Skaters want to see themselves skate. Good, bad or in-between (where most of us reside), you just want to see how you look on the board. I remember my first clip, a line with a kickflip, a couple of pushes and fs 5-0 bonk on ankle high flat bar we’d taken out for a sesh. Although only my legs were captured and my skating looked so much worse than I had imagined, it was the closest to being a real skater I had ever been at that moment. I am on video, I do what skaters do—I film clips!
Since then video has always been a big part of what skateboarding is to me.
Now, it’s May outside. It is also the time a lot of skaters (myself included) start to have strong aspirations for the upcoming summer. “This year I am going to film that video I have been wanting to film forever” we tell ourselves. Some of us even indulge in claiming stuff that never gets realized. Like the video below called “Private Party” that me and my mates were “working on”. The video had a trailer. A trailer for nothing.
We didn’t film our video and maybe you and your crew didn’t too, and it is not only because we all are lazy or have a great deal of real life responsibilities, but also because we doubt ourselves, we run out of motivation, we don’t have anyone to film with, and after all—when everyone is so good, who am I to claim a part in this?! But whatever is the thing that holds you back from filming, rest assured that all of us at some point (or many, many points) have the same inner struggles.
Do I know how to overcome anxiety or self-doubt? No. If I did, I would probably organise some sort of a New Age-infused mindfulness retreat for skaters and travel the world as a motivational speaker. But no, I have no idea why most of us even after years of skating and wanting to film have the same bad results.
But it is okay to not know how to fix it. Sometimes the only way is to—yes I am going to quote Nike—just do it. Having clips of your skating is better than not having them. Even if you can’t skate good that day,(it is highly unlikely that you are pro and need to hold to certain standards + you don’t even need to show it to anyone if you don’t feel like it) film it anyway. Stack some clips. Make a phone edit with a tripod or your water bottle. Do it and enjoy being a skater.
I am always stocked to see more videos. Like last year we saw the Trank Boys video. They talked about making a video for some time and finally made one. Was it perfect? I am sure the Trank Boys themselves see a lot of room for improvement, but I liked it a lot. I am happy that I can go back and rewatch what Trank Boys were up to in 2022. Having that vid is much better than having nothing and just talk about making a vid at night out in the bar. Linda Lindenberga’s “The Baltic Connection” is another example of that—it is so much safer to plan, dream and brag than to actually film it and share it with others. BigMac’s videos are also there. The kid is figuring out how to film, but already made so many sick vids. Meelis Erm’s “Ou, lähme streeti!i” and Fully Ghetto vids are also examples of skaters going out and doing it. There’s obviously more examples like that. The point I am trying to make is that it is May, the sick skate season is ahead. Let’s film.
P.s. – I wish I still had that first clip of mine.
P.s.s. See you all at Vef and Lokal house at Saturday 06.05. For Tikari skateshop’s season opener and RajonTV awards.