I first met Enrique back in 2004. We went to the same university (Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano) in Bogota, Colombia. I was majoring in Graphic Design, while he was in Visual Arts and we immediately became skate friends after noticing each other’s gear. Once you start skateboarding you notice things, like what kind of shoes is someone wearing and are they beat up on one side more than the other. We all do it, it’s a way to confirm and feel safe to interact with that person, since they’re part of the same community as you, they understand what you had to go through to do a kickflip.
We kept in touch over the years and finally I went to visit him in Miami back in 2014. We got to skate a lot and started to realize we had a lot of things in common, so he returned the visit and came to LA in 2018 where we did the same thing. I’m excited to introduce Enrique Riveros as a staff photographer of Sk8 2 Live. I’ve seen his growth as a skater, photographer and most important as a person.
Andres. How did you start skateboarding and when?
Enrique. I started skateboarding about 20 years ago with my best friend Julian Osorio. I was a kid, around 14 years old
A. Did he have a skateboard and just let you borrow it?
E. Yeah, he was like “here, try to do an ollie up the sidewalk”, but you know, it was hard. It took me like a week to do an ollie up the sidewalk
A. He already knew how to skate?
E. He did Ollies, he was trying to go up curbs, fucking up the streets in my complex
A. When did you get your first skateboard
E. I don’t remember the exact year, but 19-20 years ago. It was a crappy board, like a Walmart board I guess, it had a Mario drawing on it, it was cool as fuck though
A. How did you get it?
E. It was a christmas present
A. At what moment do you think you become a skateboarder?
E. When you feel it is a way of living. Like everyday you think about it, you see skate spots everywhere you travel
A. Do you remember watching any videos or magazines?
E. The reason I started skating was because I watched a video called Thrill of it all by ZERO. I saw the video and the whole team was good but then Jamie Thomas had a strong Street part
A. Is that the first video you remember watching?
E. Yeah, that one and the Toy Machine one, I forget the name
A. Welcome to Hell?
E. Yeah that one
A. Ok, so Toy Machine’s Welcome to Hell had Jamie Thomas, Ed Templeton, Brian Anderson, and more. Chad Muska, actually had a part there but they never released it because he got into a fight with Templeton the night of the premiere and Jamie Thomas was kind of like the one that led the whole project of creating the video. At that time he had Zero clothing and then right after that video that’s when he decided to start Zero skateboards and start making his own videos. That’s funny so was Jamie Thomas like your favorite skater?
E. Yeah, until I saw 411vm videos that had a bunch of skaters from all over the world, and different profiles. I remember before a skate session I would always watch skate videos at some friends house or my own, videos such as the Shorty’s fulfill the dream, the old school plan B videos like the virtual reality, They Don’t Give a Fuck About Us, or Birdhouse The End
A. How many of you guys were skating or how many of your friends?
E. We were a group of 3 or more then I started meeting other skaters, but I skated alone most of the time
A. Really, you skated alone?
E. A lot like in the beginning, I would practice tricks standing still on the grass for hours
A. That’s funny because I feel like in the beginning is when you skate with friends and then you eventually have to learn how to skate alone or at least that’s how it was for me
E. You know, really I would just skate with Julian and then if not I just skate alone. I wanted to learn how to do a frontside for example and I would just be riding in my little complex, there was a park or whatever so I’ll just put my board there and do tricks just flat on grass
A. When does photography come into picture?
E. I’ve always tried to get into it, but I never really had a way to get a nice camera or just any camera in general. But here in Miami I got a camera from a homie and I’ve been shooting since non-stop and just got really into it
A. How long ago?
E. I would say 4-5 years
A. That’s interesting so before did you ever make videos or try to shoot photos with your friends back in Colombia?
E. I tried filming, but I preferred to skate. I didn’t have a good camera either and out there you can’t really have anything fancy, you get robbed and it’s just different.
A. What are some of your favorite photographers and/or styles that made you want to really try to do photography?
E. Artistic Photography: Henri Cartier Bresson For fashion: Mario Testino
Documentary: Steve Winter (Nat Geo)
Film photographer: Steve McCurry, Ansel Adams
Skateboarding: Atiba Jefferson, Oliver Barton, Ed Templeton, Arto Saari, Joe Brook
A. You’ve been skateboarding over 20 years, why do you still skate?
E. I enjoy it too much man. It’s taking me to a lot of places, I’ve been able to travel and meet the coolest people. One of them actually got me my first camera. It was a Nikon D3100, like a basic camera, but he gave me 2 lenses and he hooked it up man. He skates too. He’s actually a really sick photographer and filmmaker who works in production. His name is Frank Hernandez and he’s from Venezuela
A. What are you hoping to get out of Sk8 2 Live?
E. Well, skateboarding is a whole vibe and lifestyle, I would like to show how fun it is and all the things around it, you get to meet a lot of cool people and learn different things. There’s skaters all over the world and we all speak the same language which is skateboarding and everything around it
