Monthly Archives: February 2013

It was that time of the year last night when the Transworld Skateboard Magazine had their 15th annual award show in Hollywood,CA. This is probably one of the rare nights when skateboarding as a whole comes out together to celebrate a years worth of skating in all forms. Young and old it doesn’t matter on this night, we are all skateboarders sharing this common bond with some good times and a new video from Transworld to end the night. I rolled out by myself simply because all the people I know would already be out there. Needless to say it was packed as usual and I floated around saying hi to all the smiling faces and snapping some flicks in the process, so check out below to see what I got.

Blair of TWS handling the red carpet

Walked in to find Muska as the d.j. for the night

What up Felix

Finally got to meet professional skateboarder Frank Gerwer and got a portrait…

..He blessed me with a profile shot as well.

Pretty faces and PBR

New Era goodies

Daniel Castillo and Chico Brenes were out there

Hi Daniel

What up Furry Calamari and Tony Trujillo

DGKalis was in attendance

Cash and what looks like a young Jonny Depp

Mike Mo with the always serious stare

Mickey Reyes and Stevie Williams

There were no girls around so I figured a photo of Casey was the next best thing

Justin Eldridge keeping things classy

Guy Mariano and Aaron Meza

Bumped into Daniel again to see he had his hands full

Up yours too Antwuan

Huf and K.C.

This is Gottwig he skates for HUF and has a rad new video part you can see here

Vince of Glassy was in good spirits.

Got you Nakel

Scotty was making friends as usual

Turns out they were Priebes friends

Wayne was out there

Let it begin

Santa Cruz won the Skate and Create category

As anyone would imagine The Girl/Chocolate teams Pretty Sweet won for best video

And DGK won for best team

But the highlight of the evening was Tommy Guerrero accepting his Legend award and calling for all street skaters to get on stage with him.

(photo courtesy of Jim Theibaud since my camera died)

The other day I was out and about in the Hollywood area. I figured I would call up some friends to see what was going on, after getting a hold of Daniel Wheatley he informed me that he and Jon Sciano were going to hit a spot off of Melrose. It is moments like these that I am glad I bring at least one of my cameras everywhere with me,once I got the cross streets I was in route to link up with them. The spot being a unskated double sided cylinder wall with a about a 6 ft. drop at the end. After getting some people to move their cars Jon started warming up, with the initial intentions of doing a blunt slide transfer it turned out a nose blunt transfer was better suited for this location. After some tries he nailed it not once but a few times actually enabling me to get a few different angles. I like skating with Jon and Daniel due to the fact it just feels natural,fun, and the fact that Jon isn’t a high paid pro just yet makes it even better. Seeing him putting in the effort and work to do what he wants is a rad thing to witness. Having a good styles and trick selection doesn’t hurt either, so check out some photos below from the session and if you don’t know of Jon now you know.

Daniel taking a break to get some long lens footie

Great work Jon

If you guys were following my travels last week then you would have noticed I was in Vegas for a couple days to check out the Magic convention featuring most if not all over your favorite clothing brands. Aside from that I brought my camera gear out there just incase I found myself with good company in need of photographs. Lucky for me just that particular situation happened via getting a comment on one of my instagram photos from Sarah Ann Miller expressing a interest in shooting. We exchanged a couple of e-mails and set up a shoot for a few hours right before I left the city of sin. Luckily having a hotel room turned out to be useful for more then showering and sleeping, it also worked out as a studio of sorts for our session. She brought a few outfits and we shot a few sets but the one below was my favorite I think. It just felt a little moody and  I loved the existing light in the room along with the hotel door in the background. I felt it all made for a good set/backdrop. So enjoy the photos below and hope you all have a amazing week!

Van Styles: Ok lets start this with the age.

Sarah Ann Miller: 20

VS: What is your ethnicity?

SAM: Ukrainian & Honduran

VS: Where were you born?

SAM: Las Vegas, NV

VS: Where do you currently live?

SAM: Currently traveling at the moment.

VS: Any likes?

