Untitled

SPECIAL THANKS:
DOODAH BERN
ALAN MAAG
FABIO STOLL
Jan@ROJA FILM
NICK+Bumblefuck
COLIN+GOOFY DAYS
ANDI+BSS CREW
Cover: nicola ho
photo: fabio st sek
oll
as seen as in
whiteout 13
e bumble fuck crew
an issue Featuring pretty much the entir by fabio stoll
red
pictu
)
you?
are
fuck
(drew where the
ALAN MAAG PHOTO-INTERVIEW!!!
www.versus-skatezine.ca
[email protected]
the ycm was
at m
the bowling ischlers 34th birthday
center will
pa
never forge rty
t!
29/04/2012
Charly - Jey
sion of our life
Black Cross Bowl Ses
never forget!
versus...
soon so 90s
30/04/2012
The dude - Charly - Jey
Lausanne downhill + bowl session + bbq + french dudes = good times!!!
No pictures, no footage, just great memories...
Charly wallie the stone, Fs rocknroll the deep-end, Claude's x2 set, etc... Passion!
“Some countries are
just way too serious.
Why would you want
to live there?”
Roy “Living Legend”
Samir Isis - BS and FS Smith - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Charlie Moore - Sketchy Circus - Photo: Jey
Nicola Hosek - Bluntslide and BS Lipslide - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Pascal and Nico - Skate Life - Photo: Jey
Nick and Mädi - Wallride and Feeble - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Charlie - Fs Rock n roll - Photo: Jey
Samir and Kleino - Ollie and Tailslide - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Rui Esteves - BS grind and Crooked - Photo: ???
Manuel Schürch - BS Tailslide - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Manuel Schürch - SW Crooked - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Samir Isis - FS Bluntslide up and out - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Martin Kleiner- SW Heelflip - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Silvan Erne - BS Smith - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Nicola Hosek - FS Bluntslide - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Boris Fuhrer - Crooked - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Boris Fuhrer - Ollie - Photo: Fabio Stoll
Max Shrädder - Fast Plant - Photo: BSS
Max Shrädder - Layback Smith - Photo: BSS
Domi Lippert - Pivot Fakie - Photo: BSS
Luca - Pivot Fakie - Photo: BSS
Edgard - BS Smith - Photo: BSS
ALAN MAAG PHOTO-INTERVIEW
Portrait by Moris Freiburghaus
- 07 / 09 / 2011 That’s the date I sent the first email to Alan Maag about my idea of doing an interview
with him in Versus. Almost a year later, after something like another thousand emails,
over hundred text-chat messages, and a couple of days spent on the layout, here is it...
Yeah, when I was not travelling, skateboarding or working, he was on a trip somewhere,
working on the new Whiteout, doing jobs for Carhartt or finishing his photographyschool... We kept on missing each other pretty much everytime. -Actually we didn’t even
met in person a single time while doing this interviewAnyway we made it, and I’m fucking stocked to have the chance to show you this
photo-interview with such a talented, passionated -and over booked- man.
I mean do you guys realize that Alan is the fucking photo editor from Whiteout, gets
pictures in pretty much every european skatemags, but still, accepted to do something in
such a shit thing as Versus?! C’mon I know you would be stocked as hell if he would use
a picture from you in Whiteout’s next issue. Yeah, so now, you know how I feel!
That was the best way ever, I could dream of, to finish this last Versus issue made in CH.
So now swiss guys, if you want to end up having a picture from you in Whiteout, read
this interview, learn with his advices-tips, shoot some more, and don’t upload all your
photos everywhere online... First, send them to Alan! He might be busy, he’ll take the
time to have a look for sure. -And as a worst case scenario, send it to me, I’ll take them,
because you are probably a better photographer than me anyway!Alright, enjoy, and Alan, hope to have the chance to talk with you soon, and hopefully
somewhere else than via chat email or telephone!
Cheers, Jey
FIRST PICTURE YOU’VE SHOT?
Don’t remember the first picture I ever
shot. I think I started to develop interest
in cameras when I was in fourth grade
or so. The oldest pictures that I found
around my office and somehow relate to
skateboarding show an old friend. We were
like eleven years old and had just met each
other. Those days, if you heard that there
was a skater living some villages down the
valley, you’d get on your board and start
looking for him. That’s how Stefan Herb
found me... He’s still skating today, twentyone years later.
A little later this blond dwarf showed
up straight from a farm and somehow
managed to flip our set of steps right
away. He’s still skating as well. But then
he was still able to control his temper. I
guess there just was no reason to freak out.
What happened, Sven?...
FAVORITE CITY YOU’VE BEEN?
At the moment I’d like to say Brighton in England. It’s a
town at the coast, South of London. Not very big, a student
city. At weekends it transforms into a party bunker cause
all the freaks from London drive in, but during the week
it’s relaxed, almost hippie like. Lots of old people are there
as well and having tea and toast among them at the ocean
is just great. It levels heart beats. And things just taste
different... Maybe it’s the salt in the air, the dim colors
along the shore or the steady breeze, I really don’t know,
something just calms me down there. I had two days all by
myself before the Warriors came. They were the two most
peaceful days in many years...
This picture of Martino backflipping some cube at the beach
sums up the whole trip; it was full of action but had its
intense moments of tranquility. Split seconds freezing your
surroundings.
MOST DANGEROUS ANGLE TO TAKE
A PICTURE?
Ah... This is a good question. Often the best
angle for a trick is right in the landing
of Fisheye shots. I never hold my camera
into a shot without looking through it. The
whole point of a fisheye is to get as close
as possible. If you keep a safety distance
you have to crop to make the picture look
good and that will change the geometry,
plus you loose the desired “action point
of view”. Once you are so close that you
fill out the picture with everything that is
necessary -spot skater pop off landing- you
simply can’t afford to not look through the
camera, otherwise you’ll cut hands and
head, or the last step or the end of the rail.
