Todd Cole hits the ocean with the world champion surfer Stephanie
Gilmore to the sounds of liars. and because i am not able to embed this video in the right size you have to switch to nowness if you don't want to miss this amazing black & white edit.
it was last year when I met Alba bustling around at the women in boardsports retreat for the first time. Alba
is photographer and journalist, she has just launched her own online
snowboard mag and because she is so into everything she does she even received a trophy for her efforts she is makingfor women in boardsports. in short, she's more than just a pretty face.
it's about a month ago you've been to the women in
boardsports retreat in Saas-Fee.please make a short summary of your impressions.
the wib conference in Saas-Fee is always a special occasion, some of the most
inspirational women and the shakers and makers of the industry come to the
beautiful Swiss town to share their knowledge and experiences. the conferences,
the workshops and all the activities are great. however, my favorite part is
all the new people I get to meet there and how some of them become great
friends. this year, one
of my favorite speeches was from Ida Holmen, she’s the digital content manager
at skullcandy. she brought the real feeling into the event hall, and what it is
like to be working for certain brands in the industry. also, the video conference
we had with Kabul’s Benafsha Tasmim, the sports and education coordinator at skateistan was really emotive and inspiring. I could go on and on, and name all
the ladies that came this year, but then this interview would be infinite. so I
suggest that you all visit women in board sports! what a great promo here!
you are playing an important part in wib. in which way are you exactly
involved? well, it all
began in 2009 when I randomly landed in Saas-Fee, a good friend brought me to
the first wib retreat. Daniela and Carmela, the organizers, had
gathered together some of the most incredible women in the industry, and being
their first year organizing it they had some amazing ideas but couldn’t do it all. I had my camera with meand I began taking photos for them. that
brought me to film the event and edit the videos and also take care of their
website and social media. obviously, it’s not only me doing all this. we are a
few girls that teamed up to help the wib founders to evolve and make this great
platform even better.
you`ve already gave us an insight to your favourite speeches. what else attracted your attention?
Ida’s
speech was one of my favorites, but also Anna Maria Rugarli the csr and sustainability director for vf international was super inspiring.
the great thing
about wib is that not only the talks are inspiring, but also all the
contributions that the attendees make, the discussions and the open mic times.
I’ve learnt about some great projects in snowboarding like Nichola’s Thost sprungbrett and swiss snowboarding girls, and also some initiatives in water sports
like the butterfly effect presented by Tatiana Howard.
besides your efforts in wib you are photographer and journalist. there must have been beautiful landscapes and interesting people your work
brought you to. what do you appreciate the most about your job? you just said it.what I really
appreciate and I feel thankful for is all the wonderful places I’ve been but
most importantly all the people I’ve met (and I will meet) on the way. I know
it might sound stupid, but I’ve recently realized that this is what makes me
happy: going out there and meeting people to make things happen. I don’t really
care about the rest.
what makes a perfect picture for you?
hey, this is a
hard question. I don’t think that only one photo can be perfect, otherwise I’m
screwed. no, but seriously now, for me a good picture is the one that you can
hang in your room, living room or even in your toilet, and never get tired of
it. so this means all sort of styles and photos can reach for the perfection,
but personally, I never get tired of snowy photos with incredible riders in it,
and the only thing they have in common is that none of them are mine.
reading your blog reminds me things that I sometimes forget while being
stucked in the oh so busy media world. with posts like smiles make it easier or I'm not just a pretty face you are
bringing things in question. is there anything you would like to ditch on this way? I just read again those entries, and I bet you choose the angriest ones in
propose, hahaha, but realizing how angry I can get sometimes it makes me smile. it is true that being a girl into a man’s world ain’t easy, specially when the
first impression is always based on how big your backpack is, and many many
times I’ve felt underestimated, but at the end feeling passionate about the
career I’ve chosen and keep trying is what really matters, and no complaints
should be allowed, as after all, we are super lucky.
additionally to your blog you've launched your own snowboard online mag. what's the idea behind sbes mag?