SAM: Antiquing, big butts, Korean horror films, edibles, beards, the south, twerking, and being Jewish, Lars Von Trier films.

VS: And the dislikes?

SAM: Getting sick during the summer, cursing, my insomnia, stinky men, sick stinky men that curse, Sylvia Plath.

VS: What do you want to be when you grow up?

SAM: A matriarch of a cute family.

VS: What are some of your influences?

SAM: Stephen Hawking, Sarte, My dad.

VS: Do you have a favorite food?

SAM: Sushi! Always.

VS: Is there a favorite place you have traveled to?

SAM: Austin, TX

VS: Name a place you want to visit before you die?

SAM: I’m going on my birth rite trip to Israel in June, now I have to come up with a new answer… Hmmm… Iceland!

VS: Current employment?

SAM: I’m a student at UNLV, GO REBELS!

Follow Sarah Ann Miller on instagram

I am still catching up on sleep from the fun 48 hours I had in Vegas this week. Despite feeling a little out of it and a little sluggish I made it out last night to professional skateboarder Clint Peterson’s art show “Conversations with a Pine Cone” out in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles,CA. I have seen Clint around a few times and we usually always exchange hellos or rather “what ups” but he has always came off as a genuine nice guy. His show consisted of some awesome pieces ranging from skate decks with designs burnt in,some paintings amongst other creative outlets. It was really cool to witness because this reminds me of the type of skater I would meet back when I first picked up a skateboard. I think back then it use to be that if you were a skateboarder you were usually associated with a artform of some sort wether it be photography,music,painting,etc. And it is awesome to see skateboarders like Clint carrying this idea on and with good form. The night was definitely a fun one with friends enjoying each others company,pbr and some good art. And with that Congratulations Clint on a good showing.

Art crowd

What up Paul Shier

Skate or Die

Bumped into Michele Maturo at the show

Dune

Boosch bares a amazing resemblance to Willy Neslon

What up Roger

Packed house

If there was anything I walked away with last night aside from checking out some cool art, girls love pine cones.

Well I definitely had a amazing first night out in the city of sin. But I made myself get up out of bed the next day to make it down to check out the convention.  Arriving there around 3 something, I had just enough time to walk around a bit and say what’s up to some faces and snap a few flicks. It is always fun to see what’s coming next from some of my (and your) favorite brands at these shows, but this one was so massive that I didn’t have time to check them all out. And just the over all attendees at this were probably some of the more typical as well as fashion forward people I have ever seen. I definitely think the essential items for this convention were a pair of jordans,a camo jacket, and a 40 0z Van snapback. If you had all 3 you were winning. I also want to add a thank you again to the boys at Primitive for the invite and a special thank you to Scotty for showing me around the Rhino. You are a great tour guide!

Mink was putting work for the Crooks & Castles

The infamous Sky Sheargold

What up Eli

Mega looking bright eyed and bushy tailed from the night before at the Black Scale booth

Primitive apparel

Arsen doing work for Hall of Fame

What up Milhouse

Nick Lockman from DGK

Jon looking very proud of his Rook Brand

Mr. Spanish Mike

SSUR had a great booth

Bumped into my pal Stephanie from Fully Laced out there

Also got to snap a couple of flicks of Lil’ Debbie on my way out

Peace out Vegas till next time

So yesterday I woke up at 3 a.m. due to restlessness and not being able to fall back asleep. I went about my day as normal, going through photos,processing and figuring out projects that I need to schedule,etc. Mid day I had stopped by to say what’s up to my good friends from Primitive at their HQ located in deep valley (which means it is down the street from where I live). Turns out the crew was getting ready to drive out to LV,NV for Magic. Now I have had my fair share of Vegas trips for over 10 years considering that the AVN awards/convention is held there annually. I realized though I have never been out there for Magic, once I announced this statement I was given a open invite to meet up with them and see what it is all about. I thought to myself why not, free room and it would be cool to see the crowd change from stripper shoes to Jordans for a convention. So I went home and packed up my cameras  along with enough clothing to get me through a couple days and I was off. I got into Vegas at around 11:30 p.m. and by the time I met up with the fellas at the room we were off to enjoy the night and some Diplo since he was playing at club XS. I brought out my camera to document the night and here is what I got.

