How We Roll takes the viewer through an historical step-by-step fantastic voyage of how surfing evolved into skateboarding, the kinship with roller-skating, and how “The Roll” created a cultural revolution that has influenced every corner of popular culture over the past four decades. This exciting exhibition is free to the public, and begins its six-month run on Thursday, July 22nd, 2010 at CAAM (600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA 90037).

The How We Roll exhibition opens one week before ESPN X-Games 2010; and, both events are located in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park. Viewers and participants will benefit from the close proximity of these two extraordinary affairs, and will experience a high-energy visual and physical extravaganza that is guaranteed to delight and engage.

How We Roll showcases a legendary list of skateboarding pioneers and their accomplishments, from the late ‘60s and ‘70s, including Marty Grimes and Alan Scott (first generation Dogtown), Steve Steadham (participating in X-Games), Chuck Treece (first black skater to appear on the cover of a major skate magazine, Thrasher), Ron Allen, and others who laid the foundation for core achievements in skateboarding with their extreme tricks and artistic expression. They paved the way for the newcomers of successive generations in the ‘80s and ‘90s, like Stephanie Person, Ray Barbee, Kareem Campbell, Karl Watson, Rodney Smith, Chris Pastras (owner of Stereosound and television host for FUEL TV – Fox 24-hour extreme network), and Stevie Williams, who took the sport to a new level of competition and entrepreneurial possibilities. This groundswell of popularity has transformed skateboarding into a respected sport where today’s athletes – Terry Kennedy, Paul Rodriquez, Nyjah Huston, Theotis Beasly, Malcolm Watson and others – have celebrity status and lucrative business ventures.

In the Courtyard:
When entering the museum, viewers experience an eye-gasm of artwork galore in an 11,000 square foot enclosed modern courtyard. The 5,100 cubic feet of wall space allows the skateboarders (who are also the artists, photographers, musicians, and much more) to create beautiful, large-scale installations. These massive installations, by Chris Pastras, Pep Williams, Atiba Jefferson, Brett Cook, Alex “Duce” Rodriguez (owner of Maintain skate shop in Hollywood, and a well-known graph artist), and Keith “K-Dub” Williams (founder and producer of Hood Games), are nicely lit by CAAM’S 34-foot high ceilings with domed skylights, as well as day windows for people to see as they pass by and enter the building.

In the Gallery:
Starting with 17th and 18th century historical documentation of surfing in Polynesia and Africa, photographer, artist, and historian Paula Lauren Gibson has developed an illustrated history of Black Surfing in the United States, and its roots. Organizations like the Black Surfing Association and Blacksurfing.com, provided support, mentoring and camaraderie for black surfers in southern California who often felt isolated in a sport where few Blacks participated. The founders and some members who include both professional and recreational surfers also featured in the exhibition. They are: Tony Corley, Rick Blocker, Andrea Kabwasa, Sharon Schaeffer, Rusty White and others. Surfing influenced skateboarding in its early days, in many ways, including maneuvers, fashion, and attitude, to the point that skating was called “sidewalk surfing.” Surfer, artist and first generation Dogtown skater Alan Scott (also a member of the first Pepsi team) has designed a mural that shows the evolution from surfing to pool skating. Never before seen images of Marty Grimes (surfer and skateboarder) taken by photographer Glen E. Friedman, poignantly illustrate the connection between the first pool skaters and surfers.

Central to the exhibition is a Skater’s Gallery featuring action pictures, personal stories, skater bios, magazine covers, artwork, decks and other signature items from many of the skateboarders on the list. Legends like Steve Steadham (performing in X-Games) and Chuck Treece show their amazing careers as skaters and musicians. Many photographers who have documented the scene contribute images as well. They include Glen E. Friedman, Grant Brittain, Jim Goodrich, Lance Dawes, Atiba Jefferson, Neftalie and more. Also, How We Roll will spotlight, for the first time, how girls have crossed gender and color lines, and rolled their way into a sport dominated by the guys. This section features and tells the amazing journey of Stephanie Person, the first and only professional black female vert-skateboarder, who made a living competing in America and Europe for 15 years. “I was just ‘one of the boys’ skateboarding in the 80′s and 90′s”, says Person. “Now I am a woman, proud to be the very first black pro girl skateboarder, and excited to see a legacy of the many more to come.”

