Inspiration, Motivation, Positive Vibrations

I often accuse myself of being Narcissistic for photographing my skate sessions. These feelings quickly go away when I remind myself that this is after all "A chronicle of my attempt to relive my youth through skateboarding during mid life crisis and beyond..." I don't strive for admiration nor do I suffer from an inflated sense of self importance. Quite the opposite of that I see me as a humble individual who tries not to make too many waves in the life of others while enjoying his own trip. Hippie.

So why do I post pics of myself skating? What is the motivation? The motivation is the end result of skateboarding. The feeling of fulfillment I walk away with after a session. A bad day skating is better than a good day at work in the Babylon. Anytime. And there really aren't too many bad days on board. Skateboarding still brings me the same enjoyment today that it brought to me as a 7 year old kid bombing hills barefooted on a banana board. A rush unlike any other. The sound of trucks on coping or the feeling of grinding cement and riding away. I don't find that anywhere else but on board. I spent two semesters as a photography student in college and then spent the subsequent four semesters as the photo lab tech. I spent three years shooting with a Pentax K1000. Low light black and white with high speed film was a favorite. So now I am able to combine my love of photography with my love of skateboarding and try to capture in pixels the energy of skateboarding.

Humility is defined as "the quality or condition of being humble; modest opinion or estimate of one's own importance, rank, etc. " I am not skateboarding to get sponsored, recognized, challenged, anything. I skateboard for the love of skateboarding. Pad Goon, Park Troll, Pad Dad, Dinosaur, Barney, Gum Scrapin' Pad Nanny, I've heard 'em all. IDGAF. I never started riding to impress anyone. I don't find my skating that impressive. I'm mediocre at best some days but that doesn't stop me and never will. I'm still going to grind my trucks down to the axles every chance I get. And I'll probably show up wearing pads. I wish I had the cajones to ride ramps without pads but I'm not made out of rubber anymore and would I rather eat it and be laid up and unable to skate for a few or would I rather be a Gum Scrapin' Pad Nanny and knee slide out and walk away to ride again? What do you think?