What you up to?

Just in the LES walking to the subway, heading home.

Where are you from?

I’m originally from right outside of Boston, but I lived in Philly for eight years and moved up to New York two years ago. So even though I grew up in Boston, in terms of me living on my own, Philly is home to me in a sense.

What brought you to Philly?

I went to college there. Temple University. Just through knowing there was a good skate scene, and my friend Shaun Williams was always skating Philly. I made a couple trips and skated Cecil, so I figured if I was gonna go somewhere on the East Coast, I might as well go somewhere that was good to skate.

What about New York? What brought you out there?

At the time I was going up here for work a lot, 4-5 days a week, and there was so much commuting. My lease in Philly was up, Jordan Trahan had a room open, so between the lease, an open room, and me having to work here it all worked out. So the stars aligned, and it was easy.

You still live in the same spot?

Nah we got rid of that spot a year ago, it was tight, I miss it. We had a huge apartment, but Jordan was starting to get hooked up a lot with New Balance and going on trips and it made sense for him to not be on the lease, so I moved to Bed-Stuy.

Did you study photography in school?

No I went to school for video and right before I went to Temple I started getting into photography. The entire time at Temple I tried to do as little schoolwork as possible within my major, and just shot a ton of photos. I graduated without doing a senior project or anything significant for my degree. I don’t know how it really worked out. But that was the time I learned the most as a photographer, at least for shooting skating.

Didn’t you make a skate video back in the day?

In 8th grade I got a Sony trv340, which was a digi 8 cam and started filming with two of my good friends that lived like a mile away from me. That ended up being my first video, Metropolis, which was really a crash course in terms of learning how to shoot and edit, neither of which I was very good at. Right after Metropolis we made City People 1&2. The City People videos were more planned, same crew we’d skate with normally except I was dedicated to filming as much as possible and everyone was psyched to film a video part. It was probably everyone’s first video part now that I think about it.

How often do you take pictures?

This winter…the last photo I took I can’t remember to be honest. But normally I’d say one skate photo a week. I go out to shoot more than one a week though. If I shoot four skate photos a month I’d say that’s productive.

You ever get to shoot naked chicks?

Np, I’ve never done that haha.

What about models?

I’ve done a little bit of that.

What’s up with CASTE?

CASTE is a collaborative project that I work on, everyone involved gets to pursue their interests. For me it’s mainly a visual endeavor, where for others it’s garments or design based””and we work together to make stuff that goes beyond a single product or video. We keep projects bouncing off one another. We also have a lot of help from friends so it’s not limited to just ourselves, who are as consistently involved.

What’s the most stairs you’ve ever hucked?

I think 7. I’ve ollied 7 stairs. How does that compare to your last photographer interview?

I think Xeno said he did 10.

That’s a boldfaced lie””haha. Just kidding.

You ever get hurt bad skating?

Yeah I broke my ankle really bad in high school at the chinatown courts in Boston.

You ever get hurt sneezing?

Haha. Who were you talking to before this interview? I coincidentally threw out my back when I had a cold and that has somehow stuck with me. So I guess that’s an injury from sneezing. That’s pretty soft for Skate Jawn huh?

You ever have a camera break from skating/getting hit?

No I’ve never had one break from getting hit, but two years ago I was shooting a photo with Jimmy McDonald, it was his pro debut 5Boro ad…a front wallride. I shot a photo and the camera exploded on itself. I’ve never really been hit, a lot of close calls though.

What’s one of your favorite trips you’ve ever been on?

My favorite skate trips are probably with the crew from Temple when I was going to school there. we went to Houston and Austin a few times, and Miami. That was the best in terms of combining everything, that was tight. I could shoot photos all day and skate with all of my friends. Avoiding winter for a few weeks with your friends, those are definitely the best trips.

Who do you think you’ve shot the most photos of ever?

I’d say either Jimmy (McDonald) or Ishod.

How many photos have you shot of Love gap?

Ishod’s switch flip, Tom Asta doing a switch heel and switch front heel, Ishod front shuv, Ishod heelflip, Spivey nollie, he slipped out but it was a land, it was sick. Jimmy Carlin hardflip, which was shitty photo but still got used.

You have that nollie photo? Anyone ever see that?

It’s on a blog I’ve done at some point. It’s on the internet somewhere. It was sick. I can find it for you. He might as well have done it. I think it was the night of Ishod doing the switch flip, and these two dudes rolled up and I didn’t know who Jason Spivey was. We already had the generator on and Jason started skating the gap with Ishod. It was super rad like what the hell is this kid doing? Why would you wanna skate it and he started going for a nollie, which is even sicker. He wasn’t there with a filmer, just rolled up with his homie. He definitely had no intentions of skating it. But, it was pretty rad that he was skating it with Ishod.

You ever get a ticket at Love park?

Twice. Once I was just taking photos. As everyone ran I chilled on the stairs and they gave me and my friend who was filming tickets cause they claimed we were encouraging skateboarders. I’m not sure how that makes sense. And then another time I was skating and I ran two blocks away then a cop rolled up behind me and gave me a ticket.

What do you look for in a woman?

Oh my god. Can I skip that one?

No…

Artsy & Crafty

Advice on how to freelance?

My advice would be to pick your battles. Skateboarding teaches you to never settle and work independently, but sometimes to make ends meet you need to compromise to keep pushing work you’re passionate about forward.