Under Exposed with Alex Cooper

Photo by Nico Page

In this Under Exposed interview we chat with Alex Cooper, a Seattle based freelance videographer and the creator of the skate videos Peace Off, Slime Dunk and many more.

I want to start by saying thank you for taking the time to answer some questions with us. I'm a huge fan, you make great videos and to be honest I think Peace Off is one of my favorite videos from the NW.

Thanks for having me! That's really nice of you to say. I got to highlight a lot of my favorite skaters and people for that one.

I think the first time we met, I had come into 35th North with a buddy dropping off some boards for the shop. Being Tacoma dudes, it's honestly a bit anxiety inducing coming up north for me, but you were super cool and friendly and it meant a lot to me personally. You had mentioned Olympia and that we should go down and check out the shop down there called Noping. We went down there and they were super sick too. I believe that's where you said you were from originally? Is that where you grew up and started skating?

I can be anxious sometimes too but I think people generally end up being really welcoming and I do my best to show that same kindness. Yeah I grew up in Olympia. Noping rules! My local was NWS ran by Mike Cummins. He and the shop did so much for us and helped everyone cultivate a scene for over twenty years. When that shop closed in 2015, Blen (Davidson) and Sam (Garr) opened up Noping shortly after and are doing the same. It's so important for everywhere to have a local shop nearby, especially somewhere like Olympia which already had a thriving scene and skate history.

Agreed. We always make a habit of stopping by Noping when we go down to Olympia now. So when did you start filming and why?

I was already into filmmaking from a really young age. Honestly some of my earliest memories are of messing around with the family VHS over the shoulder cam outside with my older sibling. By the time I was 8 or 9 I was filming skits with my friends and making stop motion animations. They are probably all really bad. When I got really into skating it just happened naturally that I would film that too since I spent so much time street skating. Getting the janky screw on fisheyes and everything for whatever camera I could find was such a fun time.

Love it, we did the same. Had the janky screw on fisheye, but it was taped on to the shitty Hi8 camera. Who were you filming with at first? And how did you meet all the crew?

By the time I thought any of us were good enough to be sharing anything or premiering videos the crew was my friends Ian Wishart, David Jaques, Adam Barnes, and Carlmelo and Eugene Ibanez along with a bunch of others. I love all those guys, they're family. From there, through being on Youtube and skating surrounding areas, we met people like Josh McLaughlin, Logan Devlin, and Dane Barker. This was around like 2012. I remember being out skating with a camera so much in every season of the year that somehow I made five full lengths while I lived in Olympia which is insane to think about haha. And those videos are chock full of what we call Oly spots, which essentially lack the defining characteristics of a "good" skate spot. But you can skate anything and it becomes a spot. We wanted to be in a big city and we weren't, I think in some ways we pretended we were skating around Japan or something with tons of cool little things. Once you pretend a little bit, things start popping up and you realize these Oly spots were there all along, and they're everywhere you look. Eugene, Carlmelo and I dove pretty hard into this philosophy haha. The Vic's Market videos inspired us a lot too; just skate whatever you have.

We pretend a lot in Tacoma too, it’s mandatory for us. Making something from nothing. There's lots of skate filmers in the NW, but there's not a lot of VX filmers, why is that? And why were/are you drawn to it?

It used to be different for sure. Everyone here filmed with a vx1000. Those All City Showdown videos are almost all vx and when someone had an HD section, it stood out and looked weird. I'm not one of those vx purists though, people can make good videos or movies with any camera. Although now that those Century Xtreme fisheye lenses for the HD Panasonic cams are like $10,000 used, that's contributed to keeping me away. All things aside I really do believe the vx1000 is still the best camera for filming skateboarding. The mk1 is such a bubbly fisheye and the vx has the absolute best microphone with the crispiest audio, everyone knows that. The 4:3 aspect ratio lends itself so well to action and movement as well. Skaters are tall and thin and don't need a 16:9 frame to be presented in, you end up with a lot of dead space on the sides which makes everything look slower. This exacerbates the trend of people zooming in way too much to keep things exciting and sometimes they end up blowing it with the constant tight framing. Although even that style of filming works well on certain occasions. I've been running one of those digital recorders for the vx for a couple years now so I don't use tapes anymore which makes it so easy to keep this camera going.

The digital recorder is the way to go these days with VX for sure. I really enjoy your eye for both filming and editing. It's a distinctly classic style, in the best way, and you manage to avoid the redundant skate video trope pitfalls. How did you develop your style and perspective? And who were your inspirations?

Thanks a lot! I sort of struggle with describing my own work but I guess I stumble between making something funny or something sort of serious or with a bit more emotion. But regardless, my videos are always sincere. I like spending hours getting immersed in editing. The Quasi videos do a really good job of taking things seriously but also making the whole thing feel like an inside joke. It's cool to have a balance. I enjoy a variety of types of videos, whether it's super art heavy or some Frog edit shot on a shitty digicam. I love that stuff. Locally I'm a big fan of Ben Ericson, Josh and Logan's stuff, as well as Jordan Sanchez and Vic's Market. I could keep going, there's really so many sick skateboard filmers from Washington. Shoutout to Sam Cole, Sk8rat, Jon Colyer, Tom Carter, Jake Menne, the list goes on. My biggest inspirations outside of the PNW for making skate videos are Jacob Harris, Josh Stewart, Takahiro Morita, Yoan Taillandier, Pontus Alv, Colin Read, Shinpei Ueno, Benny Maglinao, and so much more. I also think it's good to pull a lot of inspiration from artists outside of skating. I do that a lot. Skating is such a small world and it's important to find inspiration from all aspects of life.

