almost exactly two years ago i found myself on my first international skate adventure, having been drafted by DGM as a picture maker. I was unaware of the project and 4 out of the 5 people involved so this trip was a sort of meet and greet/make bulk photos that would ultimately sit around for 2 years before catching my attention this morning, distracting me until this point, and for a few minutes into the future. The trip was epic as I got to travel and shoot with the 4 most influential people in my downhill life, the ones that onset my passion of downhill skating and eventually taking pictures of it.
Noah Sakamoto and JM Duran in NorCal.
Those 4 fellows were James Kelly [probably the best downhill skater ever and pioneer of modern downhill and the whole standup thing], Cliff Coleman [invented the hands down slide back in the 70s (named the coleman slide), also a world pro yoyoer] finally Noah Sakamoto and JM Duran, two of the 3 blue-suit bombers, the guys who first alerted me to the adventure of downhill and influenced me to want to ride mountains, as opposed to little hills around Brisbane. The 3rd member of the blue-suits was, and still is, awol… supposedly flying off some of the largest rock formations on earth. It was hectic, these guys were the biggest deals in downhill’s core yet they were so mellow and down to earth; a realisation that led me to want to spend every moment inside that sport and it’s community. I also met a handful of other rad dudes whom i still acquaint with today, i realised that NorCal is a place to be.
Noah by the bay and noah on a hill.
Cliff, Berkeley Hills.
As i mentioned earlier, the trip was for DGM which is a photo-collective of downhill photogs which i was involved with until i left last year. They’re doing well, having released issue 1, yeoow!
JM
Byron Essert
Tomio Choi
the American Dream
Bob
Im fairly certain i was star-struck when i took this photo.
Bobby the assessor.
note: i did not make this film, this film made me. [along with their first video of this style – Bombing Claremont]