I’ve always
known that I love to tell stories and if they involve snowboarding and great
people I love it even more. so I’ve been working as a freelancer for many years
and to be honest, I always dreamt about that day that I could launch my own
magazine. however, I’m super perfectionist and I didn’t want to do it just for
the sake of it. but the idea came back to me last winter, when I realized that
there wasn’t a single spanish snowboard magazine in the net that would offer
original content and be a window to the international scene but at the same
time an opportunity for the local riders and entrepreneurships to show their value. so I guess this is the main idea: offer quality snowboard related content in spanish, and create a platform where everyone can find what they need in this
matter while showing off to the world that in Spain we also ride, we also have
mountains and that even though we are often forgotten by brands and big event
organizers, there is a big fan community, or should I say “market opportunity” so they know what I’m talking about?
if you could change anything in the snowboard
industry what would it be?
I alwaysask this very same question the
people I interview. I guess sometimes I wish that more industry people would
think in the way where snowboarding brings a certain lifestyle, and not on the
other direction. I think this would professionalize snowboarding (in a good
way) a little more.
pizza or
burger?goat cheese pizza please! hat or cap?hat
halloween or christmas?can I keep the presents and the costumes but ditch
the zombies and the religion?
if you are around london this week you should check out anywhere road, a photography exhibition by girls who skate. real whizz-kid maria falbo gave me a little tease and talks about being on tour and keeping things tropical.
together with the plastic media and the pet fanclub gang I am heading to Gothenburg for the next few days. quirky goody monki times are waiting for us! of course we'll have loads of fika between all the brainstorming for the upcoming issue of monki magazine. designing is better with fika.
photographer Johanna Torell grew up by the ocean, in Sweden's countryside. eager to
leave, Johanna displaced herself and re-routed to the other side of the
world and has continued to travel since.
which song goes with your photography?
Tom Waits - bottom of the world. what's the biggest difference you've experienced between Sweden and Canada where you've lived as well?
Canada is the loud life, Sweden is the quiet. what kind of story tells your favourite tattoo?
I have a Bukowski quote on my arm that I got after moving from London to Toronto and I got it to remind me not to be too sentimental about old adventures.
I met Sergej at zine*fair some weeks ago and we made a great deal.we changed zines. he got "hello my name is gebhard. like the animal", the zine included in secret smile. and in change I took this zine with me.Sergej just illusioned desillusion! I think this is death cool, isn't it dudes?
† sova magazine the golden issue
this post is long overdue. my golden issue came with some extra goodies and a pink totebag. you can never have enough of them. this goes for sova magazine as well. in the meantime you can already order issue no. 4.
† monki magazine the you're an icon issue and material girlno. 19
here you'll get a little insight into my daily work. the current issue of monki magazine is dedicated to all heroic girls and women, so to you!
† rookie yearbook one by tavi gevinson
reading rookie's yearbook let me travel back in time when I was a teenager that I've obviously never been comparing to this kids. this book is so impressing when i think of our yearbook we made in high school. it was just embarrasing. next story to read: "how to make a bitch face".
it was last year this time around when we met to watch first love at a friend's house. the surf movie dvd came straight from manly, australia and helped me to delay winter a little bit. i always wanted to know who the girls behind this movie are and finally i get the chance to talk to cos we can, a team of content creators telling stories through words, stills and film.
hej girls, how are you?
hey dani, we're good. we're trying to build our portfolio of film stuff, shoot more surf content, develop our ideas for tv series, movies and short films as well as make a living and fit in a few surfs a week… it's a little hectic but so much fun.
nice! your movies often deal with growing up, living your passion and your dreams. what are your personal stories and do you find them in some way in your movies?
our personal stories definitely inform our films. we're always learning and growing as humans and I guess what we're going through in our lives just comes out naturally in our work. we're both very passionate people and constantly chasing (and living) our dreams.
being in our twenties, trying to establish who we are and where we fit in… we've found that for the last couple of years have both found it challenging being females in male dominated environments. so that naturally comes out in some of the film we've made in the past. however, not matter how much of us we put in there we always try and inject a universal truth or overarching theme into them – and try and most importantly tell the story of the person we're flaming.
how did the first movie came up?
