I turned pro in 1990. I was 18 years old, and I was immediately swept into this incredible world of skateboarding — pro skateboarders, all of them young and living hard and fast lives. What kills me is that this didn’t set into me, photographically speaking, until 1994, when I realized: Look at this life I get to live .
I had been painting, but I wasn’t as clued into photography yet. I came across a bunch of influential photo books at around that time — ‘94, ’93 — and just had an epiphany that I should be documenting this. Like, who gets this access? I mean, I’m the ultimate Insider.
I’m a pro skateboarder who wants to document skateboarders. I wasn’t doing drugs or drinking, really, so I was always a little bit of the oddball in the group. I’m literally with these people [with a] live-fast-die-young attitude, and so there was a remove there.
Seeing these photo books, “Teenage Lust” by Larry Clark and “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency” by Nan Goldin , were two great examples of: You can shoot your own scene, your group of friends . I see these guys acting like rock stars and there’s a comedy to it, in some ways. The way they [wore] their fame was really interesting.
Once I started looking at it from that perspective, it just became totally fascinating. I was also with [wife and fellow artist and photographer Deanna Templeton ] since I was 15 years old, so, for me ..
. I almost felt like a babysitter sometimes. Babysitting this group of wild kids.
.