So get close or pussy off. If you understand
the movements you can judge pretty much
exactly where the board will, or better, will
not fly if the skater looses it. Which gets me
back to your question: No, I never broke
any lens. Except for a splattered lip on one
of my first days with a fisheye. I only broke
flashes and tripods which I set up where
boards fly and skaters land - deliberatly,
cause it’s often the best position. And the
splattered lip was a result of misjudging
the distance of a flying deck. It was all of
a sudden so close that I pulled back the
cam vigorously toward me - without moving my head. So... If you move, move cam
AND head. They you won’t ram the cam into
your lips.
I think the attached picture is one of the
sketchiest position to be in. Backside Noseblunts tend to overshoot. But that day I just
asked Eyal if he would stick it for sure.
Without the slightest hesitation he said yes
and I trusted him. I think I would not have
taken the risk to be there if I wouldn’t know
how much control Eyal has.
HARDEST TRICK TO TAKE A PICTURE OF?
I don’t think it’s about tricks, it’s more about style.
Like, some people have their feet together in the
air, so even a Kickflip looks crappy... Others can
make a trick like a Hardflip or a Nollie Inward
Heel - which I consider hard to shoot - look good
on a picture cause they catch it a certain way. But
if I had to name the single most difficult trick to
shoot, it would be a Bigspin Kickflip. There’s this
old Royal ad of Gino Ianucci doing one - the only
still shot I’ve seen of that trick so far...
Yvo - Hardflip
WHAT’S THE MOST COMMUN MISTAKE BEGINNER-AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER DO?
There are a whole lot of mistakes I made and I keep doing new ones all the time. But in my
work as photo editor I notice some mistakes -or things that don’t match my taste- which
keep pictures from being published. Trying to use a wide angle lens in a fisheye style
comes up a lot... If you don’t have a fisheye, don’t try to imitate it. The distortion of the
angles is completely different. Your rail will look smaller and your heads might suddenly
be egg-shapped. There are many other smaller details which come up a lot; too much space
above the skater’s head, weird colors, motion blur, flat contrast, not considering what’s
behind and what’s around the skater, etc. But that’s all stuff you’ll eventually learn if you
ask yourself and others the right questions... There’s this young photographer, Piero Good,
who asked me a whole bunch of questions and sent me many pictures to analyse them. In
the end he did his matura work about it and got a pretty good grade. The best part for me
was to actually start thinking about stuff and learning a lot myself. It’s a whole different
thing if you have to give advice, compared to taking advice... One other important thing is
to never loose the courage. Keep on shooting, keep on sending stuff and keep on asking
for feedback.
TYPICAL FISHEYE SHOT...
I used the fish eye so much that I’m really over
it. However, some situations just scream for it;
either you want to add a lot of action or then
you can also make things look bigger hehe...
Unlike many other photographers I do not
think at all that it’s a point and shoot camera.
The slightest moves make dramatical changes
in composition, and you need to get close, as
close as possible. Otherwise it looks weird and
it’s kind of obvious that the photographer is
either afraid or too lazy to get in a close position where he can control composition. And
with a little long time exposure combined with
flashes you can always add some fancy stripes
-which would look a lot more disco if the mag
was color!Stefan - Hurricane
ARE THEY GOOD AND BAD LIGHTS TO TAKE A PICTURE?
In general, I don’t really prefer a certain light. Some I like more, some I like less, but
in the end, it’s always what you make out of the circumstances you find. That’s the main
reason why skateboard photography is so interesting; You never know what to expect
and you never know what you get. Working under time pressure teaches you to analyse
and make a first decision quickly... That, and not knowing if the skater will make the
trick gives you this great sensation of satisfaction if things work out perfectly. And it
reminds you that nothing is granted. I don’t think there are many reasons to not shoot
a trick, even if the light isn’t the best and the spot is kind of lame, you can still try to
experiment and see if you can get something new out of it... It’s kind of poor to find an
excuse to not shoot once you are at a spot -unless it’s a sequence spot and I can find
some weird reason not to -film- ...
SOFT DAY LIGHT...
HARD DAY LIGHT...
Probably my favorite light at the moment; a day with “hochnebel”. A slightly cloudy or
a day with strong smog gives you this really difuse light which casts almost no shadow.
Like a giant softbox all over the place. It’s kind of tempting to use flashes on such days
to point out the skater from a dull background, but, if I force myself to not use flashes,
I’m normaly stocked on the end picture. Just need to go sure that the light is really dull
enough.
This is the oppsosite of dull day light. The sky is clear, the sun is blasting and the shadows
strong and sharp. Just look at the silhouette of Sven on that pyramide. He’s right under the
sun. It’s the kind of light which is perefect if you want to set strng contrasts in blackwhite
photography. But it’s also one of those situation where you don’t have much choice cause
regular flashes are normally not of use, cause the sun is just stronger... Guess that’s why
I’m not a big fan of super sunny days.
Livio - Melon
Sven - Nollie FS Heel flip
TOWARDS THE SUN
This one always works but it’s difficult to
find... Sun in the back, skater in front of
an open space. Silhouette is programmed.
You could light the skater up with a flash,
but I prefer not. Kinda cliché, but if you got
a situation like this, it’s hard not to take
advantages of it.
Luc - Noseblunt
LAST PICTURE YOU’VE SHOT?
Rakel, professional dancer from Barcelona
BECAUSE
THERE IS
NOTHING
WRONG WITH
HAVING A
GOOD TIME
AMANDAS 25TH BI
RTHDAY