Kathleen Hayes Kathleen was given her first camera at five years old—it was a plastic Bugs Bunny 126 film camera—and has been shooting photos ever since. Inspired by punk rock, the sea, the LGBT community and skate culture, the New York based photographer captures the good times at women’s skate gatherings that bring together ladies of shred at perfect backyard bowls and DIYs. What’s the story behind Slash Camp? How did it start and what makes it such a special event? Slash Camp was started a few years ago by Ashley Mott of Bad Egg Skate Zine. It’s an awesome gathering of like-minded and amazing ladies from all over the country and beyond, who share a love for skateboarding. Some of the women even flew out from Canada and Australia. Lots of badass skate moms too. It’s all levels, but most are seasoned rippers. The trip I went on was in the outskirts of Denver. We hit up a bunch of public parks and backyards, caravanning all around the area. A lot of the girls camped along the way and we also built a DIY skate obstacle at one of the homes we skated at. Do you have any particularly funny or memorable stories from Slash Camp? The funniest story I have is actually from The SESH, our East Coast ladies trip in the Carolinas last summer organized by Shannon Smith and Tamra Church. The drunken sharing of c-section scars around 2am at the
Skate Barn, initiated by Chelsea Greene, was pretty hilarious. While I was outnumbered by skater ladies who had given birth, I was stoked to be able to participate in the bikinicut-scar show-and-tell with my own surgical scar from an ovarian cyst. That was some major female bonding. What is your background in photography? I got my BFA in photography from SVA in 1997 when it was all film and darkroom based. I recently entered the digital age and got a masters degree in digital photography a few years ago where I documented middleaged skate culture for my thesis project. Do you think being a skateboarder has influenced your overall photographic style? Definitely! The best things to photograph are things you’re obsessed with. I love documenting my skateboarding world and the friends I’ve made who inhabit it. Photography also fills the void when I’m injured and can’t skate. Sometimes I even