claire gorman, the director of first love, asked us to get on board the project. it started of as just a small documentary from Phillip Island and snowballed into a film that's being sold all around the world. we filmed it on one camera – and just did what it took – even if it meant working full time jobs and spending our nights and weekends working on it.
i'm really into your name cos we can.
hahaha. thanks. we just asked ourselves why we actually do what we do – the answer was 'cos we can'. it's funny because the americans would probably say coz – but we decided to go with the s.
fran, what can clare do better than you?
clare can out swim me, and make everything look pretty.
and clare, what about fran?
fran can out run me, and remember peoples names. I have to meet people about 3 times before I remember who they are. Fran is a gun at it.
i would love to get to know more about your first love.
fran: this is a tough one because my first love was a boy called Jarrod May. and he was who I was thinking of when I wrote that paragraph about falling in love. but at the same time I was falling in love with surfing through the making of first love. so I was trying to incorporate all the emotion and the experiences that I was having with the ocean at that time. I tend to fall in love a lot – it's probably what makes me a passionate person.
clare: apart from Fox Mulder in the X-Files, my first love at the wee age of 11? I'm going to have to give a typical answer and say the ocean. oh so corny, but I'm never happier then when I'm in the ocean. I can combine all my loves: swimming, shooting, surfing....
felicity talks about the pressure of the media that dictates how girls in surfing have to look like. what are you focused on when you film girls surfing?
we started to make so it goes with the intention of exploring the importance of a girls relationship to her father – because whenever we meet a surfer it was her father that taught her to surf. but when we went to shoot it the story naturally took on the mentality of the subject – Felicity Palmateer. all professional athletes are under a lot of pressure – and this particular weekend we filmed with Felicity – she was feeling it more than usual. that's what it turned out like.
BEHIND THE SCENES IN FIJI
this clip doesn't have a massive overarching theme, or life lesson – but the thing we like about it is is that it's only of the only behind the scene fashion shoot clips that we've seen that has a story! the other reason we like it is that it shows girls just being girls. which we love. everyone idolises people like models, surfers and other celebrities but what everyone needs to realise is they're just normal people that love the same kind if thing as them. you also get to see a side of Alana Blanchard that you wouldn't normally.
fran, please describe your work process.
creating the story is a bit of a journey. clare and I always chat about interesting themes that we want to inject into a film before we go and shoot. and then we're always inspired by someone else's film making. so we set out with a framework and then we shoot it and it completely changes depending on how that goes. it's a pretty fluid process. there's things I know that Clare won't do – and there's things she knows I won't do. we respect each other but we push each other to do things we wouldn't normally do.
clare, how is it for you as a photographer to work on movies?
I think for that for me it has only been an advantage to have my photography background. I admit it has taken some getting used to going from telling a story in one single frame, to many frames of moving footage and making sure I was capturing everything I needed to to tell a story. what makes my work unique has always been light and framing, and I have tried inject this into my filming. telling stories is a huge focus for Fran and I and what we strive to achieve in all our work.
what's your favorite surf movie? (except first love)
holy moly this is a tough one. blue crush perhaps? I think we have seen it about 10 times. stories, we want stories!
at the very end please tell us three sentences you would answer with "cos we can"
marianne has always been a woman who loved to travel around the world. three years ago she was diagnosed with cancer. her daughter tanya started a wonderful project called i wish you were here. it gives her mother the chance to see and learn about the people and places that she did not get a chance to see and will not get a chance to meet.
it's so simple. send a postcard to marianne from whereever you are. suddenly marianne starts to travel around the world again.
