Weather:
Surprisingly dry and enjoyably warm until yesterday.
You should definitely watch the Polar, Mother, DC and WKND vids if you haven’t. I’m going to assume you have.
This is Deric’s vid from the past summer. Well worth your time.
Please enjoy the latest seasonal iteration of Signal. It was a solid summer.
Since this is the Summer post and the Fall post won’t be up until late December I’m putting out the call now.
Every year I make a bunch of different things, usually a calendar and some art, then I stuff it into an envelope and throw it in the mail for the holidays. The last picture is an example of what got sent out last year.
If you want to receive one it’s really easy.
You can either email or DM me your address on Instagram.
Then one day in December you’ll go check your mailbox and there it’ll be.
It’s free so this isn’t a weird backhanded sales pitch.
I always love making the stuff and hopefully people like getting them.
If you watched the video you’ll notice some of the usual suspects are under represented.
Nate crunched his back and that kept him off his board for a while.
Nick got completely crunched at work and is still recovering.
He’s handled it really well and his spirits seem up.
Even so, if you see him out and about give him a hug.
A gentle hug. He is still recovering.
As with the last few posts these photos were all shot on film during the astronomically defined season.
I’ve been experimented with different film speeds.
One of my cameras also kept jamming resulting in some interesting multiple exposures.
I was going to write something longer about considering a switch to digital and just some general thoughts about photography but something else happened since the last post.
My birthday came and went and lately I’m starting to feel a bit older.
Specifically my feet are starting to feel a bit older.
I work on my feet all day and in my off time spend hours pushing around on a skateboard and this year it started to take a toll.
I have lots of weird bumps, lumps and callouses.
I have to wear a brace on my right ankle.
I’m not complaining. I just want to share a bit of insight I picked up.
Skate shoes are terrible. The absolute worst for anything except skateboarding.
I used to be militant about wearing vans anytime I wasn’t working.
Eventually I softened to wearing slippers at home.
Now I wear Crocs at home. They are fantastic!
Do yourself a favor and get some Crocs!
So I was comfortable at home but I was still going to see bands play and standing in vans for hours and my dogs were barking.
I even had the “pro” vans with the better insoles.
It wasn’t just vans. I wore some State shoes for a stretch of time. Es back when they were still around. It’s skate shoes in general.
Great for board feel, ok for everything else.
So after explaining my woes to my friends and hearing all kinds of different advice I took the plunge and got some different shoes for every day life.
They are the ugliest.
You’ve probably seen them around. The sole looks like a weird marshmallow.
I’m assuming the technology was recently invented because now I see it from a bunch of different companies. Nike, Adidas, New Balance.
As ugly as they are I couldn’t be happier.
They feel so good to walk around in and my knees and feet feel a bit better.
Hopefully with less wear and tear on my feet and knees it’ll add a few years to my skating.
That’s really my big takeaway from the summer.
I know the last few posts have been pretty heavy and a little more philosophical.
Things have still been really busy and heavy and deep.
But sometime you get allow yourself to be a little lighter.
Don’t be so stubborn about things.
Treat your feet and in turn your body well or at least a little better.
One more short random story.
Friday night I was riding my bike full tilt down Foster Avenue heading home.
Right before I got to the bridge a coyote crossed the street in front of me.
Involuntarily I spoke outloud, “Oh shit a little one.”
The coyote disappeared onto the riverpath and I continued riding home.
I like it when the world is a magical place.
Let me correct that.
The world is a magical place.