years and at the end of the ride they will do an expo and release a book. But at the moment it’s a bit fucked. We’ve had this new mayor for a while, and this guy is probably the biggest cunt you can imagine. He’s not down with art at all so they pulled out a lot of the subsidies, so we need to find a solution for this. We’ll see what happens! Other than that occasionally I shoot some music bands, but mostly not the concerts, more like portraits and lifestyle. And what I probably like the most is shooting friends of mine, you know them really well so it’s a super relaxed way of shooting! If you could choose another field of photography to work in what would that be? Documentary stuff where I get to travel. The fact I travel a lot makes it so much more interesting. Don’t get me wrong, I can enjoy shooting some great photos in my own country, but seeing and experiencing different cultures is really mind-expanding! If I’m on trip I’m motivated to shoot even more.

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Bjorn reflection // Taipei, legs // Roost being Roost // Nassim Guammaz.

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Fight // Marocco.

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Jelle Maatman // Fs kickflip the hole.

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After the experience with Wood Magazine you started working for Vans and traveling a lot, where have you been in the last year? Which places impressed you the most among the ones you visited? It’s not that I work for Vans all the time, and before the Vans thing I was also traveling quite a bit. But I’m really stoked on working for such a rad shoe company! Apart from that, I work freelance for some magazines, for Element sometimes, Cliché once in a while, and some other companies. I absolutely love going to Athens, it’s such a rad city and the people I know there are super cool! Panama was rad, Taipei, Morocco, and the list goes on, such as more close-to-home places like Copenhagen, Berlin, Dubrovnik, Riga, and Mallorca as well… I just enjoy traveling, it enlightens my mind! Every country has its own charm. I think I’ve never been somewhere I don’t want to return to. And I really enjoy eating all this different food, a pretty essential thing in my life! What’s your opinion about Instagram and social media in general... and about the speed with which everything becomes old the next day? It has its pros and cons! It takes a lot of energy and time to produce good stuff, so sometimes it’s a shame it goes on the internet and is forgotten the next day. It is what it is! Better deal with it because it’s here to stay for a while! At the end of the day I’ll always try to do expos, shoot photos for magazines, make a book or something; things you can hold in your hands, see with your own eyes and not just on a digital screen. But I enjoy Instagram, it’s a cool way to see some stuff you would normally not see, although there’s a lot of bullshit on there. I just use it to show my work, I’m not too interested in sharing my personal life with the rest of the world. But to each his own! It’s quite funny these days, you know exactly where somebody is at a certain moment,

what tour he’s on, etc… But at the end of the day I wouldn’t miss Instagram if it were gone tomorrow. The one thing that disturbs me really hard is whenwhile on tour in a restaurant everyone is checking their insta or whateverfor too long. For me going to eat is not only enjoying the food, but as well the people you are with. Thanks Davide and a brief glance skateboardmag for the inteview and for showing my photos! Davy_

http://afterhours-dvl.tumblr.com

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Ben Delaboulaye // Fakie nosepick.

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The Saone // Lyon.

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DVL_

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Szymon_Stachon // Bs ollie.

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Mas.

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the PORT LAND BOOK

Words and interview_Guido Bendotti

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Oli is a machine, otherwise it would be impossible to explain how he could have become pro for Santa Cruz coming from the small city of Basel. Oli loves skateboarding, otherwise how else would you explain how he managed to make his city the epicenter of European contests for so many years. Oli is a serious person, otherwise how would you explain the fact that heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s managed to bring (not only) European skaters around the world thanks to his work as Team Manager for Soletech. Oli is a dreamer, otherwise how would you explain how it is possible to start off from the small DIY Blackcross Bowl, and end up creating that dream which is PORT LAND, a legal cement DIY. Oli surrounds himself with serious people, dreamers who love skateboarding. Thanks to people like him and his friends, skateboarding will keep living for a long time. PORT LAND is a book that portrays some of the people that actively contributed to the construction of the bowl. The photos were shot by Eric Antoine on glass, using the wet collodion process. (Guido Bendotti)_

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On the day you finished the bowl, the very first moment you looked at it, what were your impressions? Who was the first to ride it? I was a bit overwhelmed, not in the sense of being really surprised, but quite proud of what we had accomplished as a group and happy to have a new skate spot that we have (more or less) complete control over. I don’t exactly remember who got the first ride. We had started to skate around before everything was fully finished. Putting all the pool copings on was the last step and it felt really good when they were all in place and ready to grind. The first couple of sessions gave me that feeling I had when I first started skating. Like discovering something amazing and rare…

Is it more fun to build a park or to skate it? …the building part of a park has always fascinated me… thinking about the possible lines and tricks… It is definitely more fun to skate it than to build it. After all, I am a skateboarder, not a professional mason or construction worker. I do get the urge to build concrete skate spots from time to time and I am stoked to help with projects when they turn up. How did the Port Land project begin? And how long did it take to finish it? Can you explain the whole story briefly? Port Land started when we found out that the Blackcrossbowl (2006-2012) was going to be destroyed. As one era of Basel concrete came to an end, the city opened up the possibility of building something on a different scale. A part of the Basel port was up for interim use for cultural projects and we pitched the idea of a public DIY skatepark. Our idea got accepted and we were able to make Port Land happen within 10 months from the first plans and building permit application to the last batch of concrete.