Welcoming

Hotel hallways are so long.

Club Life

First face I see is Ray from Mighty Healthy

It wouldn’t be Vegas with out this….

… or this.

Garcia was out there…

….and she was too

I loved this girls outfit made me feel like it was 1994 all over again

Buds Jubal and Andy from Primitive

Collabo

Also bumped into Jenny Hendrix

Alysha Nett and her smile

Diplo working the crowd

Got to say what’s up to Ben Baller

Stumbled upon the Diamond squad running a table

Don’t act too excited to see me Mackey

Sean selects

Two Tonies 1 cup

Tha Dom

Finally got to meet 40 oz Van 

When we were leaving I spotted this girl who clearly shows The Hundreds t-shirts can also double as club attire.

This is Ron, he works for Primitive and apparently is the only man I know that drinks a alcoholic beverage through a straw

We bumped into Mega of Black Scale on our final stop of the night, unfortunately this is where it ends being that no photos were allowed inside.

During my shoot with Stephanie I figured it would be fun to get a “Selfie Session” going. I handed her my sony rx-100 and along with a mirror she created these images below so enjoy and hope you all are having a great sunday!

Back again with another Test Shot segment for you guys. This time it is with a fresh face girl by the name of Stephanie Madrigal. Now how we linked up was proof of the power of knowing people and having good friends. I believe we started talking up via Facebook but she said she had heard of me through my friend Joselyn who works at a boutique off Melrose called My Closet Italia. Stephanie was shopping down there one day and walked into the store and started chatting with Joselyn,  during this conversation Stephanie had mentioned a interest in modeling. Well being the kind person she is Joselyn had told her about a couple of photographers she should try to shoot with and I was one of them. Well after establishing some lines of communication we set up a day to go shoot, and I had scored a cool vintage apt. by Korea Town courtesy of my pal Jordan. With great textures and good lighting it was a perfect place for me to shoot. Despite the weather being a bit over casted that day it worked out just fine. So check out her photos and interview below, with her determination and looks you will probably be seeing her around on the world wide web some more.

Van Styles: Let’s start this off with the age.

Stephanie Madrigal: 18

VS: Ethnicity?

SM: Mexican

VS: Where were you born?

SM: Oxnard, C.A

VS: Where do you currently live?

SM: The Nard

VS: Give me some of your likes.

SM: Summer, skinny dipping, Netflix, bike riding, hiking, pretending I’m a lesbian with my best friends.

VS: And the dislikes?

SM: Animal cruelty, bullys, pretty much anything negative.

VS: What do you want to be when you grow up?

SM: For now wherever the future takes me,I just wanna be successful and happy.

VS: Any influences?

SM: Definitely my hard working dad.

VS: Favorite food?

SM: This is a hard one ! I eat everything!

VS: Give me your favorite place that you traveled to.

SM: Orlando,Florida

VS: And the place you want to visit before you die?

SM: Brazil

VS: Current employment?

SM: My only job right now is school!

Follow Stephanie on Instagram

Last month I was asked to shoot the Spring ’13 look book for Rook Brand clothing. After talking with Joe and Jon I was down for it, see I believe when working on projects or when working with people it is important to believe in all of the above. I don’t think I could see myself taking a job purely on the money on a project I was not into or if I didn’t get a good impression from the people behind it. I have noticed over the years that the outcome is much more pure when you are into what you are working on. And being given creative freedom to shoot how I want made this that much more fun, it is a rad feeling when people back your vision. So I gathered up some friends for a day of shooting out in Malibu. In this first drop they featured Tianna (formerly known as Tee Nutty) but in the video below you will see Paloma and Kaylee who will be featured in the upcoming months drops. So below are a couple of shots as well as the video but if you want to see more of their collection you can look here.

Van Styles x Rook Spring ’13 Lookbook from Rook Brand on Vimeo.