Andrea, Los Angeles

Andrea is an LA-based skate photographer with 15 years’ experience in the world of skate. Beginning her career in Barcelona in the early 2000s, Andrea began working on contest circuits and tours for brands such as DC and Nike SB. In 2011 – when her photos of Tom Penny were published in Transworld magazine for its 30th anniversary – she moved to LA and began to work for RVCA, where she remained for eight years. In 2013, one of her photographs was named Skate Photo of the Year by Kinping magazine. She has also shot for streetwear brands Born x Raised, HUF, and Paper Work NYC.

Hello Andrea! We’d love you to introduce yourself, to start.

I’m a skate photographer currently based in LA, but I have travelled all over the world in the past 15 years shooting professional skaters and skate teams. I come from a little town in the northwest of Spain. I moved to Barcelona at the moment that Barcelona exploded in the culture of skateboarding and then, when I was 20, I took a rucksack and travelled to South Africa, Australia, Cambodia, Brazil - basically almost every single place you could skate in the world! I met the key people in the culture; from the punks, to the underground people, to the professionals in the States, people that are now in the Olympics.

It sounds like an incredible journey. Now, you’ve travelled all over the world shooting skaters, but you’ve lived in New York, LA and Mexico - what are the differences you’re seeing in skate there? They’re obviously three key markets for adidas. 

One tendency that I see in skate in Mexico City is that brands come and go. They put money down for a couple years and then quit, and that leaves the skaters really disorientated. A lot of the long-time skaters in Mexico feel they don't have much of a local industry, so their dream is to come to the States and make it here. 

Ah, we talk about this, the social responsibility of making a commitment…

It’s so important… Brands in Mexico City spend most of their budget on big events - and the events are really beautiful, you know - but they don’t help skaters. It’s because the people that end up working with the brands are normally people that don’t have anything to do with the actual culture. The Mexican Department of Culture also sometimes builds skateparks in different areas of the ‘at risk population’, in different neighbourhoods, and often the parks are built under bridges, under the roads. So it makes it really weird because you're doing a sport in the middle of one of the most contaminated cities in the world, around cars and traffic. So that's what I mean when I say skate in Mexico is really underground, because it literally is… it’s crazy. 

I didn’t know that, that’s fascinating… And New York?

New York is more exciting for skating because it has that street culture. What I love about skateboarding is the street culture. In New York, I'm skating in Tompkins, and I'm doing a barbecue in the community garden, and then in the morning, I go to skate with the Supreme guys. That’s the dynamic I lived when I was living there. 

That sounds like the New York we know, too! And so, finally in comparing these three cities, what about LA?

You have pockets of skate culture in LA, culture gets created where there are the spaces to meet up. You go to Venice Beach, and you have a really particular way of skating at Venice Beach. There are people that skate street but also know how to skate transition. And there is a meeting point where people smoke weed and bring beers, and that’s a little pocket, too. When you go to Long Beach, for example, the skate culture at Long Beach is bigger to me than it is in the rest of LA. 

So you’ve been in the culture a long time. In fact, you started when Nike basically hopped on the scene with SB. What changes have you seen between then and now?

I think both Nike and adidas are doing better than they were at the beginning, because back then I think they came in too strong and really destroyed a lot of the core for skateboarding brands. Now, I think both are doing pretty good. I like adidas, because I see it as more free, and more original. One of the first women that I actually came across in skateboarding was Nora Vasconcellos. She was with Ruca before she was with RVCA, and, like, this was the only woman that they had signed at this point. She came to me one day and was like, “Hey, Andrea I think I'm gonna move to adidas,” and I was just like, “Girl, go on. Take it all.” I think adidas did really well to leave her the room to be special, because she's a really special woman in the way she skates and in the way that she's really feminine, the colours she uses; like that feminine prototype but in a really original way. She makes art and I think adidas leave a lot of room for that for her, to shine in her own way. They didn't commodify her own life or what she should be. I like that. 