Apart from the Cross Bowl experience it was the first time you guys built a park using concrete, what was this new experience like and what were the main difficulties you had to overcome? It was a whole different game to the Blackcrossbowl. We had a digger, a pump for shotcrete and got all the concrete delivered by truck. We had plenty of manpower but only a limited amount of time to fill the 400 square meters, as we needed to be done before the first cold days of winter. We all learned a lot during the process and now looking at the park, there’s a few things we should have done differently. But there wasn’t any moment where it felt like the whole thing was going to fall apart.

What was the funniest story that happened during the construction? We got drunk after work on a few occasions and one night Rohan decided to try sand (or actually gravel) boarding on a piece of construction wood. On the first few tries he slipped off the wood, so he decided to screw his rubber boots onto the gravel-board. In his drunken state he actually put the screws in from the bottom of the wood, all the way through the soles of the boots… We were able to stop him from getting into the boots before he managed to hurt his feet. But he did slam pretty hard after he had changed the screws and dropped in from a pile of gravel. Being a D.I.Y. project how did you organize and coordinate the work? (Too many heads working on a single project could be dangerous for a good outcome sometimes hahaha). We had a solid group of people that were all much on the same page as far as how we wanted to work and build. The Port Land design was done on the fly and we ended up having quite a few discussions and arguments about certain features. There was a lot of dirt that we piled up on one day,

*all photos from the PORT LAND book by Eric Antoine.

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Oli Buergin // hurricane_ photo Gogo Cetiner.

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Who got the idea of doing a book about the Port Land bowl? How did Carhartt get involved in the project? The idea was born on a trip to Barcelona with Eric in March 2013. At first we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t even have the book in mind, but just a series of ambrotypes showing Port Land and its creators. The series was first shown at Port Land during Art Basel. All the plates were framed in concrete, done by Pudi who made all the pool copings for Port Land. Around that time, we started talking about making a book and Eric connected with 19/80 Editions in Paris who ended up co-publishing it with the Port Land crew. I have a long history with Carhartt (mostly from the European Championships in Basel) and they had already supported the construction of Port Land, so it was only natural to get them involved in the book. Especially since they have done a

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lot of interesting book projects in the past (Dirt Ollies, Skateboarding 3D etc.) The Port Land project saw the involvement of many people who helped with their work. In the book there arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t any photos of tricks, but portraits of the people who contributed the most to make it happen. Why this choice? There are many people who helped a lot with Port Land but are not in the book. In the end we had to make a selection and some people are more photogenic than others ;-). The wet collodion process is not suitable for shooting moving subjects, so getting tricks for the book was not an option. It also put the focus on the people and what they accomplished, rather than showing their performance on a skateboard.

The images in the book are taken using an old technique, the Wet Collodion Process, is this a special choice for the book or just the result of the long time friendship and collaboration with Eric Antoine who shot using this photo technique? Whatever the reason is, the result is very good. I felt like this unique project deserved a special way of being documented and I have known Eric for about 20 years so it was an obvious choice to have him shoot wet collodion plates. Eric has made quite a name for himself in that field and we are stoked that he took the time to bring the mobile lab to Basel and shoot 15 plates in two days. Skateboarders have always built their own ramps and spots, what’s your opinion about the D.I.Y. trend? I’m not sure if DIY can be considered a trend though?! It has gotten more attention in the last few years, but I feel like it has always been part of the skateboarding D.N.A.. Figuring stuff out and making your own

scene happen have always been crucial elements in skateboarding. There are many interesting coincidences behind the choice of the name Port Land for the bowl… We are based in the Basel port, so it wasn’t too hard to come up with that connection and then there’s the mother of all concrete DIY projects, Burnside, which is based in Portland, Oregon. The fact that the cement used for skateable concrete is called Ordinary Portland Cement was just the icing on the cake… What plans are there for the bowl? Events… expansions… Is there something on the horizon? We are waiting to find out if the “lease” for the land gets extended to the end of 2017 and if that’s the case we might change a few things in the park. Not too sure about events. Definitely not in a traditional contest way. Maybe some party/session/barbecue kind of thing next summer.

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Dusted_Off Bruno Aballay_2008_

In the magic skateboard world there are a lot of amazing skateboarders, among them there

is an élite who has a something more, a special gift, a natural talent and for them everything is easy when they stand on their boards... If I would have to do a list of those lucky bastards

Bruno Aballay would be in for sure. Bruno is from Argentina, but he has italian roots, so he spent the whole summer of 2008 in Italy tryin’ to get all the documents he needed to have the Italian passport and consequently the chance to live in Europe without having to worry about his visa. Shooting with “Pini”, how his mom call him, is always fun and usually means goin’ home with some great photos. Pini we miss you, come back soon!

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Photos and words_Davide Biondani_

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Fs ollie_

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Switch kickflip_

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Dusted_Off

Bruno Aballay_2008_

Low to hi bs tail slide_

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issue _26