Found Communities Photographs

I went out with Dean today to take some photographs for our found communities project. The aim was to get photos of small and usually unobserved spaces, Dean's then going to illustrate tiny communities into them.

Stalled Spreads

This is where I'm at now with Stalled magazine. I've got all the content, the layouts are pretty much finish, they just need a few tweaks.

Stalled Cover

I did a few variasions for the Stalled cover to get the type right. I already felt that I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted it to look from the experiementation with Ride. I am going to go forward with the 4th image.

Ride Layouts

This was were I was at in terms of laying out Ride when I decided to change the direction of the project. I was happy with the overall feel of the magazine and I have kept it fairley similar for Stalled.

STALLED - New Logo

OK so my new magazine is going to be called 'stalled' and I've been coming up with a new logo for it. I'm sticking with a similar look to the ride logo i.e. hand rendered and fairley rough around the edges.

























The 2 above were done with pen, I wasn't really happy with either.



















So I decided to get the paint brush out, and did a number of variations













This was the one I was happiest with











Above is the vectorised version

Robbie Fife Interview

Robbie Fife is an amazing BMX rider and soemone that I have know of for a few years. He's from Thirsk and I would bump into him while out riding in Leeds and York from time to time I have some really good photos of him from the times I have been out riding with him. He also studies Fine Art at Brighton university. I thought I would shoot him some question for my zine.

Name, Age and Height?
1: Robbie Fife, 21, i m about 6ft 2.

How’s is it going Robbie, what are you up to today?
2: i m great, loving life. it's the evening now so i'm just chilling at home, i'm about to play some fifa with my housemates. i've been painting in the studio today and we had a seminar in the uni gallery where we just put on our second year show.


You’re from Thirsk but you went to school in York, how was that for you and where feels more like home?
3: going to school in york was such a good experience for me. it was sometimes a bit tiring having to get trains and so on but it was an awesome city to grow up in. it's quite small so its not too overwhelming but with more stuff going on than in my hometown. plus i made some of my best friends there. its good for bmx too and i wouldn't have met all you lot without being at school in york. i've never really thought of york as home though.


Thirsk is a pretty out of the way town not exactly known for its riding scene how did you get into BMX in a place like that?
4: there used to be some really good riders in thirsk but as with a lot hobbies like bmx people grow tired of them or get jobs and things like that. things change and the bmxers i looked up to stopped. i had a bmx since i was about 5 and my step brother's friend got me into doing tricks on a family holiday. i always thought it was really fun and then i think i saw some bmx on tv, i can't remember what. since then i ve been into it. watching tom raw, local hero, ride always made me want to ride more. he won backyard jam expert, i think it was the time before mat roe won. he was probably the most naturally gifted rider i have ever seen ride a bike. His bike control and style was amazing. he could have been massive if he wanted to. then i just started riding up in thornaby most weekends. ape was awesome, I loved that park.


You recently moved down to Brighton for university, how are things down there and how does it compare with Yorkshire?
4: brighton is brilliant. i love it here. i ve met some amazing people, i love my course and the place, everything is fine and dandy. its difficult to compare to yorkshire, its so different here. i love both though. brighton is good because it's near london too. like london its a big melting pot of different people, cultures etc. it's a fun place to live. it's also quite small which i like, you get to know a lot of people and you can walk to most places without it taking years.

Have you been able to get out on the bike much?
5: i go riding as much i can. some weeks i ride more than others. at the moment the weather is quite unpredictable so i get out when i can. i ride most weekends and some mornings and evenings during the week.


You have the most flowing style out of pretty much anyone I’ve ridden with! Does that just come naturally or do you have to work on it?
6: thanks mate. i don't know if i always flow or have a flowing style, but i try to be relatively smooth. thats just the kind of riding i m into. the riders i looked up to when i first started riding properly were always into flowing around. at thornaby the cool thing was to be able to tabletop and turndown. those were the tricks to do, riding has changed since i started, but that’s still the kind of riding i like to do. i love watching the other crazy technical stuff and i love riding street, i like riding anything really. i don't know if having a flowing style comes naturally, i just ride and do things i like the feel of.


