Atiba is one of the most recognizable characters in Skateboarding, he’s a photographer, a DJ, and a skate rat. Since he’s first China trip in 2004, we have a chance to caught up with him last weekend to chat with him about his Bravo camera bag, his connection with Supreme and Thrasher, and much more.
🎙: Which day did you arrived? What did you do these days?
🟥: It's been three nights. Last night I was at Spectre. Shout out to Spectre. Very fun bar we've been going to. We skated all day yesterday, so I thought we might go skate today, but everyone kind of had things to do, it was chill. We just hung out at the courtyard at our hotel and just sat and talked. It was actually great. Super chill.
🎙: Welcome back to China, how many times have you been to China?
🟥: Oh, thanks. You know what? I was trying to figure that out on the way here. And I think I can't count exactly every time because I've been here for other situations besides skateboarding. I would say I've actually been here just as much for commercial shooting. Um, but I would have to guess. Ten times.
🎙: The last time you were in Shanghai, you even DJed at Lebron.
🟥: Lebron I did. That was just a weird trip. I was here doing a commercial shoot, and my homies were in town and set up a party. Really good friend of mine set up a DJ night there. So it was dope to do that. Yeah, I love it here. It's such a fun place.
🎙: How do you feel to be back in China after so many years due to the pandemic.
🟥: I've seen a big difference coming to China from the first time in 2004. It's been a progression culturally that I've seen shift. Shanghai has always been a pretty forward city, but even more now, the craziest thing I think that I've really noticed is, like electric vehicles, the city is way quieter. All the mopeds being electric and the cars, it's pretty wild. And the city has just become a little more user friendly. Probably food wise, I'm a vegetarian. I don't eat meat or fish, so it's a little tricky. Right outside our hotel is a really cool bagel shop, they have a vegan option and fresh juices, I think that's the progression of culture.
🎙: Did you went to skate with the kids?
🟥: Yeah, Eric Lai showed us a ledge spot, we skated, another place that had ledges, a six there by the skate park. We skated there too. So we've actually got out a little bit for these trips. Normally open a store we went there then go home. So this one's been pretty special to be able to hang out. And it's great, you know, with all the different types of people that the Supreme has brought here, you got the Italians, the Germans, people from Seoul, Tokyo, LA, New York. A whole melting pot of people. It's super, super fun.
🎙: What do you think about the store?
🟥: Yeah, we skated the bowl yesterday, which was super dope. It's beautiful. Supreme is always at the forefront of changing skateboard retail. And it doesn't stop. This one is just as amazing as all of them. It's unbelievable.
🎙: What is the story between you and the Supreme?
🟥: I was visiting New York in 1996 and working on an interview with Keith Hufnagel. He had a car, we always park it at the store and we would skate all around the city. Pooky and Gino just hanging out there with Keith. They were always so cool. And Alex Corporon, that was the first time I got a hoodie. They've always been so generous. I had never met James back then. But over the years I got to to meet him and know James and James is great. For me, the way they treat me like family is why I like repping so hard. It's always been a family thing, and that's what I love about the brand.
🎙: Let's rewind a bit. How did you first get into skateboarding?
🟥: It was 1989 and skateboarding had a big boom. My brother got a skateboard and then I jumped on it and just fell in love with it. You can't explain love, right? It's just like you find something, you love it. So that's what skateboarding always has been. Culturally, it's always stimulated me, whether it's photography, whether it's board graphics, art, whether it's videos, filmmaking and music, you know, everything that skateboarding has to offer and inclusive. You could be poor, you could be black, you could be whatever. You're still accepted in skateboarding.
🎙: When did you start taking photos?
🟥: There was a friend of mine who shot really rad photos through Josh Wildman. And then I took a class and when I saw a photo develop in a dark room, I fell in love. That triggered me like skateboarding did. I just wanted to learn everything I can, I still do. I always have a camera on me. I would do it for free. it's just something that I love. I also realized, I wasn't going to be a good skater, and it kept me involved in skateboarding.
🎙: When was the turning point? Transitioned from a street skate photographer to a commercial photographer.
🟥: I would say around 2000. When I transitioned into learning commercial photography, and that was through basketball. I was always a big basketball fan. Just as I was skateboarding. So those I took the path that I learned from skateboarding and applied it to basketball and learned a lot. And what I learned from basketball, I took it to skateboarding. So in that way, you know, they both taught me two different things, but I brought them together, which gave me a different style. My basketball photography influenced my skateboarding to look different, and my skateboarding photography influenced my basketball. It was around 2000 when I started assisting Andy Bernstein. Then I started working for Slam magazine. When you're doing basketball photography, then you get hired by the big shoe companies and beverage companies. So, you know, this is before skateboarding had those big kind of sponsors regularly.
