words by: Bradely Rosado
photo: Mike Mazur
Bradley_Hey Nickels. Where you at this moment?
Mark_I am back home in Berlin, Germany. I have been traveling this winter a lot in Europe. I was in Portugal in January and Italy in February. I ran into a little trouble in Rome so I am just going to just chill in Germany for a bit now. There are so many amazing spots here and I still have so much to see. I am learning German now so I need to practice as well.
Bradley_What's different about skating over there compared to the US?
Mark_Skating here is just amazing. Just imagine going out and not getting kicked out of all the spots you go to. In the first 9 months I was here, I was kicked out of 1 spot in total. Don't get me wrong, we do have times we get the boot but it is nowhere near like it is in D.C. You actually learn to enjoy skateboarding a hell of a lot more without having to look over your shoulder for Park or any other police every 5 minutes. Sounds too good to be true right?
People just relax and enjoy life over here unlike ever stressed out 'i hate my job' American. They explode on you for skating a spot when it is just build up from the life they have chosen and hate so much. The whole 'if you fall you can sue me thing' doesn't exist here either. If you fall and get hurt, it is your own fault since you are the one who decided to do it. The people here will just laugh at you if you said it is their fault for letting you skate. People take more responsibility for their actions here while everyone blames everyone else in the US. Plus every Sunday, everything is closed here except small corner stores, restaurants, and bars. It is a real day to relax and just chill something that you will never find in the States anymore. Life is good here.
Bradley_How did you get into filming?
Mark_I started skating in 1989 in Belgium. I was a skate rat non-stop until I got hurt in the summer of 1992. The last day of school of 9th grade, I was at a friends house and we went out at night. That evening, I got hurt trying to jump over a ditch. It was totally a freak accident thinking back out it. I cleared it but underestimated the jump. I ended up breaking my tibia, tore all my MCL's, and slightly tore my ACL ligaments in my left knee. When I got over the injury, I started skating harder than ever but seemed to get hurt non-stop off of my board. I re-injuried my knee 4 times in gym class by middle of my 10th grade year. I had my knee pop out of socket twice in class. Not a fun feeling at all.
After I finally got a good amount of time to be back on my board, one of the kids I skated with decided we should rent a camera for a weekend. We rented one of the huge VHS/ Dad cams for $50- for the weekend. It was pretty awesome thinking back. We knew we had a small time period to do what we wanted so we went on the mission the whole time we had it. We filmed a few tricks over a weekend and I was just hyped. I was hooked from that moment on. It was a year later my parent bought me a $300- 8mm video camera for my birthday I think. One kid I skated with in Hagerstown gave me a fisheye that I had to tape on the camera and here I am now. I still remember my first check from skateboarding too. It was from 411VM in 1995, it was for $11-. It was for 3 tricks in chaos. haha... Times have sure changed. 
Bradely_Yeah filming has become a huge thing nowadays. Think this is for the best and for the worst?
Mark_I think it is dope overall but pretty scary too. With the influx of kids with cameras, that means kids will under cut each other just to film. Why pay a professional when you can give a kid some free boards and he will spend every penny he has to film for you. That and the piracy of skate videos online, makes the future kind of grim for independent videos. Filmers just can't compete with companies now giving videos away but that is where the love comes in and me doing more work outside of skating. You have to be able to change with your industry in order to stay alive and I am having too. Even with all the bad nights, skate tickets, close calls; it is still worth all the effort.
Videographers have always been paid the least on all the media in skateboarding. Sometimes I think people under-appreciated I think. They think it is just pushing the record button and that is all. Lets take the example of Tosh Townend feeble grinding El Toro. It was an opener in 411 so the filmer made $250- for that clip and that is not bad for 3 seconds of footage. But in turn, the photographer turned around and sold the photo for $1000- (from what i heard) and the skater made some easily more than the filmer for the coverage overall. The photographer's job is important, don't get me wrong, but the filmer has the proof the trick was made. That is what everyone wants to see so shouldn't that count for a little more? How pissed would you be if you made the trick and the footage was sketchy? haha.. Think it about it that way...
Skateboarding is on-hands experience and a stepping stone for working in the production field really. It has taught me so many experiences that you can't learn anywhere else. With all the freelance stuff I have done outside of skateboarding, I have learned skateboard filmers are more experienced that 1/2 of the people who work in television. The television people would freak out if they deal with the conditions we deal with. Dealing with security, bums, weather, random crazy people, skater's quirks, etc...a whole day for 3 seconds of footage on a good day.. haha.. people think you are insane to deal with so much for so little(in their minds).
Bradely_So how many VX1's have come and gone in your life?? Any crazy stories behind how any were destroyed?