And how about Nike?

I mean, I tend to work more with Nike, and I really think they know their style; the competitions that they sponsor, what they did in Berlin with the DIY, what they did in Mexico by building skateparks and fostering the community part of it. I think Nike is doing really good at that. I think both brands have the capacity to do really good stuff…

Can you tell us about some brands that you think are contributing to the culture of skate in a legitimate way?

I think brands like Palace are contributing to the culture in a legitimate way, but in Europe, where I grew up, it was all about small cities, small crews. And those are the groups I think that actually prove the culture. In the same way, I feel like a lot of the smaller brands that are made by skaters are the ones that legitimise the culture, even in the US, because they know what they like, they know what they actually have to do, you know? When it comes down to culture, it’s the smaller brands.

We’ve heard about the importance of small brands and community across the board for this project. And how about individuals? Can you recall any individuals that you’ve seen do great things for the skate community? 

A couple of years ago I went to New York and I saw this kid who was like 15 years old. He was amazing. He’s working out of the Supreme store in Brooklyn now, but at the beginning he would like, take a Nike T-shirt and put it on backwards, not even caring. His name is Adam Zhu. He is probably not the best skateboarder, but he knows everybody. He knows what’s cool and what’s not, what’s stylish and what’s not. He knows what’s next, you know? And now Supreme asked him to be a cultural ambassador, so he can do events and stuff. I went to see him recently and he was busy on the phone trying to call rehab centres to get this well-known skater help with his mental issues and drug usage. Like, he was taking from his own money and calling centres in New York to see who could accept him. So this community work that comes from his heart is something that is necessary for a healthy community, and helps everybody in the community. It’s about being the one that sees the bigger picture in their community, and who needs what in this moment. 

That is so important. It seems vital that brands tap into people like that if they want to truly support.

Yes! These are the people that come from the base. They’re so deeply in the culture and they know what to do. Someone that is not there can’t see that. So, the fewer people a brand has in the middle the better. When you put more people in the middle, there is less understanding. Not many people know how to deal with skateboarders, and if you come from a corporate or PR setting, then - by definition - you are late. As soon as you think, "Oh that guy is cool", then everybody in that culture already knew. When you give that power to people that are already there, seeing the evolution every day - not only for their skating skills, but their social skills and the influence they have on their community.

Have you seen this often? Big brands coming ‘late to the skate party’?

Again, yes. Big brands go for what is already known. They don’t get it. I think it’s the same in any sports, but especially in skateboarding, because it's not as public, you know, and it’s really niche. So brands come late. Brands are just like, okay, this is the new, good skater, and they put all their money there, but they don't build with people, you know. It’s like basically loyalty. They don't create that loyalty with their skaters, because they don't support them since they are really young. 

So what, then, should brands be super careful of?

You cannot build something just to pat yourself on the back and be like, “I'm a great brand, I put money down.” I mean, that’s good, because money is needed in the communities, but I think it comes down more to who they have running those programmes long-term. I think they do some good work when the people that are in charge are still in charge. For example, in Mexico, with Julio, they [Nike?] had a really good ally for many years because he was someone that not only wanted to build those skate parks, but also made contests every once in a while. He activated those spaces, so they were not just practice spaces, but also meeting spaces, and places where kids could do well in a contest and then become known - almost like a platform. Maybe just get a person that is in charge of that park, to make things happen there every once in a while.

So it’s about making a commitment - again.

Exactly.Other opportunities for brands like adidas actually are not only focused on the skateboarding.  A lot of people that come to skateboarding come from not having much education or opportunities, work-wise. My experience with the skateboarders is that they have a lifetime of skateboarding that is gonna make money for them, and most of the time they don’t even know what to do with that money, you know, to make it last longer. So I think one thing that adidas could do - it’s what Ruca used to do - is supporting an artist network programme. A programme that offers other platforms of interest for these people; either music, arts, you know, like things that can develop them. Normally, if you're good at skateboarding, it is most likely that you're good at other thing, artistic-wise.

