Stylusts & weekend wrap up…
First weekend of November was crazy busy. Friday night, I was chilling at Babylon with my boy Tom Wrecks, who was performing with Drastik and Illo as The Stylusts. Cashtro was partying too.
Afterwards, I stayed up all night editing a video for my one night exhibit at La Petite Mort Gallery. It isn’t often that I show work in this way so huge thanks to everyone who was able to make it out! I liked being able to invite my friends for a drink in a gallery instead of a bar for once. The photos might stay up till Thursday or something but the gallery is closed Monday and Tuesday. A lot of people who couldn’t make it are asking if images will be posted online anywhere. We’re sorting that out but in case you didn’t already see it, a image from the show:
Got a few things coming down the tube which is very, very nice and appreciated. Winter’s not even here and I’m already thinking of spring and summer 2010.
Last night, I finally got to sit on my couch for first time in about a month (long story) and watched some movies by Michel Brault and Claude Jutra. One of them was called Entre la mer et l’eau douce (1967) and the last one I watched was Rouli-roulant (1966, English title: Devil’s Toy).
This movie might be one of the first Canadian skateboard videos ever made and it ends with a great song sung by the actress Geneviève Bujold. I don’t think it was ever properly released so I made an mp3 from the DVD. Please listen and let us know what you think of this quiet québécois pop song about skateboarding.
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Pierre F. Brault – Rouli-roulant (feat. Geneviève Bujold)
PS: Shop at Invisible Cinema. 319 Lisgar at Bank in Ottawa. Over 13000 movies.
Go Skateboarding Day – June 21
This Sunday, June 21 at 12 noon, if you have a skateboard, you should come to Top of the World (158 Rideau, Ottawa) and take part in Wild in the Streets, an international event that started in New York City in 2004 on Go Skateboarding Day. Basically, it’s a mass skate from the skateshop all the way to McNabb Skatepark (total distance, about 3km). I think there’s going to be a BBQ and some other stuff at McNabb.
When I’m not taking photos, editing photos or planning stuff with clients, I’m probably skateboarding (or riding my bike, I guess). In fact, I just spent the last four Sundays teaching skateboard lessons at McNabb Skatepark to kids aged 5-12. Skateboarding and skateboard culture really shaped me as a kid. Basically, it is what introduced me to photography and art and video and a bunch of other really cool stuff that engulfs my life now.
Totally awesome and I just want to share that awesomeness all the time. Come on Sunday!
Afterwards, be sure to check out activities going on around Ottawa for National Aboriginal Day.
all day i dream about sneakers
More Israel photos & World Press Photo in Ottawa
An article I wrote along with a series of photos I took during my time in Israel last year ran in the July 2008 issue of Maximumrocknroll. Some people may have already seen it but I’ve been waiting to put it online. The wait is over. There’s also another collection of images I shot in Israel which have been up for a while.
Last night, I visited the Canadian War Museum where this year’s winning images of the World Press Photo contest are on display. It was neat to see photos from Israel and Kenya, two countries I’ve seen a decent amount of in the last 12 months. What stuck out most for me though, were the Sport Feature Stories by Erik Refner, Erika Larsen and Travis Dove. Each were so bizarre and so far removed from sport that I found it sort of hard to imagine them as relevant to the category. But still, it worked. It made obvious an essence of each sport (marathon, hunting and skateboarding, respectively) that most people tend to ignore and each story, I think, stands as a cultural monument to these pasttimes.
The Nature Stories by David Liittschwager and Paul Nicklen were also rather striking and spoke to my own experiences in the Arctic. What’s amazing is that Paul Nicklen won both 2nd and 3rd prizes in this category. This guy’s physical limits are nearly unnatural to do the things he does.
Finally, I wish I could find a copy online but perhaps it is only available at as part of the travelling exhibit. Gary Knight, the chair of the World Press Photo 08 jury, had a written statement of introduction walking into the exhibit that was refreshingly honest and offered great advice to photographers. Essentially, he called out to those who entered the contest using photos that resembled winners from previous years and how taking photos with a contest in mind is exactly the worst thing to do. Again, unless it is already and I haven’t found it, his statement should be online so everyone can read it.
If you’re in Ottawa, do not miss this. It’s only the second time it comes here and it’s one of only four North American dates (the others being Montréal, NYC and Mexico City).
World Press Photo 2008 winners gallery
Skateboarding and copyright in Tel Aviv.
Vice Mag tried skating with the Hezbollah. I managed to skate the month-old concrete park in Tel Aviv.
The park was built by Gridline who did a seriously amazing job. People here are really stoked about it. I wouldn’t have thought that skate culture was so big here but it is – which is really rad because essentially no one is thinking about getting sponsored or anything. Instead, people are just into skating to skate.
The kids are rad too. Everyone reminds me of someone in North America. This one guy that looked like Tony Alva called his friend emo and asked if I knew what that meant.
Before the skatepark, I spent some time in a t-shirt shop off one of the main streets here. The operation is pretty intense. You can imagine that importing stuff is pretty costly so instead, a lot of things in Israel are made in Israel. Not only does this place print their own shirts but they make them too.
The most hilarious thing was that the owner would see some graphics on gigposters or threadless and simply download and print them. I suppose that licensing doesn’t really matter in this part of the world but seeing a MURPHY’S LAW design on a pink shirt is pretty funny.
No one really cares what’s on a shirt as long as it looks cool. The only has been doing this for 15 or so years. He also sells his own designs for dress shirts, jeans and other types of clothing.
Printing photos on a skateboard.
I have no idea how to do this but my friend Brian Garson got it done through Ottawa’s On Deck skateshop. Brian’s been traveling and shooting with On Deck’s current team for a while now so it made sense for them to approach him when they decided to print photos on their 20th anniversary deck.
It’s pretty cool that a city like Ottawa has been able to sustain a single skateshop for two decades. Also cool that Brian got to be part of it all.
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