Another area of the exhibition shows the evolution of the roller skating culture in the United States and how the ingenuity of these early “Rollers” created the first plank skateboard — the seedling that has given rise to the dynamic culture we have today. Co-curated by Roll Bounce co-producer Tyrone Dixon, skater and historian Tasha Klusman from Washington, D.C. and the Scooby Brothers this section has historical artifacts that range from Howard University to Hollywood.

Finally, How We Roll shows how skateboarding has cross-pollinated with and influenced other disciplines such as music — punk rock/Afropunk, hip hop, jazz, and reggae; the importance of the skate shop as the core or hub of the culture, featuring FTC (For the City) in San Francisco, ZooYork/Shut Skates in NYC, and four local shops in Los Angeles that service inner city youth; and, the ‘green’ consciousness in today’s skateboarding businesses, i.e. the manufacturing of bamboo boards, to reduce the deforestation of maple trees (the wood commonly used to make skateboards,) using recyclable plastics for wheel production and a new trend of using organic and natural fibers for skater apparel.

Programs, workshops, screenings, appearances, conversations, and other special events, such as our Fourth of July Target Sunday and August Target Sundays, will be dedicated to How We Roll. Visit the website for updated information. Admission to the California African American Museum, and all museum programming, is free to the public.

I only had a few days in Oz before flying to Hawaii, so without delay I was on the first bus to Torquay which dropped me right outside ‘Bells Beach’ backpackers. I arrived with only an hour of light left so it was a case of dumping my bag and grabbing a board. I ran down to the beach in my wetsuit stoked at the thought of my first Oz surf experience… and what an experience it was!!

I knew I would not have time to run along to Bells as the light was slipping away so I opted for the closer break of Jan Juc. I spent a couple of minutes watching the waves peel in then dropped down to the beach and paddled straight out… wow I had finally made it! I caught a couple of great waves, holding off on my wave lust… waiting for the third of each set which was bigger and packed more power. I couldn’t help wondering why no one else was in the water… maybe they were scoring an epic session up the road at Bells!? So there I was sitting on my board circling my legs, blissfully enjoying having the waves all to myself when I got this kind of eerie feeling… I’d never really experienced this whilst surfing… you know the feeling that something’s wrong! I looked around and couldn’t really think of a reason. There was just me out there and some guy on the rocks fishing. So in came the set and I took off on the third wave then paddled back to my position. The feeling quickly returned and with that I looked down to see this huge shadow move beneath my board… I thought WHAT WAS THAT… it can’t be anything I’m just imagining it I told myself. Then seconds later it appeared again and again, my eyes were like saucers… hell, get me out of here… SHARK!!! I wasn’t waiting around for the third wave of the set this time… I wanted the first no matter how small as long as it carried me straight to shore. So I lay flat on my board, toes curled tightly onto the back, arms glued to the rails, paddling with my fingertips… I let out a silent EEEEEEEEEEEERRRKK and rode the board on my stomach until its nose hit the sand. I quickly stood on the beach asking myself if this was for real whilst looking for a fin to appear… but it didn’t. I couldn’t believe this had happened to me… maybe it hadn’t… even so why did I wait to see that shadow 3 times before I reacted, I guess I thought maybe it’s a dolphin or something, I’m just glad I didn’t hang around for confirmation!! I made my way along to Bells Beach the next day but that feeling still lingered. I spoke to a couple of local surfers who told me shark attacks were very rare but not unknown. They said the chances are it would have been a curious reef shark. I was heading to Hawaii next and I have to admit I was feeling a little more apprehensive than normal but more about that next time.

I guess as surfers we know there are sharks out there I just didn’t think they would be interested in me. The chance of being killed by a shark is so small apparently that it’s not worth worrying about. Nevertheless since that day I have become fascinated with sharks and soon learned the basics when it comes to avoiding any unwanted attention whilst surfing:

Check one – Don’t go in the water at dusk or dawn… feeding time!
Check two – Don’t surf alone!!
Check three – Don’t surf where people are fishing… throwing bait!!!

Strangely I have since convinced myself that, when it’s my time to go I’m going to be eaten by a shark, which obviously amuses my friends. So I’ve chosen John Williams- Jaws theme as my funeral song and I’m going to have “I told you so” engraved on my headstone. On a more serious note I have since dived with sharks whilst in Oz and I agree that we have little to fear. Sharks should be understood, respected and protected, they are critically important to our oceans and the balance of nature.