This is a super interesting concept. The brand is investing in the person as a human, not as an advertisement …

Yes. Give other opportunities to these people for when they, later on, cannot get any more out of skateboarding, and keep them attached to the brand. Like Mark Gonzalez, or other people that are older, but are still doing things - I think that's like a good opportunity for adidas. 

I love that. Aside from opportunities for people, what about opportunities for planet? Do brands have a responsibility to think about the environment?

I get so frustrated every time I talk about sustainability, I'm like, god damn. Like, literally, I sometimes think I’m the only one that cares. We have so many things that we can do, you know, within the capitalist world, to make things more sustainable. If you're making an impact in a bad way, you can make one in a good way - just at least balance it out. 

That’s a great point. Do you think sustainability and skate are connected or connecting yet? 

In skateboarding we have this inherent culture of reusing, because when you are a pro skater or someone that has sponsorship, you normally skate in your shoes four or five times and then you just pass them on. There is this thing of leaving your shoes at the skate park so someone else can take them and use them. The same with the boards. The same with the trucks. The same with the wheels. So, when you see people, when you see the community skating, a lot of them are skating with pieces that skaters have left in the skate park. There is an actual culture of recycling and reusing already in skateboarding, you know.

How can a brand like adidas support that? 

An amazing idea would be for these kinds of brands to be responsible and have centres where you can give away your old skate clothes or shoes that are still usable, so you don’t have to throw them away. Why don’t you have these places to receive all these products, select what is still good and what is not, wash it really well, and put it out and give it away to the people that need it? It’s what we have been doing forever, really. You always skate in some shoes, and then leave them at the skate park so someone else can use them. 

That’s an amazing idea, and such an easy way for a brand to make a difference.

Exactly. A small thing makes a big difference. I was working with Cuba Skate and that’s what we did in Havana, because there were no shops or way to get materials there, so we had a community centre where you could bring pieces and pick up other pieces that you needed, and fix boards, fix the little things that you can fix, like put the glue in the holes in the shoes. I grew up on that, like, that's what I love. I get goosebumps, because I grew up not having much, and sometimes you're not gonna skate for two weeks because you don't have a wheel - one wheel - you know what I'm saying? Or you don't have like that one piece to put the truck together, you know? It makes a big difference for a lot of kids, in that that kid might be the next big pro skater.

That’s very true. So it sounds like sustainability is about a lot more than just a sustainable product.

100%. I think brands are just focusing on, “Let's do recyclable materials,” or different materials that don't damage the environment as much, but there are so many segments within sustainability that maybe are not as marketed but they exist, you know. I think one of the most important things in sustainability, for example, is transportation. Transportation accounts for most of the food imprint. What does it matter if you do a recyclable shoe, but you have to bring it from China? Why not do something that is not so strict on the materials, so you can still give a quality of product, but you save it on the shipping, and you produce it locally, you help the local communities?

That way, you don’t leave a footprint because of the transportation, you know, and you are still delivering quality products.

This is all so inspiring… Do you have any parting words for adidas?

I’d like to tell them that a small act can make a big impact; that it’s about little budgets to do little things. Going back to someone like Adam in New York -  for a brand like Supreme to choose him to be an ambassador, giving him a budget to do different shows, to pick up on people that he thinks are interesting both creatively and in skateboarding, that’s incredible. If adidas does want to do something, they they need people like that, who are not even their officers, but who are people in each city that represent them that way. I think it is really important if you believe in someone to support them consistently. There is a lot of “use and throw” from brands, with people. 

Act small, if that's going to make a bigger impact. Commit to a community or a place and be like, “Okay, I'm gonna make this repair shop, I'm going to make this skate team, I'm going to make this and keep it, so it can grow.”