You’re riding without a brake, I think for the first time. How come you decided to take it off and how are you finding it?
7: yeah i took my brake off, i think it’s been the best part of a month now. i fancied a change and wanted to see how i could handle it. for the first week every time i went riding i felt like putting my brake back on, especially with how busy the local park is. i couldn't properly air and it felt weird, now i can't see them going back on for a long while. i think i m going higher now, i love the feeling. i like the speed too. the only slight problem is that i live at the top of a really steep hill so my shoes are wearing fast.


I know you’re studying fine art painting, how come you decided to go for painting as opposed just straight fine art?
8: when i started my foundation i wasn't really sure what i wanted to focus on and after a trip to barcelona and seeing one particular artist i decided i wanted to paint. i painted in school and i enjoyed it then but i fell in love with it in foundation. i love painting, there are endless possibilities and pathways you can find yourself going down. painting is a massive subject in itself. i don't think a broad fine art course would be a bad thing to do, i just felt that i wanted to focus and explore painting as much as possible because it's what i love.


Brighton’s a pretty good place to be studying art do you feel you are getting a lot from it?
9: i've learnt so much from my course and generally being in brighton. the whole experience of living and learning in this city has been invaluable. the people i ve met have made it all worthwhile. i'm so glad i came here.


I’m pretty ignorant when it comes to fine art but who are your influences, which artists are you into at the moment?
10: the artists i look at and am inspired by increase in number fairly regularly. inevitably different artists affect my work in different ways. there is one artist who has had an unmeasurable effect on me; he's called Antoni Tàpies. seeing his work in the flesh made me understand painting and made me want paint. i would love it, if at some point my paintings or a painting of mine might have a similar effect on someone else. His paintings had a profound experience on me. In terms of other art and artists; i love a lot of contemporary painting right through to old masters’ works. the first names that come to my mind are Vincent Van Gogh, Frans Widerberg, Antoni Tàpies, Ørnulf Opdahl, Claude Monet, Phoebe Unwin, Peter Doig, Goya, Cy Twombly, Paul Cézanne, Ken Kiff, Max Neumann, Marlene Dumas, Thomas Zipp, i really like my tutors' work and they are also well established artists- Tom Hammick and Andrzej Jackowski. the list could probably go on.


What do you think you’ll do when you graduate, do you have any plans that far ahead or are you just taking it as it comes?
11: i don't know about that one. i'm just taking it as it comes. i think i will probably end up living in london at some point. i might end up living abroad too. i would love to do a masters, possibly study at the royal academy or the royal college if i could get in. but i don't know how things will happen and circumstances and ideals change so rapidly. we'll see. i hope i'll still be painting though.


Ok so I know the weathers been pretty bad lately but presuming we’re not talking about the British winter time what would go down on your perfect day?
12: i always think this is a hard question to answer when i see it in interviews. so many amazing days are possible. mine is quite ordinary. i reckon maybe wake up with the sun shining but without it being ridiculously hot, lets say crisp. have a cup of tea or coffee with my favourite people maybe add in some porridge or croissants, then go for a walk into town or a dog walk if i m home home. go get my bike and have ride. then go to the studio and paint or draw. walk home with more good people. end the day with a decent movie. throw some happy tunes in throughout the day too. pretty straight forward, i have quite few days like this.


And what do you get up to on an average day?
13: pretty much the same as above except i don't always get to ride, quite often i spend the whole day in the studio, which can be just as good if not better sometimes.

Ok this is a Question from Jonny: What are the top 3 things you would do if you were a woman for a day?
14: blimey, thats hard, i don't want to come across as a pervert. i reckon first i d have to have a look in the mirror, cus my head with a woman’s body could look pretty hilarious. i'd have a go with all the stuff men don't have. i reckon any person would do this if their gender was switched for a day. i d probably get my hair done. i'd try and piss in a urinal standing up, i ve heard that's hard. Thanks Jonny.

Anyone you would like to thank?
15: thanks for wanting to do this interview angus, and for being a ridiculously talented rider. then just my friends and family, can't thank them enough! cheers.

William Davis Interview

William Davis is a BMXer, photography and Graphic Designer, he was one of It's Nice That's top 10 graduates of 2009. His photography and BMX Videos are things that I have admired for a long time. I thought he would be the perfect person to interview for my magazine.