🎙: You mentioned you came to China many times because of commercial.
🟥: Yeah, I shot Kobe here, I shot LeBron here.
🎙: You seems like a bridge between the skate community and the mainstream commercial force.
🟥: Skateboarding is always going to be a cool thing. I think people know that I have a history in skateboarding. Everybody kind of skated now everybody played a skate video game. Skate culture has been so influential over the last 30 years from without people knowing it. So when I go in those communities, people are always super psyched. That's what's great about this vans collaboration that I'm doing as a brand curator. I want to bring those other worlds into that, but always be the skate foundation, right?
🎙: Why Supreme is so special?
🟥: What makes Supreme so special is that it's a skate shop, and James never got away from it being a skate shop. To me, the brand overall has so many amazing things. I think they've always made really great product. They've always had a great vision. James changed everything. I worked in a skate shop when I was 16 and that was in 1990. So I know skate shop culture from back then. Supreme which always was a skate shop. I go into that shop and hang out, just like I did at the shop I worked at. And I think that's what makes the brand so special is it never tried to be anything else but a skate shop.
🎙: Are you still working for Thrasher?
🟥: Oh, yeah. Staff photographer for Thrasher. It's been amazing. Seven years to finally join a team I was competing with for many, many years. And it was great to join them and be on their team. It's the best skateboarding magazine in the history of skateboarding, so it's great to work with them.
🎙: What is the story behind?
🟥: I just wanted a change, you know, I actually wasn't sure if they needed another staff photographer, but I was just go on my own. The Skateboard Mag had run its course with me and wanted something new. So I talked to Tony and he was like, we'd love to have you on staff. So it's been great.That Tyshawn Jones cover is my favorite, but I've ever shot in skateboarding, so to be able to have that in my career was a huge honor. It's the best. I love them, it's a family thing. That's what's so great about it.
🎙：你是哪天到上海的？这几天都在做什么？
🟥： 来了三天了。昨晚我去了一家叫Spectre的酒吧。Shout out Spectre。非常有趣，我们一直去那里。昨天我们滑了一整天板，本来想着今天也滑一下的，但大家都安排了别的事情，所以挺放松的。我们只是在酒店的院子里沤着，坐下聊了会儿天。感觉很不错，超chill.
🎙：欢迎回到中国，你之前来过中国几次？
🟥：谢谢。你知道吗？我在来路上也在想这个问题。我无法准确地计算每一次，因为我除了滑板之外，我也有好多次是来拍商业片的。大约估算一下，我应该来过十次了吧。
