keeping it gx

GX1000 is a series of short online skate videos made by Ryan Garshell. The GX crew are one of my few favorites. They’re a crew of real, raw, street skateboarders, with genuine intentions, independent of a lot of the nonsense in skateboarding, or outside of it. They’re are mostly based in either San Francisco or New York, but had been putting together trips to various states or countries, mostly self-funded, which isn’t, or wasn’t, super common for professional skateboarders. What also blows me away is how good the footage is that they put online fairly frequently, especially considering they were supposedly saving the best stuff for a full length video.

The full length GX1000 video was kept semi-secret, and is now due to premiere in a week or so. These are some photos from just a few sessions out skating with some of them, from around May 2013 through 2014, and mostly in New York when Garshell visits. The skate photos from these missions have since been published, with a few still being saved, but a lot of these photos are shot when we’d go out but not get any actual skate photos.

 

Ryan Garshell.

 

Ryan Garshell and Al Davis.

 

Brian Downey, Jake Johnson, Chris Jata, Yonnie Cruz, and Coco.

 

Al Davis.

 

Chris Jata, Jake Johnson, Yonnie Cruz, and Al Davis.

 

Al Davis, Stephen McClintock, Chris Jata, Jake Johnson, Ryan Garshell, and Coco.

 

Ryan Garhsell and Yonnie Cruz, using a smartphone to record the playback in the VX1000. These cameras have a cult following for being so good for filming skateboarding. It’s not good for the tape or the head to play back footage over and over, plus there’s no external screen.

 

Jake Johnson.

 

Yonnie ollies a sleeping man.

 

Yonnie Cruz, Luke Malaney, Chris Jata, and Ryan Garshell.

 

 

Stephen McClintock.

 

Brian Delatorre and Ryan Garshell with a black VX1000.

 

Ryan Garshell can always get himself on a roof, or access to somewhere inaccessible. This photo was shot digitally. Why do I bother to acknowledge that? A couple reasons. First, at one point I claimed everything on my blog was shot on film, which is still true for 99% of it. Second, I hold digital photography in contempt. I hold it in contempt for all of it’s unintended, often ignored, consequences affecting traditional photography, which many did not have the foresight to predict. It is now at least 3 times more expensive, and much more difficult, to make photography in an analog fashion. Film stocks are diminishing, labs and darkrooms are closing, the costs of film and chemistry are rising, all while many photographers are working longer hours for lower rates, and the middle class is shrinking. I’ll continue to say this regardless of it’s difficulty, inconvenience, or inexpedience, and it’s unfortunate that photography doesn’t have a Bernie Sanders to fight for it.

 

Brian Delatorre.

 

Bombing hills in Harlem.

 

Yonnie somehow got on this roof in Soho just to film a clip on his phone.

 

Keep it real, literally in the streets,

 

Marius Syvanen is on his phone while Yonnie escapes amputation.

 

Al Davis and Brendan Carroll.

 

Ryan Garshell, Danny Renaud, Al Davis, and Brendan Carroll, in the Bronx.

 

I went with GX to Montreal around May 2014, these are some of the Montreal homies.

 

Brian Downey.

 

Ryan Garshell in Skate and Destroy shirt and sweatpants.

 

Ryan Garshell, Brian Downey, Yonnie Cruz, in Montreal.

 

Al Davis, Ryan Garshell, Brian Downey, and Yonnie Cruz, in Montreal.

 

Jake Johnson in Rockaway.