I guess everybody's jeans can tell wild stories. stories about dancing in the rain to your band crush at a festival, hiking up a mountain or maybe about your last road trip with your love.
volcom challenges you to road test your denim. enter the contest through taking a picture of you in your denim and hashtag your instagram with #girlsroadtested. every week until the end of october you can win a Volcom Brand Jeans Denim pack. not bad!
some days ago I celebrated my birthday. I won't tell you which one, ha! i just say such a birthday needs to be celebrated at least as special as it is. so I traveled back in time to my childhood that consisted a lot of my dad and me watching tennis tournaments – always in favour for the czech guys. this heroization was followed by some sweet serendipity. there is a picture of martina navratilova, jana novotna, my dad and me that was taken in the ice stadion in zell am see. if my memory serves me right my dad asked them even to play ice hockey with me. so we did.
wearing a cap that was saying "tennistalent" on its front side I went through hard lessons with a tough and freckled tennis trainer. he always told me that I am a tennis player so why the hell i am moving like an ice figure skater over the court? I quitted.
some years later a cute and mainly qualified swedish tennis trainer aroused my interest for tennis again. but neither jonas nor my original tennis racket from anna kournikova – of course my dad have organized that – kept me up playing tennis.
since then too many years elapsed what seemed to be a good reason to invite my friends to a birthday slam.
boys and girls, thank you for making my wish coming true and especially thanks for the (easy) game.
no title could describe this artsy film by volcomunity ambassador chelsey salisbury better than the already chosen one. it's the first short film from volcom's web series that will explore the joining of op art,
fashion and abstract emotion.
you might remember lovely pro surfer felicity palmateer from back in the days when we just started smile at your sister. she is still surfing and shining. but in the last three years she was not just drawing lines on waves.
hej
felicity, you've been one of the first girls we portrayed. what happened since then?
since then I have been traveling around the
world competing full time on the ASP women’s star series trying to qualify for
the women’s world tour. I have finished one spot shy of qualification for the
last two years and as a result I got to compete at the back end of the women’s world tour in 2011. right now I’m in Europe, road tripping with friends through
France, Spain and Portugal competing in the last star events of the year. it’s been really exciting to experience
new cultures and trying to infuse that influence into my art. I’ve been
exploring a few different techniques along the way as well to try and broaden
my art.
that sounds great. we
found this beautiful paintings that you've made. please tell us more about your
whales and turtles.
I mostly paint in inks and watercolours and
I draw a lot of my inspiration from the ocean. whales are my favorite things to
paint. they are so beautiful and graceful the way they glide through the sea. I
love the fluidity in their movement through the water and I think that
transcends into the way I use my inks and watercolours.
what
are your favourite materials to use? my favourite mediums to use are definitely
inks and watercolours because I feel most comfortable using them. my dad is
really skilled in pottery and lately I’ve been experimenting with clay and
finding ways to bring my ocean influences to ceramic pieces.
a few years ago I made about six plaster
casts of the patterns in the sand at a local beach just down the road from my
house. I mixed the plaster at the
beach using sea water and then gently poured it over the sand in such a way
that it would create a montage of individual moulds. the plaster set really quickly and in no time I had six nice
little moulds of beach sand.
so four years on I used these moulds as
inspiration and texture on the mugs I made.
is there a strong connection between your surfing and your art? surfing and art go hand in hand. when you
think about it surfers are constantly drawing different lines on a wave. the
wave is like the canvas and you are the painter free to do what ever you
like. noone can tell you what to do
and in that moment that wave is your piece of art. it’s very creative and
really interesting to watch other people draw different lines to the ones you
would have drawn on a wave.
most of my inspiration comes from the ocean
and I use watercolours and inks because I think they best translate the
fluidity of the ocean onto the paper. After a bit of practice I now like to use
ceramics. I found working with
clay incredibly hard at the start but once I got the hang of it I enjoyed
making the mugs. the effect of the sand and the ocean turned out really
well.
have
you ever thought about making an exhibition?
I have always wanted to have an exhibition. maybe one day when I’m home and
have a big enough body of work with both inks and ceramic pieces I will have an
exhibition.
if some of you girls would love to have one of felicty's whales hanging in your rooms just take a look through her mugs and paintings on facebook and tumblr. she is able to customise orders too and she would be very flattered if you'll contact her via email.
portrait photo megan villa surf shot morgan maassen
if even a t-shirt won't clarify your sense of belonging maybe this most questionable article about how to be a surfer girl might help. I still can't believe that somebody wasted his time with writing this crap.
so girls, grab your super cool surf board in bright colors, get a tan and beware of the sand – it scrapes your nail polish. we'll meet at the pool!
