These photos are my greatest contribution to snowboarding. I’m very proud of them out of all the submission to snowboard magazines this one is my favorite. One of the reasons I am so fond of then is because thet have a message in them. It is very subtle but that’s the way I like things. They represent what we are doing to the environment. This is one of the most important issues of our times. We are slowly destroying the earth the thing that keeps us alive. That is just a crazy thought to me. How is it possible that we consume so much stuff? The leaders of our planet encourage consumption. Or society is based around this concept. Why do the products we by only last for six mounts? My thoughts are that recycling is important but it is miss leading. Now I’m suppose to feel ok with thronging thousands of plastic bottles away? The fact is we have to stop consuming as a planet. I feel like the earth is a living organism and we are a cancer killing it.
This is not your typical environmental project it is not come guys eating granola trying to save the earth that is not my style. I want to paint a very graphic picture of what we are doing. At the sane time I wanted it to apply to a young audience who are snowboarders. The youth is the future and I feel like if I can plant a seed now maybe it can grow in time. These kids will be running things in time. We all know the people doing it now are not doing that good of a job.
This project was made possible by Forum ,Transworld snowboarding mag and the efforts of so so many people thank you for being a part of this.
The start of the digital revolution was the end of to most fine art films. This is a tragedy and a major loss to photography. Digital photography equals laziness so many times I find my self saying I will just fix it in Photoshop. From exposures to composition. There was honesty that film had people just assumed it was real. Digital is the complete opposite. You assume it’s fake or has been altered.
When I shot this photo I use this Polaroid film called Polaroid Type 55. It was my favorite film. (They do not make it any more.) You use a 4x5 camera witch takes photos like no outer camera. The best digital camera cannot even compare to this 1950s camera. The film was even better when you shoot it you would peal it apart and there would be a Polaroid on one side and a negative on the other. You would have to take the negative and put it to a salt water bath then dry it. Then you could use it to make traditional black and white prints.
How I shot this photo. It came to me from an idea I had to incorporate the sport with the person doing it. I asked my friend BJ lines if I could get a photo of his family and him before we went out and shoot for the day. I shot a few photos of them and did not develop the film. We when out to the snowboard park and I put the same film back in the camera and shot over it with him snowboarding. Dubbed exposing the film. The best part was you never knew how it was going to come out. When I develop the Polaroid and saw the results I was stoked. People now a days would say why don’t you just do it in Photoshop. If you are some one thinking this then you may never get it. That is part of thing getting lost.
My friend Kandee Johnson stopped by this weekend. When ever she comes around something amazing happens. I asked her if she could do a make up look so I could shoot it. She has been doing a series on Halloween make up for her You Tube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/kandeejohnson#p/u that is out of control by the way. If you have not seen it you should check it out. She has done over 15 different looks that are mind blowing. Her make up skills are so far beyond the average make up artist. I ended up watching all of the videos again today they are very impressive. I noticed another girl on You Tube doing Halloween makeup as well. In the other girls video she had copied some of kandee’s techniques and even use here terminology. But she could not mach the quality of work that Kandde dose. I don’t think many people can. That is the impact she has on people they cant help being inspired by her work. After I had shot these photos I went through then on my computer there was hardly any retouching that had to be done her work was flawless.
Here is a quick behind the scenes look at the catalog shoots we did this week. I can’t show too much until the catalogs come out. I would like to thank everyone who was involved with our shoot. Bryan Knox/Forum, David Friend/Forum, John Alvino/PLY ,Erik Petersen/JDK, Andi Elloway/PLY, Mark McClanahan/Lighting, Tim Peare/Photography, Kyle Schwartz/Video, The Forum Team, Thania Peck/Model, Anne Molin/Model, Kayla Pringle/Model, Kristi Kimartin /Intern, Lauren Randolph/Intern. The shoot was a success thank to all of you!
We used some old cameras on this shoot to give the photos a unique look. I’m super stoked on the portraits we got from this shoot. I can’t wait to post them.
We set the fog machine off to test a look for the Special Blend Catalog. The owner of the studio got a call from someone telling her the studio is on fire. She rushed down and found the place filled with fog. She was cool about it and just laughed.
My gaffer Mark is using a mirror to bounce light on to Eddie Wall's face. He knows all the tricks every great photo comes down to the smallest of details.
My good old 4x5 camera. I had to dust this one off. We have not worked together in some time. People collect these cameras so they can look at them on the mantel above the fireplace. These cameras give you a look that cannot be matched by any digital camera or hours of photoshop. The portraits and photos that we got from this beauty are insane!!!!!
Things got interesting for a while because I was shooting with three cameras with different film in each of them. As I shot one camera I was passing another one. It was hard to keep track of what I was doing.
Setting up the light for our studio shoot.
This is a funny photo because we are shooting a snowboard catalog standing on a skate ramp in southern California. That is the beauty of photography. Nobody will ever know. But you have to laugh at the irony of it.
We had to do a ton of rigging for the lights used for the S.B shoot. It was worth it. The photos from this shoot are truly unique. I have never shoot anything like this.
This is my friend John sitting behind me. He was also the art director for this shoot. This is a good example of having some one on your back all day. Ha ha. He was actually really good to work with. He gave me a lot of creative freedom. I have had art directors and clients that have been behind me all day to the point where it actually started to compromise the shoot. This was not the case here but it looks like it in this shot.
I passed the ice cream lady 3 time before i shoot this. The second time I saw her I noticed the light coming through her hat . I turned around to catch up with here she was gone. I look for her for an hr. I get obsessed with images I see in my head and I cant let thing go in tell I capture them.
As I was looking for the ice cream lady I saw this lady selling magazines the light was amazing coming down on here face.
This is a behind the scenes look at a movie being filmed a block from my place. I was really impressed with the production of it. The had put sprinklers on the roof of the buildings to make it look like it was raining for three blocks.