Mark_I have had 5 vx-1's in total since 1998 and 4 death lens. I love the camera. It is only now with the panasonic vx-100 that I have started using it less. The camera is amazing. The colors are so warm, the audio is so good, and it takes a beating and keeps on ticking. What else can you ask for? I remember getting my vx-2 and just keeping it in the bag most of the time. The vx-1 did all i needed and the vx-2 seemed to be my 'filming at night and long lens' camera.
I have had some crazy experiences with them getting wrecked. My first one was the first day of the first Osiris European tour. It was the first few hours of a 45 day long trip in Europe. Kanten Russell tried to kickflip this double set at our first demo and I was filming in the danger zone (where the board would be bailed at). He kicked it away third try and ripped off the lens at the bayonet mount. It was the first time I had any of my cameras get broken. 15 minutes later, a group of stickers, and some shoe-goo, it was fixed for the rest of the 6 week euro tour.
The next year, I had a crack head in Baltimore grab my camera and try to rob me. He punched me 3 times in the face but the vulcan death grip went on the camera. He ripped the lens off for the second time in a years time. He then went for my back with 6 weeks of footage in it but Pontus Alv wrestled it away. I ended up chasing him 5 blocks after I got up from him attacking me. The messed up part was the cops drove by, saw what was happening, and drove off. I have a lot of distrust in the police now because of that situation but can you blame me. He got my cell and wallet but I still had my footage and that was all that mattered.
Bradely_Speaking of the Osiris days..I just saw some clip of your man Josh Kasper going crazy about the route his life is taking. What's his deal?
Mark_Josh is a really cool guy and has been a friend for years. I met Josh in 1998 when I went on back-to-back tours with Blind and Osiris over a 3 month period. We shared a room a few nights on each of the tours. He asked me what I thought of religion and the whole God thing a few nights. We talked about each others beliefs and that was that. A few years later, He was on the top of the world. He had a pro board, pro shoes, traveling the world, and had everything he wanted. Only a few year later, I saw him lose everything. His father had cancer in the mix of all of this and passed away right before he got booted from Osiris. It is a lot for someone to deal and there is only some much support your friends and family can give you during a life changing experience like that. I still skated with him on a regular basis after he was dropped from Osiris. When we would go skating, he had his Bible with him and he said he started going back to church. I was stoked for Josh when he told me that. On my last trip to LA in September 2006, I saw the 'Livin' It LA' video with his part in it. It was cool to see all the footage finally come out from 2 1/2 years of filming with him. After all he has dealt with, I am hyped Josh is rebuilding his life and hasn't given up on skating. If this part of God's plan for him, more power to him. People can say what they want but I am hyped for the guy.
PITCREW PROMO
Bradley_When is the new Pitcrew DVD dropping and what should we expect?
Mark_Coming soon! That is all I can say at the moment. This will be my last big project for PITCREW since I am living overseas now. We are working on the whole business side at the moment. Art direction and finalizing the budget are the two biggest things now. We have to lock in the title and the show is on the road. Nothing has really stuck yet.
It has also been tough to co-ordinate with all 28 guys on the team to get footage. Some are filming for 7 projects at one time and others are just skating for fun and not worrying about filming; I just wanted all the guys to be in it... a full family event. Who knows if this will ever happen again. Some people on the team are getting older and starting to branch out into different things outside of skateboarding, including myself.
Bradley_Any other projects we should know about?
Mark_I am working with a lot of guys on euro projects here and I am doing some stuff for 411VM again. I have also been skating with a group of kids from Radio Skateboards here in Berlin. They are getting their own SB shoe and they are dropping a video in association with it late next year. I am going to film a bit for their video and maybe do a Euro video with kids from 5 different countries here.
I have been writing a bunch and shooting photos too. I am going to shoot a few short films here I have been writing in the spring between filming trips,when I can get the actors together. I have one about an iPod that is going to be so fun to make. I also have been hanging out with tons of heads in the music scene here too: hip hop, techno, etc. The TV dream is still bright in my head too. I have so many ideas floating through my mind right now of what I want to do it is insane. I have to remain focused on the deadline at hand and going from there, everything else will fall into place when the time comes.
Bradely_True True. Any last words?
Mark_Thank you to my parents for dealing with me and putting up with this pipe dream (which is now a reality). I am in eternal gratitude to Sean Mullendore for opening all the doors for me and Tim & Mal at PITCREW for backing me since day 1 of the shop.
Thank you to Paul Mcelroy, Pat Gleason, Reese, and the Rockville crew back in the day, Gary Smith, Jake Rupp, and all the Baltimore kids, Mark Bullen, Chris Hall, Jimmy P, Andy Stone, and everyone at Freedom back in the day who took the time out to film with me... The whole PITCREW team, all the other shops in the area, all the companies that helped me out over the years, all my friends out west and across this world... the list could go on forever it feels.
I have to say thank you as well to everyone who has ever bought a video I have made or gave me props on a project I have done. If one person sees the video and has to grab their board after to go skate, I know I have done my job well.
Enough of me talking... go skating!
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