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Suicidal Tendencies (via thecenter4punkrocklearning) I’m Not CRAZY! |
More on Glen E. Friedman. Because I tend to go off on things.
Friedman is my favorite photographer. His photographs of skateboarders and punk rock and anything else take my breath away.
Punk rock and skateboarding had the common threads of aggression, subversiveness and defiance. Friedman has an eye for these things and managed to capture them on film time and again. That sounds a lot easier than it is. It’s more than just getting the shot of good vert action, it’s capturing the feel behind the climb. It’s more than getting a shot of some guy banging away on bass, it’s framing Chuck Dukowski, shirt stretched out by sweat, face dripping, the grip of the raw intensity of a gig jumping off the photo at you.
It wasn’t just a moment he captured, not even just a culture or a movement. He captured the spirit that embodied both skateboarding and punk rock, the entire essence of what those two things were. For anyone who thinks skateboarding was just about the ride or punk rock was just about the tunes, they need only look at Friedman’s photos of each to see what was beneath.
Friedman’s book Fuck You Heroes is one of my favorite possessions. Sometimes I look at it when I need inspiration because those photos get my heart racing and my mind turning.
He was also super influential in the early days of skateboarding - and the documentary he and Stacy Peralta put together - Dogtown and Z-Boys (narrated by Sean Penn) - was incredible!
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“Lost in the Flood” by Bruce Springsteen (1973) from my favorite Springsteen album
Agreed - this is his best work!
