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Rasa Libre X Whiteley

Back in the mid-90s I moved to Santa Cruz to go to college. The first six months I was there I didn’t know a lot of people to skate with and was kind of slipping on the skate scene, but then I met Matt Field and he basically saved my skateboarding life. We clicked as friends instantly, sharing similar taste in tricks and skaters, and we helped each other along as well- Matt was an am for Real at the time and just getting going on filming for a new Real video. I had been filming for companies for a few years and we dove in on the project as a team, skating and filming together in Santa Cruz and San Francisco whenever possible over the next nine months or so. The resulting part in the Non-Fiction video turned Matt pro, and I met a ton of people in the industry, which eventually helped me end up at SLAP after finishing college.
Matt was one of the pioneers of the mid-90s raw street, East Coast-influenced scene, helping to bring in the whole wallride/yoga/spiritual mash-up that influenced so many skaters to follow. He also was a big roots/DIY businessman, starting with Half Life clothing (one of the first “organic” companies in skateboarding) before moving on to found IPath shoes and Rasa Libre boards, always putting friends first as well as sponsoring guys like Omar Salazar and Dylan Rieder before they were big. As he grew with his companies and I grew with SLAP, we still always loved working together on projects. SLAP did a lot of coverage on his teams and he and I shot a handful of photos together over the years that I always liked. Recently Matt asked if I would like to do a Rasa Libre board around some of my photos. I chose a simple silhouette shot of Matt ollieing over a bar under a tree in San Francisco from a decade back, and suggested some other images that relate to our history together, mostly off Santa Cruz days. The result is my guest board on Rasa, and as a special shout-out to all the SLAP Pals who have supported both Matt and myself in our various projects over the years, Matt is giving 20% the board to any SLAP Pal who wants to order one direct from Rasa.

Monday, 06 September 2010 08:30
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