Archive for February, 2011

just finished up a small video project called LIFE COACH with Jared Eberhardt that premiers this Saturday in LA.

here are a few behind the scenes photos from the final shoot for the piece that happened over a long weekend in and around the Joshua Tree / 29 Palms area. some highlights included getting caught on a closed off highway during a sandstorm outside of Palm Springs, roaming the dessert with cactus needles stuck in my hand and seeing lots of dead fish.

Life Coach is a stream of consciousness collection of film, stop motion and text based elements that were created collaboratively in Los Angeles and Chicago (with stops in Virginia, Wisconsin and Salt Lake City in between) over a period of a few weeks. Using geometric shapes, quiet outdoor scenes and a minimal color palette, we experimented with abstract and sometimes absurdist ways of delving into themes of hope vs. doom, euphoria, boredom, solitude, anxiety, apocalypse and rapture.

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Darrell in the Ice - Photo by Cole Slutzky

As far back as 1993, when I first arrived in Rochester, we had joked about surfing in the Great Lakes, but none of us ever tried. We were all skateboarders first, and we found ways to do that year round.

Fast forward to 2007, a few of us caught the surfing bug, and we had started to add that our travel plans: surf/skate/bmx/whatever. We spent a couple years taking dedicated surf trips, picking it up slowly but surely. Our distance from the ocean was seriously hindering our progress . . . so we began to look back at those jokes about surfing the lakes.

My buddies JImmy and Trevor were the first ones I knew of that tried it, and reported back happily that it was totally working, at least enough to satisfy our itch. I quickly joined in, and it seemed like we were the only three that were in on this big secret.

Trevor (with beard) and I, iPhone photo, early January 2011

Rochester Surf Sesh Nov. 2010 from jimmy rathbun on Vimeo.

And then we started meeting everyone else.

Turns out, some of these guys have been surfing the Great Lakes for years. Some were skateboarders too, others were just folks that had the same itch we had. Everyone had stories to tell, spots to share, tips to make things a little easier.

It rekindled something in me that had been waning a bit in my skating, and reminded me of when I first started skating in the late 80s: meeting new people who shared this love; people thinking you are crazy for doing what you are doing, and the excitement of finding a new spot that was right under your nose the whole time. It is the perfect complement.

So this whole new gang has been exploring the coast of Lake Ontario, and an aspiring photographer/videographer from RIT named Cole Slutzky has been working on a documentary about Great Lakes surfing. His blog PreconceivedNoceans.wordpress.com is definitely worth a look; his photos capture perfectly this odd little world.

Cole just posted up the first trailer for his documentary:

Preconceived Noceans….the first thoughts from Cole Slutzky on Vimeo.

You can follow along on his blog: http://preconceivednoceans.wordpress.com/

Here’s a few more pics, the blog is loaded with shots going back to late Fall 2010.

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The ice is no joke, especially in January. Photo by Cole Slutzky

Aurelien catching a wave. Photo by Cole Slutzky

Many hats off to all the other folks around the other Great Lakes who’ve been doing this far longer than I could have ever imagined.

Dani Lebron is the newest edition to the growing STACKS roster. Check out his welcome video then grab your board and go have fun!

Rene Matthyssen has been a staple of the Hawaii skateboarding scene and rightfully so with one of the cleanest styles both on and off the board. He hasn’t stopped and now co-owns FITTED HAWAII.  Today, along with Eighty Four Skate Co. and Vans, the Era Pro was released along with a shirt and tank.  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Most of you know Rene from New Deal and his part from Children Of The Sun as well as the cover of SLAP from 1994 and other ads from the mid-90′s. Chrome Ball Incident just put together a grouping of ads from one of Hawaii’s finest.

Stereo and just posted their newest catalog, more decks, shirts and goods than you can shake a llama at.

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San Francisco is stoked! Macho Taildrop is playing tonight at the classic Roxie Theater in the Mission district of the city. I did a little e-mail interview with one of the directors, Corey Adams for Fecal Face about the current state of the film’s distribution and when DVDs will be made and the new eS’ Manwolfe shoe.

I feel blessed to be surrounded with so many rad people, and one of my New Years resolutions is to shoot at least one portrait a week, and post it.

This is Clement Beauvais; a super cool French guy, and film director, who I met at film school in Australia.

Check the link for his most recent film; Riding September.

And some BTS on the Riding September blog.

I post a new Community Service Announcement to my Facebook page every 24 hours, here is a selection of some recent ones. You can view the whole series so far of around 130, here: http://www.jeremyville.com/webstore2/csa/csa.html

Todd Shimabuku (In4mation) linked Geoff McFetridge and myself with Mark Kushimi of CONTRAST magazine a few months ago. Contrast is on issue No. 05 and coming straight out of my home-island of Oahu, Hawaii with consistently good content and great contributors.  Mark was generous with allowing Geoff to work on, “The Geeks” cover along with a 10 page insert of the upcoming Solitary Arts Times.  It’s the precursor to the full-length Times, which will be twice the size with a pull-out, double-sided poster (Kyle Field on one side and Geoff’s artwork on the other).  We’re honored to be featured in Contrast and thank Mark for his overwhelming support. Contrast is free so pick-one up if you’re in the islands. You can also order one from Hawaii through their site, HERE.

Mahalo from the Solitary Arts!

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Skipping out on duties of the day to skate and shoot photos with some of the Solitary Arts crew. More photos over on COLOR.