Beauty: In the Eye of the Beholder, or the Holder of the Fisheye?

This morning, during one of my many daily perusals of the handful of skate news sites I frequent, I noticed a video over at Skate Daily , a short part welcoming Phil Ladjanski to Keystone Skateboards, a small company operated out of Phillidelphia, PA. I figured I'd share it with you, not only because the skating is good, but something I noticed about it brought to mind something I've mulled over to myself many times.



Any guesses?
Anyone?
....Bueller?
For anyone who didn't notice, not a single clip seems to have been shot with a fisheye lens. For that matter, the entire part looks as though it was shot with a point-and-shoot digital camera, as opposed to whatever high-tech HD camera, replete with a price tag higher than my last year's university tuition, is considered the "industry standard" these days.

Panasonic AG-HVX200A (enough of a mouthful, guys?) - $4,295

Panasonic AG-LW7208G Wide Angle Lens - $499

Filming a skate video that looks like every other skate video in the last decade? - Priceless?

Now, I'm not one to completely downplay the usefulness of the fisheye lens - I've been on the subject side of a fisheye in both stills and video on several occasions, and under certain circumstances I think it's very useful, after all, why lese would it have become the standard for skateboarding documentation? What I will say, though, is that the industry has developed an unhealthy dependence on the fisheye. I can remember being fifteen, and picking up an issue of Skateboarder Magazine that featured a list of "The 100 Greatest Things About Skateboarding"

I couldn't find the actual cover anywhere, so here's another one that just so happens to have the number 100 on it.











At any rate, one of the spots on the list was given to filmer Fred Mortagne's use of rolling long-lens footage, notably in the 2000 èS video Menikmati, as exemplified in Eric Koston's ender in the video:



For what it's worth, the number of second, and occasinally third angles seem to act almost as a gentle hint to other skateboard filmers, a way of saying "Hey guys, look! All these tricks can be shot using different angles and lenses!" That's the kind of creative filmwork I can admire.
Having recently finished editing the FnM promo video, all of which was shot on lower-end cameras (mostly point-and shoot), and having filmed a good portion of my own part myself, reliance on creative camera positioning became a must, and I feel like the effort put into it paid off.
Maybe I've gone off on a bit of a tangent, here... I guess the moral of the story is that people just want to watch some good skateboarding, and filming it well shouldn't have to involve taking out a line of credit.

Oh, and best of luck to you, Mr. Ladjanski.

Good Morning, Mr. Mountain.

For those unaware, Transworld SKATEboarding released the nominees for its annual TWS awards a couple weeks back. Most of the nominations are what one would expect from a mainstream skateboarding periodical, though one name took me genuinely off guard, and was a pleasant suprise: under the "Best Transition" category was listed the one and only Robert Lance Mountain.
Now, I'm not going to lie, here, when I was a teenager, and I was watching Animal Chin for the first time, I thought Lance was good, but I didn't like his style... Something about his indy airs in the final scene...

I know... in hindsight I had no idea what I was thinking... (For those who don't know, Lance is the one in the blue shirt and pink shorts).
I think what really made me a Lance Mountain fan, and I'm sure a lot of people, many almost twice my age, will concur, was watching that first Powell Peralta piece, The Bones Brigade Video Show (1984). Everyone I can think of who's had the pleasure of watching that video can tell you the importance of Lance's skating, in that, not only was the skating itself remarkable (I will forever envy the man's lien to tails in the Alien Pool) but there's an accessability about it.

Anyone who has about a half an hour to kill should watch this, now...

This brings me to a few reasons why, in my humble opinion, Lance ought to win this year's award.
1) As previously mentioned, accessability. I mean this as no slight to either of the other nominees, Grant Taylor and Taylor Bingaman, but Lance's skating is different to watch. Let me put it this way... Taylor and Bingaman are ridicuously talented, and watching them skate will make you want to go skate, but if you saw either of them at your local park you'd be liable to just want to sit and watch. Upon watching a Lance Mountain video part, you want to go skate as well, and yet one gets the distinct feeling that, should he ever happen by your local park, you'd be just as stoked to join in on the session as he would be to have you.

2) Age... I don't want to throw the age card out there, but Taylor and Bingaman are 19 and 20, respectively. Lance is coming up on his 47th birthday, and managed in the last year to release a video part that was just as impactful as those released by his fellow nominees, whose combined ages are still younger than Lance.





Last video link this post, I promise.

3) It's not every day that a recipient of the TWS Legends Award (2008), an award that basically says "Thanks for the great stuff way back, it's pretty cool you still skate in your free time", gets nominated for one of the awards meant to signify acheivements in the last year, and wouldn't it be cool if Lance managed to take it?

4) Acheivements - Again, not to downplay his fellow nominees, but of the three, I think it's safe to say that Lance was the hardest working nominee in the last year. Aside from filming the aforementioned video part, which was delayed on account of a broken arm, Lance managed to travel with the rest of the Flip team for demos, skate last year's Rumble in Ramona, and take third place in last year's Pro-Tec Pool Party Masters division.

5) Lance Mountain is my girlfriend's favourite skater, and it's always good for me when she's stoked.

Cliche First Post

Welcome to Between Two Junkyards. For those of you who don't get the reference, I suggest you go watch The Search for Animal Chin, the seminal 1987 Bones Brigade skate video. A few years back I wrote a little piece called the Frontside Blog, something that regretfully went the way of the lapper (again, an '80s skate reference, they'll be popping up quite a bit). Now I find myself with a bit more time on my hands than I had in past, so I figure I'll give it another go.


This blog is going to revolve around a number of things, though most of it is going to be skate related. I'll likely ramble about some useless bit of trivia (a penchant developed from years of studying history), share thoughts on skateboarding in general, recount sponsor news, and maybe post a trick-tip every now and again. So, again, welcome to the blog, hope you enjoy it.