WO RK IN
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I NTER VI E W BY Z A N E F OL E Y
THE SKATEBOARDING INDUSTRY DOES NOT JUST R THE USA, THERE IS ENOUGH WORK FROM EUROPE I JUST ALWAYS BALANCED IT INTRO BY WALKER RYAN Patrik Wallner remains one of the great enigmas of the contemporary skateboarding era. Is he Hungarian? Is he German? Is he American? Does he live in China? Bangkok? New York? Is he a skate video filmer? A documentarian? A photographer? Somehow, “yes” is the answer to all of these questions simultaneously, but only a guy like Patrik Wallner can pull it off. Over the last few years Patrik has snuck into the skateboard industry from the West by way of the far East and has managed to make himself known as one of the most adventurous and creative filmmakers in skateboarding, all the while making it all seem like just fun trip road trip with some good friends. Tell us about yourself, your name, age and where you were born? My name is Patrik Wallner, currently towards at the end of my twenties, and I grew up mainly in southern Germany while jumping back and forth between New York. How were you first exposed to skating and when did you know you were a skateboarder? My first exposure to skating was when a local kid was kickflipping on an island in Croatia. After that I was determined to learn it myself. I guess from that moment on I would call myself a skateboarder. How has skating in Asia and around the world influenced your skating? Do you think you’d still skate the same if you grew up in LA or NYC and never have left? After living a couple years in various Chinese cities, where marble is spread on the ground like butter on toast, I just find myself complaining more when I end up skating on normal western grounds now unfortunately. Do you think that being a skateboard videographer outside of the U.S. requires a different ‘survival’ strategy? Indeed to a certain extend. I think you need to adapt quickly and start blending in with your environment. Notice local
ethicalities, customs and understand the country where you are a bit. You end up being the so-called skateboard ambassador to a lot of the countries where you go, so you have to leave a good impression. How about in regard to your career and getting work? What’s your way of keeping yourself ‘employed’ by the industry? I guess I just have created enough pieces the past decade with various brands that the connections that I already have is enough to open up new doors and to new projects. Honestly I don’t hustle much for work, I propose ideas to various sources and see what arouses interest. The skateboarding industry does not just revolve around the USA, there is enough work from Europe and Asia too. I just always balanced it. I would film for a Chinese brand, then maybe switch it up with a road trip with Americans for an US brand then maybe something for an European company. I usually have to do some non-skate related work which pays well and use that money to finance some of my own travels which pays off later too since recently I been also selling raw footage from my short travel pieces like Myanmar and Turkmenistan. I look at traveling sometimes like an investment. It is harsh at times and a hassle to deal with, but can pay off later if you do it right.
What have been the hardest aspects of making your career as a videographer outside of the US viable? I think the only downside is that I never really met any of these team managers, editors, and these other people within the industry that are all based in the U.S. and been in touch with via e-mails. People who it would be nice to be in constant touch with to pitch ideas to, etc. Do you think that aspiring pro skaters outside the U.S require a different ‘survival’ strategy compared to the guys in the U.S? Not at all. I think most skaters I know are pretty open for adventure and I mean the talented ones who just have the style and energy and are hungry for it, will just fall into the right place regardless where you are. Otherwise they would just need to do it like everyone else, get found or put yourself out there. What is your attitude towards working in skateboarding? At what point did things become clear you were pursuing a career in skateboarding? Working with close friends is probably the best thing about working in skateboarding. Dealing with the financials from core skate brand that eat more than they can chew can be annoying, but that does not overshadow all the positives. I think the moment I got flown to film
RE VOLVE AROUND E AND ASIA TOO.