🎙：上次来上海的时候，你还在Lebron 放过歌。
🟥：没错。那次行程很离奇。我那时来这边拍一个广告，我的好兄弟们也在，他们组织了一个派对。当时我一个非常好的朋友在Lebron做DJ，所以就有了这个机会，太酷了！是的，我很喜欢这里，非常有趣的地方。
🎙：疫情这么多年后再次回到中国，你有什么感受？
🟥：我看到中国的变化很大，从2004年我第一次来之后，文化上发生了很多转变。上海一直是一座相当先进的城市，现在更是如此。我觉得最疯狂的一点是到处是电动车，这让这个城市安静了许多。所有的摩托车和汽车都变成了电动的，这太疯狂了。而且整座城市变得更加方便。拿食物来说，我是一个素食者，不吃肉也不吃鱼，所以稍微有点麻烦。我们酒店外面就有一家很酷的百吉饼店，他们有素食选项和鲜榨果汁。我觉得这就是文化进步的体现。
🎙：有和本地的滑手出去滑过板吗？
🟥：是的，波仔带我们去了一个台子的地形，还有另外一个地方也有台子，旁边还有滑板公园。我们在那儿也滑了滑。这次行程我们确实抽出了一些时间来滑板。通常我们在某地开店的时候，就是去开店然后回家，不会有别的安排。所以这一次能有时间闲逛很特别。Supreme把各种不同的人带到了这里，我们有来自意大利、德国、首尔、东京、洛杉矶，还有纽约的滑手，超级超级有趣！
🎙：你对这家店有什么看法？
🟥：昨天我们滑了那个碗池，太棒了。真的很美。Supreme一直都是滑板零售业变革的最先锋。而且永远都会是。这家店和其它所有Supreme店面一样令人惊叹，真是难以置信。
🎙：讲讲你和Supreme之间的故事吧。
🟥：我在1996年去纽约的时候，是去给Keith Hufnagel做了一个采访。他有车，我们总是把车停在Supreme门口，然后在城里到处滑板。那时候Pooky和Gino经常和Keith待在一起，他们人都很好，Alex Corporon也在，那是我第一次拿到Supreme的帽衫。他们一直都很慷慨。那时我还没见过James，但经过这些年，我见到了他，和他成为了朋友，James也是个很棒的人。他们像家人一样对待我，这就是我如此热爱这个品牌的原因。它一直就是个大家庭，这就是我喜欢Supreme的原因。
🎙：我们稍微往前回顾一下。你是怎么开始接触滑板的呢？
🟥：那是1989年，滑板经历了一次大爆发。我哥哥买了一块板，然后我就跟着玩，一下子就爱上了。爱情无法言说吧？那种感觉就像是爱情一样，你突然找到了喜爱的东西，就这样。滑板从文化上它一直激励着我，无论是摄影、板面设计、艺术、视频，还有电影和音乐，这都是滑板能提供并且包容一切的原因。你可以很穷，可以是黑人，也可以是任何其他人种，在滑板的世界里都会被接纳。
🎙：是什么时候开始拍照的？
🟥：我有一个朋友，Josh Wildman，他拍摄的照片很棒。后来我去上了一节摄影课，当看到照片在暗房里显影时，我爱上了摄影。那感觉就和初次接触滑板一样。我想知道所有关于摄影的知识，而且到现在也是这样。我总是随身带着相机，因为我就是热爱它。同时我也意识到我不会成为厉害的滑手，但摄影可以让我不离开滑板的世界。
🎙：你从街头滑板摄影师转变为商业摄影师的转折点发生在什么时候？
🟥：大概是2000年左右。我转型学习商业摄影的契机是篮球。我一直都是个篮球迷，和热爱滑板一样。所以我把从滑板摄影中学到的东西应用到了篮球上。然后我把从篮球摄影里学到的又融入回滑板摄影里。所以你看，这两者都教给了我不同的东西，但是我把它们结合起来，就形成了独特的风格。我的篮球摄影影响了我的滑板摄影风格，而我的滑板摄影又影响了我的篮球摄影。大约是在2000年，我开始为 Andy Bernstein 做助理，之后开始为 Slam 杂志工作。当你做篮球摄影时，就会被大鞋类公司和饮料公司雇佣。当时滑板还没有那么多大型赞助商呢。
🎙：你提到你因为商业摄影来过中国很多次。
🟥：是的，我在这里拍过科比和勒布朗。
🎙：你看起来像连接了滑板群体和主流商业世界的一座桥梁。
🟥：滑板永远都是很酷的东西。现在几乎每个人都玩过滑板或玩过滑板游戏。在过去的30年里，滑板文化一直在潜移默化地影响着人们。所以当我进入主流商业世界的时候，大家知道我在滑板界有资历，人们总是会很兴奋。这也是我作为 Vans 合作品牌策划人所做工作的很棒之处。我想把其它文化圈带入滑板，但也要永远以滑板文化为根基，对不对？
🎙：为什么 Supreme 那么特别？
🟥：让 Supreme 与众不同的是它始终是一家滑板店，James 坚持了这一点。总的来说，这个品牌有太多精彩的东西。我觉得他们始终在生产非常棒的产品，也有着独到的眼光。James 改变了一切。我16岁的时候在滑板店工作，那是1990年。所以我很了解当时的滑板店文化。Supreme始终是一家滑板店，我去到他们店里闲逛，感觉就像回到了我工作过的滑板店一样。我觉得这是让这个品牌如此特别的原因——它从没想过成为其它任何东西，它就只专注于做一家滑板店。
🎙：你现在还在为 Thrasher 工作吗？
🟥：当然。Thrasher 的签约摄影师。这太棒了！经过7年时间，我终于加入了一个曾经与我竞争多年的团队。加入他们，成为团队的一员太棒了。Thrasher 是滑板历史上最好的杂志，能为他们工作是我的荣幸。
🎙：这背后有什么故事吗？
🟥：我只是想要一些改变，你知道的。其实当时我也不确定他们是否需要另一位签约摄影师，或者我继续单打独斗。The Skateboard Mag 告一段落，我想要新体验。所以我找到了 Tony，他说：“我们很乐意让你加入”。真的太棒了！我为 Tyshawn Jones 拍的封面是我滑板摄影生涯至今最喜欢的作品，能在职业生涯中取得这样的成绩是我的莫大荣幸，这简直是最好的事。我爱他们，这就像一个大家庭。这就是我喜欢 Thrasher 的地方。
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