This is serious.

Monday, February 21, 2011

I'm in my truck right now. I'm at that spot downtown Puyallup between the two fields in that really rocky lot. I went to that place in Kent tonight where you climbed the tree that day and I shot a photo. The road is closed now but I drove around the sign over a curb anyways. I kept going down the road in the pitch black and there was this fence all along side of it that wasn't there when we visited it two years prior. I kept driving and driving until I thought I was at the spot where we both parked and we drank the coffee we'd just gotten at the Starbucks inside Safeway (you bought me an Americano. I didn't know what that was until we met.) I took a picture of you slyly by setting my camera on my car. It turned out. You looked amazing. Cold. With hair over your face. Your hoodie sleeve was sticking out past your jacket. I think you told me it was your mom's jacket.

We walked into the field and you told me how you climb trees. I told you to climb this one and you did and then I shot a photo of it. It was on my Mamiya on black and white film and you were looking to the side and smiling. I remember you didn't know how to pose and I just snapped it when I saw fit. It did fit.

We were excited back then. To do nothing even.

I miss sitting in parking lots and drinking wine and talking for hours. We got jaded after living together for a little while. We found distractions that didn't make us nearly as happy as each other had just months before. Smart phones, laptops, booze, and weed. I wish we still talked like that. For hours. About anything and everything. I can't believe I had the nerve to drive to Seattle and meet you back in January of 2009. But I did. And I'm so happy I did.

Monday, February 14, 2011

XA is summer.

I just rediscovered these photos on this very blog. Summer is so amazing in Washington. I can't wait.

These photographs lit another needed fire under my ass to shoot my XA again. That and some Kodak Gold and you can't go wrong.

Bring me summer light.

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

East and back.

A new posting on this blog was long overdue. I gave myself a reason to make one yesterday. Said reason follows:

So I finally got a new vehicle. The Jetta got t-boned back in March and my brother in law Matt was able to get me a really nice '96 Chevy S10 for a great price. It's only got 88k miles on it and is really clean.

Being that my new rig has such low miles and is so much more reliable than the Jetta I was driving, I felt compelled to take it out for a day trip and an article in the newspaper that caught my eye at work had me wanting to see a bit of Eastern Washington. Now I've been all over this state throughout my 19 years living here including over most of the passes but I'd never made the drive myself and all those childhood camping trips are somewhat vague memories.

I decided I'd head out east from down in Puyallup so that I could take Chinook Pass and then come back west over Snoqualmie Pass. That's the extent of the details I planned. I asked my good buddy and fellow photo advocate, Brockton Bensch, if he'd feel like accompanying me on the condition of paying for half of the gas to which he obliged. So we agreed to meet at my parents' place at 4:30AM on Monday morning.

Sunday night I was out in Lakewood for a bonfire at my buddy Andy's place on American Lake and I knew I was going to be a mess the next day but the prospects of being out on the road in the sun kept me going.

Said bonfire activities commenced until about 2:30 in the morning and I set out to sleep for an hour and a half until 4:00 when I'd drive into Puyallup and meet Brockton. I ended up sleeping sloppily until about 4:30 and then had to haul my bedraggled ass off the recliner and into my truck. Keep in mind the day before, Sunday, I was up at 4:00AM and had worked an 8 hour shift. So I was already running only on fumes. Brock also was a bit behind schedule and we both arrived at my folks' place about 10 minutes to 5:00AM.

I had hoped to actually pick a destination or grab a map from my parents' but they were obviously sound asleep and I didn't have a way into the house. So we set out blindly and figured we'd grab some breakfast and coffee once we found a cool spot. First mistake was not eating something and fueling up with caffeine when leaving Puyallup because we ended up having to drive all the way to the Whistlin' Jack Lodge which is in the town of Cliffdell and was easily 3 hours into our trip. Needless to say, by the time I finally got a cup of coffee in me, I was on the edge of passing out at the wheel. But prior to making it to Whistlin' Jack, our eyes were graced with some of the immense and startling beauty that this state has to offer.

We grabbed a couple egg sandwiches and continued on our way.

...

this never got finished and I'm pissed about it. Started off strong. This was last summer. It was amazing. There's more photos on my Flickr if you care.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Villager: defined.

I'd like to use this blog post to describe, explain, and brag about my unique and amazing group of friends. First came Matthew Decker Nielsen.

I met Matt through my cousin Andrew something like 8 or more years ago. Matt and Andrew are both 2 years older than me. They went to school together in Issaquah and became friends through skateboarding, etc. Early descriptions of Matt consisted of things like "yeah he ollied the Pine Lake 9 stair first try!". I was pretty impressed. Matt is easily one of the most unique and creative people I know and he never ceases in inspiring me with everything that he does. Matt and I became really close in the next few years as my cousin slowly stopped skateboarding and I was then introduced to Jake Ryan Knapp through Matt as they'd become acquaintances also through an Issaquah-ian school and skateboarding.