The surf here in Tynemouth has been pretty flat over the last couple of weeks so I decided to visit the Outer Hebrides (which was truly amazing, again I’ll tell all in my next blog… or I’ll have no room left for photography).

I wanted to photograph a still life close up under tungsten lighting at night, which requires a long exposure (with a cable release), so I used a modified Holga 120N for this shot. It’s easy enough to make basic modifications to a Holga, such as adding a cable release for long exposures or fitting a 52mm filter thread then attaching a close up lens.

So, I needed my Holga (complete with cable release and a 52mm +3 close up lens), tripod, light meter, a roll of Ilford XP2 super 400 black and white film and my living room light. If you feel like giving this a go, simply place your object on a suitable surface, position your tripod and camera at the correct focal distance (in this case 12’’ from the camera) and take a meter reading. If you haven’t used a light meter before, hold it at the subject position and point the meter towards the lens to take your reading. This will read the intensity of the light falling on your subject (which in this case was from a standard light bulb). I used a meter rather than simply pointing and shooting this time because my photo would have been totally underexposed with the available light. Holga’s given Aperture of around f11 and shutter speed of 1/100 sec would not have been adequate this time, I wanted to use the bulb exposure which allows you to hold the shutter open as long as you like.

I set Holga’s focal distance to the portrait image (which would normally focus at roughly 3’) and changed the shutter speed to the B (Bulb) setting. Selecting an aperture of f11 on the light meter, I took a reading. The result= 5 seconds at f11. A shutter speed of less than around 1/60 sec would blur my image if the camera was handheld (due to camera shake), that’s why I used a tripod and cable release. I pointed Holga in the direction of my Shark asking him to smile, opened the shutter with my cable, releasing after 5 seconds. The B&W film (Ilford XP2) I used can be developed at the majority of labs, as it is processed in C41 chemicals the same as colour negatives.

If you are new to photography I recommend that you understand how Aperture and shutter speed determine your exposure. Aperture or f-stops (e.g. f8, f11 etc) are mainly used to control depth of field (what is in focus), whilst the shutter speed is used to freeze or blur movement (e.g. 1/125 sec or 2 seconds etc). Aperture measures how wide the lens opens when you press the button and shutter speed determines how long the shutter stays open. This may not sound logical but a small f-stop number lets in a large amount of light (E.g. f2.8, f5.6 etc) whilst a large f-stop lets in a small amount of light (e.g. f16 or f22). Shutter speeds are easier to understand, as slow shutter speeds allow a large amount of light and faster shutter speeds allow a small amount of light. Basically, the combination of these two settings effects the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor which= Exposure. If your photo is too dark it is underexposed as you haven’t let enough light in, when there is too much light it is overexposed.

I appreciate that this may be a little heavy and no fun for some. If so… live for the moment and say bye bye to the tripod etc, grab Holga, turn on her flash and hey presto you have light. Better still jump in the water with a Frogeye point and shoot camera… I just wouldn’t recommend using your flash around sharks!
Frogeye, Fuji Sensia 400 slide film cross processed.

On top of the pessimism around A-level results and university places, it was reported today that people aged 18-24 are the most affected by jobs shortages with one in six young people not in education, employment or training. The total figure of young people out of work is 835,000 – 100,000 higher than this time last year and there’s speculation that it’s going to get worse.

It’s enough to make anyone give up on job hunting, step away from the constant cutting and pasting of CVs and just go surfing.

Which ironically could work in your favour in Cornwall, where an innovative new programme is taking a fresh approach to jobseeking; upskilling young people to find jobs in the growing UK surf industry by tapping into their passion for paddling out.

Cross Step, a pilot entry to employment programme from the Real Ideas Organisation is a six week training scheme for for young people aged 16-25 and not in education employment or training. Led by longboarding champion and founder of Errant Surf Travel, Chris Thomson, the course  trains recruits in  surf instruction and lifeguarding, so that they graduate with a NARS Beach Lifeguard Award and a British Surfing Association (BSA) Award, as well as work experience and further surf coach training.

On top of that, they also get the chance to grow marketing and presentation skills, develop their CVs and build industry contacts; fully equipping them to forge bright futures in the world of water sports.

The Cross Step pilot programme came to an end in July and already two of the four Cross Steppers have found employment in the surf industry. So that’s only 834,998 young people to go then. Excellent.

The programme is set to kick off again in March 2010 and plans are being hatched to run courses almost back to back throughout next summer.

Now there’s a step in the right direction.