It was only until recently that I discovered how big skate photography was. I think it is a perfect fusion! I found an interivew with one of the best skateboard photographers around.

SP: If you’re a kid and you want to start skateboard photography, what do you do?
GB: Buy a camera.

What are the basic necessities? Does it depend on how much money you’ve got?

If you have the money to spend, I’d say go out and get the Nikon F5 or the Cannon Eos system and start from there. If you don’t have the money, you can start like I did. I started with a full-manual used camera–no automatic anything. I just went out and started shooting film.

Wouldn’t it be better to start with a manual camera anyway?

I think so. So you don’t get all mixed up with the electronics. You gotta learn the basics–it’s like anything. You don’t learn to drive in a race car. I started in a VW Bug [laughs]. You start in the Chevy–you don’t start in the Jaguar.

In the magazine, is everything shot with an 80-200mm and 16mm fisheye?

Yeah. With me, it’s about fifty percent fisheye, and eighty to twenty percent for 80-200mm. It depends on the photographer. I like long lens stuff.
Over the years, the magazine has got more long lense.
Yeah, but now with the Hassleblads, everybody’s shooting with a fisheye. Starting with a camera, I’d say the easiest way to learn is to get the camera and take a photo class as soon as you can. That’ll knock out all the hit and miss stuff I went through. I tried to learn without knowing anything. I didn’t understand f-stops, shutter speeds–anything like that. I kinda wallowed around in the mud, screwed everything up for a couple years, and then finally went to school and learned the basic techniques and art of photography.

There are lot of people at TransWorld who didn’t go to classes.

Yeah, they’re self-taught.

Why do you think that is? I mean, Atiba never took classes, did he?

I don’t think so–I’m not sure. He just learned on his own, but he had people to ask. When I started 20 years ago, I had no one to ask. The guys who were shooting photos split when skateboarding died, so I learned it on my own by looking at pictures.
There’s a lot more to shooting a good photo than having the right equipment. A lot of it is who you shoot.
If you send photos in of John down the street, they probably won’t get in the magazine. People want instant gratification–it’s the nature of our society. Part of living in America is getting everything quickly–service is at the supreme level. People don’t have any patience. I shot for three years before I got anything published. These guys get a camera, and right away they think they should have something published. That’s why we get a lot of crap in the mail. There’s no patience, and nobody’s willing to work at anything. Atiba worked at it. The first photos he sent me weren’t the worst, but they weren’t good enough to be published. Each time, after talking to him and writing him e-mails, he got better. A good skater isn’t gonna kill himself for a crappy photographer. He’s only gonna go out with people he knows are good quality skateboard photographers.

Whose photos do you like?

Skin’s [laughs], Humphrey’s, Dave’s, Atiba’s–and Gee’s come up a lot. I like certain things about different people. There are some guys who can make a photo magic. There are other guys who are better at other things–they’re good at going out and getting the job done. They might not have the most artistic photos.
Deadlines are important, too.
Some guys have a style. It’s not all about taking pictures. A photographer’s a PR guy–you have to get skaters motivated. You’ve got to be able to deal with all the BS.
You could be a good photographer, but you have to get along with skateboarders.
Some guys don’t get along with skaters, or they get frustrated. I mean, I have problems. I’ve been shooting for so long that I don’t want to deal with the extra problems. But I still try to be nice to people. You have to be a real diplomat.

In his Big Brother intro, Dave Carnie said skateboard photographers are a bit wacky. Do you agree with that?

They’re all different. There’s skaters who’ve turned into photographers–that’s how most of them are. Those are the guys who have always been successful–they skated first. That’s how I got into it. I wasn’t a photographer first. I’ve seen guys come from outside the industry and try to do skate photography, and they can’t do it. Personality wise, they’re different. Do you think they’re different?

A little bit. I think some of them are really nutty.
Yeah. And a lot of us are nerds, or couldn’t hack it skating and so became a photographer. They are a lot of ex-pros who figured out they’d always be in the B team and looked for something else.

What’s the best tip you can give someone?

Take off the lens cap. Don’t bounce around a lot with films–get one type of film wired and your lighting wired. If you don’t have a lot of money, it’s hard to experiment, so it’s best to get one thing wired and stick with it. Experiment once you’ve learned. Don’t experiment right off the bat.
The best tip I ever had was to save and buy one good thing instead of buying four shitty things–I didn’t pick up on it for years. The quality in the Canon fisheye I got was so much better than the Sigma.
The guy at the camera store will tell you to buy the Sigma or the Tameron lens–they’re not as good as the Nikon or the Cannon fisheyes. The guys at the store get kickbacks–look at their shirts–they wear Tameron shirts. I’ve compared the lenses, and there’s no comparison.
As soon as you look on the light table, you can tell because the photos are soft. You can tell. We’ve shot with cheap Sigma fisheyes because you could get them for half the price of a Cannon or Nikon. But save the money and go for the right camera and lense, because you don’t want to be changing horses mid-stream. If you can afford it, get the gear you need.

*Photo above was shot by atarinaper.