Jake, at the time of our meeting had already begun his interest in skateboard documentary and editing. I remember being thoroughly impressed with his Sony VX1000 and fish eye. Matt and I were in the process of finishing up a shitty ghetto little video we called O.C.D. (Obsessive Compulsive Destruction, taken from a Brad Staba Toy Machine ad) and we immediately started filming with Jake. The production quality of this video was already leaps and bounds ahead of O.C.D. even at the very beginning. Don't get me wrong here, we were all friends thick as thieves outside of skateboarding as well. We did everything together. Partied hard. Explored Washington. Literally grew up together. The film Jake had taken upon himself at that time became known as Magnum Opus and is locatable on the internet. During the 4+ year process of filming for this video I made contact with a fellow on a skateboard forum with a user name set as TacomaIsBetter. Being that Tacoma is a city roughly 15 minutes from my home town I queried to this young man as to his whereabouts and if it were indeed the Tacoma I knew. This young man was Eric Alan Logan.

Eric and I began corresponding with instant messenger just talking about skateboarding and local spots and people we both knew. The day finally came for me and Jake to go meet up with Eric and shred around different spots. Both Jake and I were thoroughly impressed. Eric has raw talent on a skateboard that reflects the decades he's spent shredding the mean streets of Tacoma. Genuinely good dude who's shy as hell at first but after years of knowing him a car ride is never the same without him. Around this point in history I was about 16 and I fell into this opportunity of riding for a local skate shop out of Seattle called the Prime. To be completely honest I haven't a clue if this shop even still exists. I only was in the shop one time and paid full fare for a board. After skateboarding with Eric for a little while I was told that David Clifford Waite, the manager of 35th Avenue skate shop in Federal Way was interested in having me come around the shop as Eric had apparently told him good things. So one day Eric took me in there to get a new skateboard and I was formally introduced to the man I now know as Dave.

The day I met Dave I knew I had come in contact with one of the most dedicated, down to earth, and amazing people in skateboarding within this state. I stand behind that belief to this day. Dave has more compassion for skateboarding and the friends in his life than I can relay in words. So good natured. So friendly. Just an awesome dude all around. Dave has put up with a year long hiatus from me and just general madness from the 35th team for years and seems to genuinely enjoy every minute of it all. After visiting 35th that first time I instantly was scrawling Thirty Fifth across my grip tape and backing the shop more than anything else I'd known in skateboarding. It wasn't long before Dave asked me to officially ride for the shop to which I obviously answered hell yes. Not too long after this happened Matt, Jake, Eric and I decided to take a trip down to Oregon to skate some spots and just get out on a road trip. Tagging along at the last minute was Joshua Donald Peterson, a good friend of Eric's for many years.

It doesn't show in any way shape or form in present day, but at the time I met Josh he represented sort of a thug like gangster vibe. Tall-T's and baggy jeans all the way. Upon meeting Josh I was thoroughly unimpressed. For some reason Matt and myself took a dislike for him right from the get-go. But it wasn't probably an hour and a half into the car ride that my opinion started swaying. And by the end of the trip he was one of my best friends. Josh has an infectious sense of humor and addicting laugh. He transforms anyone with him and the conversations easily become outlandish and ridiculously fun. Him and Eric together...well that's something special. Matt, Jake, Eric, Josh and I finished up Magnum Opus somewhere around the end of 2004/beginning of 2005. Such a great period of my life. So much skateboarding. So involved. We ate, slept, and sweat skateboarding. We all got to know each other really well in those years.

Thirty Fifth gave us a focal point. We all sort of revolved around that one idea and Dave was the captain for sure. I can't speak for everyone but having Dave as a directional has affected my life in so many ways in and out of skateboarding. He's the kind of guy that isn't afraid to step in and tell you when you're screwing up in life. I can say that from experience.

Years went by and Jake was asked to head up a Thirty Fifth video which took on the title "Sorry We're Open".

This video can also be found online. Once again a great period of my life that only bolstered a bond with these five guys that I can't ever see faltering. My one year skateboarding hiatus took place during the filming for this video and though it seemed to me like everyone had given up on me, not one guy was hesitant in welcoming me back into the sessions and being hyped on me again. That's something I'll always be grateful for.

Which brings me to my favorite thing about being involved with this group of guys. The session. Once a week (for the most part) most of us guys make a solid effort at all getting together to shred some parks or cruise the streets. The beautiful thing about so much of the footage that we end up capturing during these days is the fact that we get out and roll just to do so. Plans are rarely made to hit a certain spot so one guy can try and film a trick. It's always just about enjoying each other's company and seeing what can happen along the way.

Don't let the laid back vibe of all these photos fool you though. Some insane stuff goes down every single time we skate whether it's on film or not. Which is a segue into my next topic: the newest video courtesy of Jake Knapp in association with Thirty Fifth Ave. Somewhere along the line the name Balsamic Villagers came about and it's stuck ever since (hence this post's title). We all sort of morphed from being 35th riders into Villagers. This collective consists of a group larger than those mentioned above. Newest additions include Joseph Calvin Kouba and newly appointed 35th team rider Cody Lee Sewell who both relocated to Washington from Texas and have more than integrated with the crew.

So here we are now. Present day. Matthew Decker Nielsen, Jake Ryan Knapp, Eric Alan Logan, David Clifford Waite, Joshua Donald Peterson, Joseph Calvin Kouba, and Cody Lee Sewell. It never fails that when I manage to get out and cruise with these guys I'm left in a great mood and I'm fully aware of how fortunate I've been to have met such a great group of people.