I met Chris in Los Angeles through a mutual friend. From day one he made an impression on me. Apart from being nice and having fun on his board with all of us that day, he had a very cool camera. It was like an old school camera but it had a current view screen. He took a few photos of the crew and of myself that day. A week later he posted some very nice photos and I was intrigued. I then found his work and was blown away, Chris’ work is like a story, every detail counts and somehow it tells you about the place, the character and the moment. I’m obviously a fan of the skate photos but his other work is equally impressive. There’s a lot of stories from various cities in Mexico and a whole lot more from Los Angeles.
I like having people around me that are positive and always coming up with ideas and executing. They’re not stuck on all the reasons why not to do something, they just go for it and Chris is definitely one of them. With that said I’m very happy to introduce Christopher Castaneda as a staff photographer of Sk8 2 Live.
Andres. What year did you start skating? And how?
Christopher. I started skating in 2005, I was 15 years old. At that time I was living in Oaxaca, Mexico. A neighbor showed me his skateboard and invited me to the basketball court where his friends skated. There he introduced me to the only skaters in the community, I was immediately interested. I threw a tantrum asking my older sisters for a skateboard, because they were my guardians. My parents lived here in the United States, a typical situation for a Mexican family that emigrates to seek an economic future. It took awhile for my sisters to take me to buy my first skateboard but finally it happened and they were able to buy me a skateboard. Once with my skateboard, I was introduced to the young skaters that I had met, that is the moment I started skating.
A. When you first get the skateboard, you’re not a skateboarder per se, one simply uses the skateboard as transportation, at what moment do you feel that you became a skater?
C. I rather remember the moment when I thought “I want to be a skater.” Because I watched all the videos from that time, getting together with friends to watch a skateboard video in VHS format. Fascinating brands that were at the top of the industry such as Zero and Toy Machine.
Moments like those were when I thought/imagined “I want to be a skateboarder”.
I want to continue learning to skate, travel, meet different people, see my name printed on a skateboard exposing my art, at the end of the day I only wanted to imitate what they did through the videos I saw.
A. How did they get the videos? Who had them?
C. It was accessible to us since families from the United States and/or Europe emigrated to the community to do Christian work. Mostly Anglo-Saxon families, among those families, some guys (brothers) who introduced a different style to the community, in the aspect that the “street” or “park” style skater was noticeable even in the way of dressing. They showed us the skate scene through magazines such as Transworld Skateboarding and groundbreaking skate videos at the time. It was they, Josh and Lucas who revolutionized our perception of skateboarding as an urban culture.
A. Do you remember any video? Any one that has stood out over the others?
C. It was Zero Dying to Live, one of several skate videos that Josh and Lucas presented to us. Speaking English was not a necessity within the community. This one in particular, several of my friends mentioned the film in accelerated English and with their own style: “Diyin tu lib.”
We were a group of 10-14 teenagers, in a moment of panic, someone had lost the VHS tape, between those searches, they came to my house asking: “Hey, do you have Diyin tu lib?” My answers were confusing because I didn’t have a clue that it was a skate video they were asking me about. It wasn’t until my turn to have it finally came, I finally knew the feeling of having said VHS tape in my hands, it was magical moments from inserting it to the cassette player, turning on the square TV and letting it run. It was astonishing!
A. Was Jamie Thomas your favorite skateboarder?
C. No, it was Chris Cole
A. Of course that’s the first Zero video he’s in
C. It’s the first time I saw Chris Cole in a skate video
A. Do you remember your first skateboard?
C. I remember everything. The skateboard was a Monkey Stix. The wheels I don’t remember the brand but the image that was printed, it was a graphic of a woman with a bulging chest. The trucks were Rikon or something. The rest was generic. Choosing the parts for your first skateboard can become a debate with yourself, I didn’t know anything about brands or measurements regarding skateboards, wheels, trucks and others, you are only letting yourself be guided by the beauty of the graphics. I chose everything in order to make my first skateboard look “pretty”.
A. When you started skating, there were already Mexican brands, right?
C. Yes, in footwear a brand called Primate, somehow I have had acquaintances who like topics related to monkeys and there are other brands such as Anti Fashion, Toxina, Gente Extraña (It was a skate shop established in the city of Oaxaca , I do not know if the store is still in force).
A. Did you start skating in Mexico?
C. I first saw it here in Los Angeles when I was about 8 years old and started practicing in Mexico.
A. When is the first time you skate in the United States?
C. My parents lived in the United States. I traveled to visit them on vacation periods, I think I had just entered high school. The idea arose among my friends to record a video of the “Team / Friends”, I was moved by the idea, just when I was traveling to the United States to visit my parents. I would travel to the city of Los Angeles (the Mecca of skateboarding). My practice place was on the beach in Venice because I did not know any other place or I was suddenly surprised to see a “famous spot” in the distance through the window of the bus when I was riding. Venice skate park didn’t exist yet. The square is an iconic spot, I knew of its existence thanks to the skate videos I watched during my adolescence. I was a shy teenager, I was going to sit down to watch the others skate, in my thoughts the phrase “I’ll skate when a cloud passes” due to the intensity of the sun, the climate for which the state of California is characterized (Sunny California ). Time passed and he didn’t skid. Suddenly I was nervous about navigating a site without knowing anyone. Thoughts of rejection came, perhaps for not being at the level of others, but it was only something psychological, the truth is that everyone goes skating immersed in their imagination, you can go unnoticed instantly. As I got older and began to socialize, those thoughts disappeared. Sometimes it’s just laziness!
A. It’s difficult. It’s really difficult when you’re is alone, where perhaps you’re not at the level of others and can’t find the space or place to do what you want
C. It sure is, it takes time to feel confident
A. And friends are not there to make you feel comfortable
C. Yes, they give you a very mellow vibe. Although you can have an amazing session both with friends/colleagues or just by yourself
A. At what point does photography come into your life?
C. It was during elementary school that my interest caught, my sisters gave me 50 pesos, they asked me to go to Mr. Pedro Vico’s house to take some child-sized photos for my primary school credential (Belisario Domínguez, evening shift). This man is one of a kind, has his character or sometimes seemed to have an angry mood. I took a seat for the photo, I used an analog camera, it aroused concern in me, I wanted to imitate what he did in a photographic aspect. Later I met Isaac, brother of Josh and Lucas Quezada. Isaac already had practice in photography, he went out for a walk around the community carrying his reflex camera and capturing the essence and aesthetics of the place. During the first conversation with him, I felt nervous, I felt admiration for his photographic work. I dared to ask him for the opportunity to see through his camera, that event enchanted me, I had no words to describe what was happening at the time due to the emotion. Photography has been around since before I was born, because of the family photos, those of Generation by the school and for each funny / special moment.
It was until my parents gave me my first digital camera at the age of 18 to start practicing and I began to learn self-taught, that’s when this journey began, It is such a beautiful way to freeze the moment, it is only a fraction second that becomes a lasting memory and can acquire an emotional value when you have it in a tangible state.
A. Why are you still skating after 15 years?
C. I keep doing it because being an adult is not easy. You have responsibilities and we all go through emotional, personal, psychological problems. So it’s that way of venting, apart from crying. Because crying helps you eliminate all that pain you feel inside, but also skateboarding is that. It helps me to generate an idea, to generate creativity in my imagination. It is like the engine that generates ideas and strengthens them. Besides exercise, it is something that amuses me, I meet many more people and it is the perfect excuse to go out and take photos. I’ll keep doing it until I can’t. Out of love, out of passion for art. Being an independent artist is expensive, because you invest your money, but it doesn’t matter because you do something you like.