Name, Age and Location?

William Davis, 23, Berlin

Ok I’m going to go back to the first time I was really become aware of you, somehow I stumbled across you site wdphotos.com this must have been 3 or 4 years ago but the quality of the pictures seemed to be really high even back then. What got you started on keeping a photo blog and what gives you the motivation to keep going?

I started it back in '04, as a way of showing my friends the photos I had taken at the skatepark or out riding that day. The motivation to have kept on for 6 years is simply a self compulsion to take photos and want to show people.

You seem to do a lot of travelling, there are photos on your website, it seems, from all over the world. What are some of your favourite places you have visited? And what makes them so memorable?

Its a cliche to say, but hitchhiking across Japan was one of the best, just because everything is turned upside down, your expectations, difficulties, challenges.

What motivates you to spend time travelling?

To spend time with friends who live in other countries, or just to get away. Just to be somewhere else in fact.

I know you shoot a lot of film, what do you prefer about analogue as opposed to digital?

I think wdphotos shows a kind of curve in terms of how I've considered, or respected photography, in that from around 2007 onwards I shot only film, due to working, and associating digital more with 'work' photography. I became bored with immediacy and perfect, or exact results. I generally started not to care less about my photos, but to attach less importance to them.

What’s currently in your camera bag?

I don't have a camera bag right now, having in the past owned at least 7 different ones, but in terms of equipment I'm generally switching between using a canon rangefinder which is small and easy to take anywhere, and a nikon f2, which is the best camera I ever used (thanks to Jon for that recommendation). I own roughly 15 or so film cameras though, and a digital slr for work stuff.

So your living in Berlin at the moment, what are you up to over there and how are you finding it?

I've lived here off and on for about 9 or 10 months amalgamated over the years. I'm working freelance and battling through the –20º winter.

Maybe a couple of years ago you and Rhys Mcfleece put out 3 Bristol Scene web videos, to me they seemed really fresh and well put together, how come we haven’t seen any more BMX videos from you lately?

Because Rhys has my camera! I have made the odd short thing, but more just for friends. The last big video project I did was the 'Check U Owt' video from a 6 week trip round europe in '07, with 6 skaters and 4 bmxers. That was a lot of fun.

Do you still get out on the BMX much?

I try to, I did a lot over last summer, but not since november til now, as its far too cold. Hopefully come April, plus my new flat is right next to a mint concrete park.

I know that print media is having a hard time of it and that certainly includes BMX print media; what are you thoughts on the current state of the BMX magazine industry, do you think they are doing all they can to hold onto their audience and make what they are doing relevant?

I think the bmx magazine industry, and industry in general is following a general curve associated with all print media, perhaps apart from books, that is a slow progression to web-based platforms. Not necessarily a bad thing, however print is always going to better in bmx and skating for the photos, and I think that a lot of people are still aware and respective of that. I think they're doing all they can and thats just carrying on making magazines. I think they're expected to be more than just a magazine too, and unlike other magazines they re-invent themselves every issue. They're a look and a lifestyle and all of that, and in the end they should be what people would want to see themselves in, or are a fair represention of the opinions of an audience that is tough, and concerned purely with bmx as a lifestyle.

So I know you got onto the Graduates feature on the It’s Nice That, which for any Design student is a pretty big deal. How did that come about and how stoked were you to be selected?

Yeah it was certainly lovely of them to include me. I had heard they were intending to run a feature like that in April I think, so I forwarded them some work and writing, and I suppose they liked it. They were a blog I found myself checking during my student years, so it was funny for it to come around like that at the end...

In terms out graphic design now what’s going on, have you found a job? Are you working? Or are you mooching about on the dole?!

I took a big chunk of time off over the summer, being in Japan and being pretty poor otherwise whilst trying to learn German. Since returning properly in October I have worked at various companies, as well as a few freelance and personal projects. I'm currently art director at a product design company, and trying to pursue personal projects and travel alongside that.

What’s next for you, do you have plans for 2010, travelling? Working? Riding?

I've been wanting to do another bmx trip for some time now, maybe in April, but for now just working. We'll see what summer brings.

Thanks for your time