Kenny Reed, BS Nosegrind, Baku
Michael Mackrodt, Wally, Baku
Walker Ryan, Ollie, Cienfuegos
John Tanner, sliding from Europe to Asia
I THIN REASO MUCH THAN Walker Ryan, Switch Flip, Istanbul
around Europe and Asia in my late teens was when it struck me that I am actually doing what I love. You’re based in Bangkok, how did you come to live there and how are you able to stay? Bangkok is just a city that has a magnetic pull on me. I enjoy the localities, food, nature and the fact that I can be in China within a couple of hours, or back in Europe within a half a day. I was just traveling without a home too much the past years that I needed to set up a base somewhere. Plus my girlfriend works here too. For the past years I haven’t spend more that 2-3 weeks in one city. I was constantly on the move. Also I never received a working visa in any of these countries, so I pretty much have been exiting and entering countries around the thirty day stamp. It sounds like a pain in the ass, which it is for China, since I need to get a new visa after every second entry, but for countries like Thailand that give you a 30 day entry stamp it was a bit easier but it still means that I can’t settle down anywhere. For you is traveling to these remote areas similar to the first few years on a board, roaming the neighborhood for skate spots? Is it all a part of expanding you international ‘spot book’? Or is it something more? Well said. In a way it is. The past half a decade I have spend a lot of time reading more about history, geography and
geopolitics. I think for me skateboarding is sometimes the reason to go somewhere, but in the end I have much more interest in exploring the culture than random stairs, ledges, etc. How do you construct your skate trips so you get to experience the culture rather than just getting stuck in a ditch and leaving without having experienced any of it? Main recipe for that is to take off one to two days from a ten day trip to do something in nature. That way the skaters can recharge and everyone has a good time. You have travelled with some of skatings most revered pro’s through places like Kazakhstan and Afghanistan, what made this possible? Was it hard to convince the guys? Skateboarders are used to putting themselves in danger, but not off the board. It is not easy to convince people to go to more dangerous terrains. But most of my close friends just have the same attitude towards traveling like myself, which is ‘if you don’t go, you will never know’. It hurts me more not knowing than the misery and pain from the traveling. It is easy just traveling with the same people that you are used to. But sometimes I fused projects with other photographers who bring some new faces, which can be nice for a change,
but overall traveling with my travel buddies is the way to go. The people who I travelled the most with the past years must be, Kenny Reed, Michael Mackrodt, Walker Ryan, Laurence Keefe, and many more. Mainly anyone from the Visualtraveling projects. Have there been any dangerous situations you have experienced on any of the skate trips? Yeah too many to list right here though. I think most of the ones are mentioned within my documentaries (can be found under ‘visualtraveling’ on vimeo.com). There are some that stay out of the spotlight since it was not filmed or just not suited to be told to everyone. Just recently I was on a trip to the Caucasus and everyone got roofied & robbed by some shady Georgian gang. How have people in these countries who are unfamiliar with it reacted to seeing a guy skate? Usually with joy and entertainment almost everywhere in the world. But depends were you go, some parts of the world it is a western activity and not really accepted by society, in Islamism countries, like Iran, Yemen, etc. What we do is try not to get stuck in a place for too long. Film a line quickly and get out. Or another way to go is to hire yourself some security guards, like what we did in Afghanistan. Having some guys with Kalashnikovs on your side, not against you does make you feel a bit safer.
NK FOR ME SKATEBOARDING IS SOMETIMES THE ON TO GO SOME WHERE, BUT IN THE END I HAVE MORE INTEREST IN EXPLORING THE CULTURE RANDOM STAIRS AND LEDGES
Weltmeister, Ollie, Keelung
Kieron, Blunt, Kuala Lumpur
What have been some of your most favorite countries to visit and why? Recently we filmed on an island in Yemen, which was just like being on another planet. The island is really secluded from the rest of the world. Because there is still insurgents and a civil war going on at the moment it is stripped from tourists and so it becomes this magical island filled with these trees that only exist over there, called the Dragonblood Trees. They look like something from a storybook. But I also love traveling back to North Korea, Cuba or other ex-communistic countries, places that are still stuck in a time warp. I guess I like being stuck in a timewarp, haha… I grew up around the time when the Soviet Union collapsed, so this is the last way to still see communistic history in modern days where everything is changing so much. Best experiences? Possibly taking the Trans-Siberian railroad six years ago with the Visualtraveling
buddies. That was one of the first documentaries for my ‘Visualtraveling’ projects and it was the trip we all became friends and still hits us all with a lot of nostalgia. What sort of cultural aspects of international skateboarding make it unique? What sort of challenges and rewards come from not being from the U.S. as a skateboarder? Since I have spent almost more time in Asia than in the U.S., it is hard to say for me now. I like being back in New York and being in a multi-cultural place, but other than that I feel more home in the East. I think Asia is just really diverse, you have ancient civilization that have started here, so many various cultures that are all really interesting to dissect and understand. Mountain ranges exceeding any others, spices and fruits you never heard of, architecture that is even hard to comprehend. All of those points make it just much more interesting to be out here for me right now.
Is there anywhere wouldn’t go?
that
you
Hmmm… I think I would go anywhere. But there are a couple countries that are really low on the list, like maybe Ireland. No offence to Ireland, I am sure it’s beautiful. But there are some countries that I just don’t want to go back to because I had bad experiences like Mongolia, Azerbaijan, or the United Kingdom. What sort of advice would you give to someone aspiring to work in skateboarding? Find a niche within skateboarding for yourself, which will drive you to work harder and succeed in pursuing your dreams. Check out more of Patrik’s work at www.patrikwallner.com
Laurence Keefe backside boardslide, Iran
Walk
ker Ryan , Kickflip,