I am one of the lucky ones. I’m certainly not one of the elusive 1%, and, unless there’s some sort of lottery winning in my future, I don’t stand a chance (nor does it seem at all appealing). Shit, I went to art school, so I can only hope I’ll be worth more after I die. But unlike most of the Americans (that are fortunate enough to even have jobs at this point), I have made my living doing stuff I’d do whether or not I got paid to do it. For the last ten years (somehow I made it that long) I’ve worked for myself, and, while I can pay my bills and live my life, I’m also well aware that America is fucked. But I’m lucky and I realize that. I switched to a much smaller local credit union this week… something I should have done a long time ago. Anyway, a few times in the last few weeks I’ve checked out the Occupy Portland protest camps, and, while I would have expected them to thin out over time, the two city blocks filled with tents have only gotten (seemingly) more crowded. While things were peaceful, a few police officers kept watch at a distance across the road. For now, all still seems well in regards to the city’s acceptance of peaceful protest. Check out a heap more photos after the jump. Photos can be viewed larger by clicking.

I’ve been down at Woodward West in California all week (I’ll post photos soon), but made a point to be back for the annual “Enjoy the Trick” Portland summer flatland jam that went down today. Last year’s summer jam was actually what got me psyched on riding flatland again, so it was fun to get back and actually get to ride a bunch this year. I didn’t shoot many photos, but I did make a point to get some shots of OG Plywood Hood / Aggro Rag ‘Zine maker Mike Daily (left), and Bill Freeman (right), who made the trip up from Los Angeles. There’s a lot of flatland BMX history in these shots. To be honest, I had a couple shots of both of them that I liked, and I couldn’t decide on my favorites, so I posted a couple more after the jump. The above shots can be blown up by clicking the image. I love the contrast here. Both guys have been riding bikes forever. Mike’s riding a CW California Freestyler from the 80s, while Bill is riding a much more modern, brakeless flatland setup. There’s also a clip of me from the jam that Mike filmed at the bottom.

I met Matt back in the mid to late 90s, before I moved from Massachusetts to California. When I moved in 1999, Matt was starting to get better at flatland, and over the next few years I started seeing him at some contests around the country. In 2000 I shot a photo of him at a contest in Florida that ended up in Ride Magazine, where I was working at the time, but I’m not sure I’ve shot photos of him since. Matt ended up going to school for Graphic Design at the same school I went to (The Art Institute of Boston), and recently moved to Portland to work at a small time advertising agency called Wieden+Kennedy. They do work for some upstart brands like Nike and Old Spice. He now lives a few blocks from the flatland spot downtown, so we’ve been riding quite a bit. I saw him doing the above seatgrab plastic man variation the other night, and thought it would make a cool photo, so tonight, despite heavy parking lot traffic from a Major League Soccer Game, we shot it. There’s another shot after the jump as well. Check it out.

Basketball? Yes, basketball. I shot some basketball for Red Bull in Portland last weekend at it’s King of the Rock event. It’s a one-on-one battle from 64 competitors down to the winner, who qualified for a spot at the main event later this year at Alcatraz. I’m not a fan of traditional basketball, but this was much more entertaining and energized. Fun to shoot, and it didn’t rain in Portland. Check out a few more shots after the jump.

I mentioned this video a couple weeks ago, that’s been up over on LevelMag.com in their player. I had a bunch of great stuff left over from the Yobeat interviews I did with Draplin that I posted a little while back, and just couldn’t leave this stuff on the cutting room floor. Like the Yobeat videos, this one got featured over on the design site Notcot.org, and received a lot of good feedback. Aaron’s become a big name in the design world in recent years, and his work hold up to the image he’s built. Check out his workif you haven’t already.

I remember a few years ago as photographers we’d labor over strange ways and devices to get cool POV perspectives. In the last few years, GoPro and a few other manufacturers have made it incredibly easy and cheap. I’ve been itching to try some flatland stuff with it for a while, but kept forgetting. This time around, I remembered to bring it, but forgot to charge it, so I only got a few clips, but I thought it was neat. These suckers have become cliché in an “everyone’s doing it sort of way.” Nevertheless if gives a neat perspective that can be used well in moderation. Next time, with more planning and battery charging, I might try it with two of them, to splice different angles together.

Had this Argonaut Cycles custom built road bike, complete with integrated electronic shifting, in the studio the other day. Nice internal wiring, custom paint meeting polished stainless steel, and fancy removable (changeable) dropouts. Nice stuff. You can check out a few more shots after the jump. The bike was built for a tradeshow, and it’s for sale, so if you’re in the market for a bad-ass custom machine, and you’ve got a few grand (okay, almost 12) kicking around, go get it. You can see previous “bike portraits” here (you’ll find further links from there as well).

The second part of the video interview I did with design guru Aaron Draplin is up on Yobeat. This one talks a lot about his work ethic… scrapping together a lot of “little stuff” versus working with the big guys. He also touches on early graphic influences including legendary skate artists like Jim Phillips. If you get the chance to see one of his design lectures around the country, do it.

This is part one of an interview we did with Graphic Designer Aaron Draplin. Draplin cut his teeth in snowboarding, working on Snowboarder Magazine, Snowboard Mag, and on identities for brands like Union Binding Co. and Coal. He’s since evolved into national design speaking gigs and has done work for the Obama administration. Part Two next week.

Twice a year (summer and winter) the local flatland BMX crew holds a jam to pull together riders from all over the Northwest (and sometimes beyond).  Until I moved to California in ’99, I rode flatland almost exclusively, but once I moved west I started focusing more on street and ramps, partly because of what the riders I liked riding with were riding. At some point in the fall of last year I started riding more flatland again, so this was the first jam since I’ve been in town that I actually rode a bunch. The old tricks are coming back. It’s sort of like riding a bike.

This time around, the crew got really lucky with an awesome indoor spot. Scott Hagnas, a long time flatland rider, who produced a number of videos throughout the ’90s, is expanding his CrossFit Portland gym to a new location. His new spot is being built out at the moment, and he was nice enough to let the local BMXers take over the space for the day, while it was still in build-out condition. We’re in the rainy season around here, so it was a perfect scenario. Snotty, and a group of local street guys built up a spine ramp and brought it along for the day as well, so we had huge group of street/ramp guys taking advantage of the spot as well. 2001 X Games gold medalist Bruce Crisman (that still sounds weird to say, even ten years later) even made an appearance.

Mark Rainha filmed a bunch throughout the day, so hopefully we’ll see a short video on ESPN BMX soon. The FlatWeb TV guys were also filming, so there should be plenty of footage floating around from today. I got off my bike for a bit and shot a few photos which you can see after the jump. Above is Anthony Buglio doing a classic deathtruck.

Blake Hicks, dumptruck pivot.

Anthony Buglio, Smith decade.

Justin Hoey, no-handed hitchhiker.

Snotty, wallride out of the street spine that he made happen.

Justin Hoey, no-handed hitchhiker

Anthony Buglio, two-footed deathtruck

Justin Hoey, no-handed crackpacker.

Codie Larsen, bunnyhop whip (Whopper).

Snotty, wallride to 180 out.

For more photos from the day, Shad over at GoodsBMX posted up some shots here.