Another one of the Greats and one of my favorites, Robert Rauschenberg has passed on.
He was one of the first artists I learned about when I got out of high school and took college art classes. A major influence on a lot of people.
My friend Josh Higgins had these sweet prints of Christian Hosoi printed up. The proceeds go to the victims of the devastating fires we had in So Cal last year.
They are on high quality paper and I signed each one, woooo!
The summer of 1985 was when I made my first trip to Europe. I went for a month and a half by myself and met up with various skater friends as I traveled.
I took the overnight train up to Stockholm, Sweden and went to Per Welinder's hometown of Taby and he and I went down the road to the Swedish Summer Camp in Hagernas. Back in the day before boards lost weight and before Barcelona became the skate Mecca, it was customary for skaters to flock to the two skate camps in Europe, the Swede camp and the French camp in Bourges, France. It's always great to meet up with your good friends when you're in a new place. I met up with Lance Mountain, Tony Hawk, Rodney Mullen and Mofo. The Powell guys had been there for a spell and had it all down. They had bought a beater car in order to escape the mundane camp life and food, a Peugeot if I am not mistaken. Lance and Tony decorated it in the art of the day and preceded to take it off jumps on a daily basis. Where are my jump shots?
There was a fatal shark attack across the street from our office in Solana Beach this morning. 
Update: My old landlord was the victim, my thoughts go out to David Martin's family.
Danny stopped by to sign some posters and decks yesterday. I asked him to write a personal note on my Plan B/The Skateboard Mag Collab board.
The message Danny penned brought a tear to my eye.
Garsh Dude...
Everybody wants to know what camera to buy?
Answer: A manual camera, film or digi, whatever.
Here is a photo of my first camera, a Minolta SRT201. My daughter is using it now. I bought it 28 years ago and it still works killer. Don't get hung up on gear, it's just a box with a piece of glass on it. It's just a machine, it's not the Car, it's the driver, crappy driver in a hot car still loses the race.
You still want to know what camera to buy? A Canon or Nikon. Film or digital? Either, in the long run digi is cheaper than film. Film is more OG and you learn a lot about photography by shooting it.
The pro shooters use the Canon Mark II and III, or use a Canon Rebel to save money. Atiba just bought a Nikon D3, so I guess that's the best since he's using it.
I helped start another mag 25 years ago with a Pentax K1000 and that Minolta I was bragging about. They are ancient compared to today's standards.
I could shoot a photo with my newer Canon EOS1n film camera and a photo with that old Minolta and you probably would not be able to tell which camera shot what photo? In the end, nobody cares what camera took a photo as long as it's a good photo. You can have the best $7000 camera, but if you lack skills, it's all wasted.
To be continued...
Been thinking about using my Blog to give pointers on skate photography to beginners or whomever...
Lesson 1
Buy a camera, film or digital, it doesn't matter which one. You can't make photos without a camera, well, you can, but we'll leave that for another lesson.
To be continued...
Del Mar Skate Ranch was where I honed my photographic skills in the early 1980s. If you weren't a local, don't be claimin', you don't know what you were missing. This is a photo of my friend, Owen Nieder, he was one of the very first locals and ruled every inch of that park and was a very important photographic model for me, "Just one more Owen!". This Blog is dedicated to every local everywhere, past and present and future. Appreciate it while you have it, nothing is forever, except maybe, "The Dirt Nap".
Just got back from taking a 4 day photographic workshop from the amazing photog, Keith Carter at the Palm Springs Photo Festival.
Keith left to go back to Beaumont, Texas on the last day and I decided to take off for home and skip the final slide presentation presented by a "Surprise Guest" and the last night Party. Got a call from my friend Shelly today, turns out the "Surprise Guest" presenter was Andy Summers of The Police with shots from his book, "I'll Be watching You-Inside The Police 1980-83". Ask me if I am bummed. Hell yes!!!!!
Getting hit by a skateboard in the face really Hurts!
