Browsing “People”

Big bro Julian lives down the street on the Venice side of Dogtown. He’s usually flying all over the world speaking at some something-or-nother conference, but lately, I’ve been seeing him check in on Foursquare at skateparks all over the country. Wasn’t he just at the Venice Skate Park yesterday? There he is, documenting the variety of life that is living and breathing down by our oceanside, outdoor, skatepark capturing everybody: locals, tourists, old pros, next gen’s top skater and their families. He’s even shot us a few times, hanging out.

Julian’s always got some awesome project happening and when he told me about Hello, Skater Girl I got really excited. I’ve always been a fan of the sport. Silvio was the lead artist for the blockbuster videogame, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Lulu’s godfather is a former pro-skater, and much of our community including the one reading this post are life long friends and family from the sport.

It’s no secret that I would love for Lulu to be an astronaut-pro-skater someday. She’s got her first deck, so really, nothing can stop her, right?! I think the Hello, Skater Girl book would be a great addition to Lulu’s bookshelf. I hope you enjoy this interview I put together with my photographer pal:

Tell me, what’s this photo book you’re working on?

I’m doing a photography book project. The subject is girl skateboarders. I told myself I was doing a book project because that was the easiest thing to wrap my head around. What I really wanted to do was understand skateboarding culture more than I already did, and I basically didn’t really understand it at all — so the project was a way get to know what skateboarding was all about.

Why focus on girl skateboarder?

At first I naively convinced myself that no one else was trying to capture and document girl skaters through some sort of visual medium. That was stupid to assume, because of course it’s not true. But — if you look at much of the core skateboarding communities and magazines and the big brands, you don’t see much photography of girl skaters at all. That’s just the way it is and I understand the systemic issues as to why, even if I don’t understand why not — the lost opportunities.

That’s what drew me to the project because I love creative projects that go against the grain — that do something that “no one” else is doing. And, of course I know that’s just a creative start. As soon as you think no one else is doing something you immediately start finding all the people who are doing that thing. The creativity comes in finding a way to do what other people are doing in a unique, individual way. That’s much more fun to be amongst a community of similarly motivated folks and find your own style and technique.

Okay, so..how would you describe your style?

It’s easier to “see” than describe but — what I’m trying to do is a bit photo-geeky and technical but I try to set up portrait-like photos of this very dynamic, very kinetic sport. I’m shooting for a look that is studio-like — something with big, curated light and the background fall-off you might see in a portrait shoot. I think this is atypical in the canon of skateboarding photography where you often have very big compositions: the big skater/ultra-wide/fisheye look; or the landscape shot with a small skater amidst a big street/urban-concrete setting. I guess I was going for something different just to be different — a wide-ish lens with little distortion; no motion blur; strong visual separation between the skater and the background. That’s geeky.

How’d you get into skateboard photography, anyway?

I moved to Venice Beach awhile ago. The town got a skatepark right on the beach a couple of years ago. Going there and shooting was a better way to learn about the history and culture of this place I’m now living in than reading about it or going to town council meetings.

If you’re keen to see Hello, Skater Girl get made, check out Julian’s Kickstarter or Facebook fan pages! And thanks for your support. Sincerely!

This is the trailer for “Eden”, a short-film that captures the story of Element’s women’s apparel brand and the family behind it.

I co-directed the film with my husband, Kirk Dianda. Together, we shot and edited the piece over the course of two years, as we documented all the products and personalities behind the brand. To string the story along, I created a set of handmade stop-motion animations, that not only help tell the story of Eden, but also represent the brand’s quirky personality, while detailing creativity and fashion.

Short film launches on December 1st.

Directed by:

Amber B Dianda

Kirk Dianda

Music by:

Loren Humphrey

Juice Magazine headquarters in Venice was home to a recent supergroup art show that was organized to benefit Mrs. Babette Ho, the wife of Jeff Ho. Check the video for interviews with the artists, including myself. Click here for more.

Since the start of the year I have been working for Skateboarding Australia (SbA) which is a government funded body implemented to promote and grow skateboarding in our country. More about us here. Aside from being head judge for their Am Series and Pro/Am Tour (curated by Aussie legend Andrew Currie) I have been updating their website’s blog and features.

Including:
Feature interviews with Aussie luminaries such as Chima, Tommy Fynn, Steve Gourlay, Reece Warren, Joel McIlroy and Jack Fardell.

Chinwags with Andrew Brophy, Paul Brabenec and Trent Evans.

There are a bunch of video based regulars as well:
A to Bs with Barry Mansfield, and Dave “Battlecat” Harris
Lost Tapes with Daniel Cardone.
What’s Crackin’ with Nathan Jackson
Recons on the new Belconnen and Nimbin parks.

We also do historical pieces like
Flashbacks with Brett Margaritis, Matt Mumford, Davo and Lee Ralph.
and Video Vaults with Al Boglio, Wade Burkitt (pictured above), Cale Nuske, Tas Pappas, Dustin Dollin and Lewis Marnell.

There are wrap-ups on comps such as Shocklands and the Goldy Grail.
Hope you enjoy this little package of top shelf antipodean skateboarding.

Stay tuned at sba.org.au

Below you will find a selection of images from the site.

Occupy Los Angeles marched through Downtown Los Angeles on 10/15/2011. I was there to take some shots, Gallery up at RebelSciences.

I’m honored to announce Brian Lotti as the newest member of the Broadcast team with this short concept video we made with Abby Portner. Enjoyoy!

Love em or hate em, there is no denying that these things are effing fun! Check the video here.

Stacks just released their first team promo that includes some new additions.

Chris Brigham, of Knife & Saw, the award winning designer and furniture maker, has updated his site. Though The Bike Shelf  continues to be the must-have wall piece, Chris’s craftsmanship goes above and beyond, pushing the limits of furniture design.

Below are a few examples of his craft, but for a real look into his work, click here.

I recently did a little Q&A interview with Brooks Sterling of We Love Creativity .  Here’s a quick excerpt, but you can check out the rest here.

Is there anything else about you that you would like the world to know about Michael Hsiung?

When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up and be a fire dog.