WORDS & PHOTOS Ali Mehraban
All activities in which you creatively immerse yourself require energy. The love for skateboarding produces this energy—a restlessness that overwhelms you until you meet the street. It is self-fueling, growing exponentially through experience. It is stockpiled in wet winters and released when the wheels are rolling. This metaphysical momentum surges through you in the most stoke-worthy instances. It is the inner urge telling you to destabilize your surroundings; to become a ripple in life’s waters.
A local pack charges one of the most classic California rollers.
The energy is sourced indiscriminately. The inspiration and reciprocation of it can be a self-contained process. The mounting excitement that builds from uninhibited shredding is upcycled into a current of euphoria—the output becomes the input. Outside stimulation is another form of getting your fuel-fix. Masses of media are circulated through all available channels to bring you visual documentation of what you could be doing. The mere sight of another skater, a spot, or a board can entice your instincts and stir up your desires. If you love what you do, it doesn’t take much to do it.
Camden Benesh fires of a toeside on a beautiful Portland day.
Steven Gill and Niky Matousek make moves in the right direction.
There is no doubt in the possibility of these wells drying up. Bad vibrations from angry neighbors, disgruntled cops, and even other skaters with bad attitudes sometimes work to negate the powers of stoke. Unfortunately, many slide out from the grips of enthusiasm. This loss of zeal can partly be attributed to those who try to govern skateboarding, as individuals or entities. They falsely declare rights and wrongs of an unconstrained act of free will. These limitations are poison to progress. Some allow themselves to be herded in this foul direction, prematurely capping the potential of maximum enjoyment. By disregarding these negative influences, one can investigate the unrestricted, genuine love for everything skateboarding has to offer.
Michael Hinze sweeps through a right in the outskirts of San Diego.
Between skateboarding and photography, my creative energy is spent solidly. These are the joys that have harnessed my mental and physical capacities. A chord has been struck between the two, and I find myself consistently entertained by the compatibility my interests have. Exploring the world through the moving nature of skateboarding has rewarded me with a perspective often used in my photography. In return, my photos teach me to find the rhythm of an environment, which I then can harmoniously skate along with. The two activities act as gears that rotate each other, keeping the energetic production fresh and flowing. So long as there is fun to be had, I will gladly continue to expend all my creative resources with hopes that this dispersion of energy will be positively received and passionately recycled.