Absolutely, yes to all that. I grew up filming and skating here in Tacoma, kinda outside the larger Seattle bubble. What has your experience been like filming and being both inside and outside of the Seattle area?

Tacoma rules! I need to make it down there more often. Skating in Olympia vs Seattle feels pretty similar to me, Seattle is just more bustling. 

Word. I do believe you live in Seattle now, what prompted the move?

Yeah I've lived in Capitol Hill since 2017. I think I just wanted to be more in the mix and try it out. I already knew Seattle so well and had tons of friends here. Someone who's from Seattle might think Olympia's super deep but it's just an hour drive. That's as long as some people's daily commute. I was already coming up here all the time to skate. I would just throw on an album or some NPR on the drive haha

How has living there been and what’s it like being away from home?

It's nice being able to walk out my door and be in the city, it's more stimulating for making things and collaborating. But I miss the quiet and relative stillness of Olympia too. My family's still down there and it's not too far so it's all good. I just love living in the Pacific Northwest and being near the ocean and the mountains. I don't think I'll ever leave unless I could move out of the country. Lake Washington's a big draw too, I swim in the lake year round. Cold water is dope.

I feel that. And you’re working at the shop (35th North) full time?

Yup, juggling working here and doing other film and photo stuff and skating.

Photo by Dane Ichimura

Sweet. From our view down here in Tacoma, it seems new spots and parks always getting built in Seattle. How's the abundance of constantly built new spots?

It's pretty sick. There's always new stuff popping up all the time. Although there's something to be said about crust and older architecture. You guys have some sick spots in Tacoma. I've noticed with recent building codes and regulations most new structures get homogenized into this look that's consistent across different areas and it ends up looking kind of bland especially around South Lake Union and all the Amazon stuff. There's some outliers though for sure and I don't mean to sound spoiled. When it's good, it's really good.

Yeah for sure, I get it. Pros & cons. Who are a few of your favorite NW skaters of all time? Best parts from them?

As far as people who are from Washington... I've already mentioned Jordan Sanchez, Josh McLaughlin, Sam Cole, Logan Devlin, and Eugene Ibanez. Jordan's 'Some Things' part. Any of Josh's several video parts, his recent part for Frog is so sick. Eugene's stuff in Slime Dunk is from such a magical time. Logan's part from Luxury Vehicle, Ryan Stangland in Haulin Ass to Hall and Oates, and I'm so proud of the Krooked part Gottwig and I filmed together. I just realized the first five people I listed are all filmers too. They've all made amazing videos. Jasper Dohrs and Dane Barker have been gone awhile but I love those guys. Dane's part in Grand Prairie is perfect. For transplants off the top of my head I'll say Cody Wilber, Dane Ichimura, Dane Nomellini, and Ben Koppl have brought a lot of flavor here. Oh shit I forgot Cory! CK1 is literally the best. I keep going back to that Bellingham part he and Shane made. Finn Pope is so raw and has such good style. Really I could go on and on cause all my friends are my favorite skaters.

So many bangers! I watch that Bellingham part all the time too, just watched it this week actually. And shout out to Dane Ichimura, such good style. You’ve always had a really good music selection in your edits. How do you dig up music?

Hours of digging on Youtube and Spotify.

Digging in the digital crates... What projects are you working on or helping with this year?

I'm finishing up a short 35th part with Cody Wilber. As of just the other day there's talk of making another project with Gotti. I've been tinkering with all this footage I shot in Japan last December with a more cinema style camera. My good friend Dane Nomellini is also getting ready to launch an apparel and accessory brand with Griffin Gass and Andrew Nedimeyer called Pearl and I'm shooting photos and video for that. I'm excited for that to launch cause it's been in the works for almost two years. Dane is such a sick designer. And lastly I'm working on a mini documentary on Tom Peha and the Kingdome which has been fun. It goes without saying but Tom is so cool. Keep an eye out for that releasing soon!

If you had to choose 2 or 3 favorite videos or edits you’ve created, which ones do you go with? Why are those meaningful or important to you? 

'Peace Off' for the Seattle crew and being that I always wanted to make a video that was all filmed in the middle of the city, no suburbs. I love everyone who filmed for that video so much.

And 'Slime Dunk' for the salad days/Olympia vibe. My friend Ray who grew up in Seattle describes seeing my Olympia videos before he knew me and just describing them as full of "mossy hill bombs".

I'll also say Matt's 'Birds' Krooked part which I didn't edit but we worked on that one super hard. Our friend Tom Carter edited that one and we're all from Olympia. It came together so good.

And lastly I'll tack on the 'Orca Card' part with Griffin. Thankful to have had full creative control on that one even though it was for Spitfire.

We could keep this going all day, but we’ll wrap it up with this one; You’re elected president of skateboarding today, what changes do you make and why?

I would probably ban griptape. Nah I don't know, I've never really liked leaders, especially oligarchical ones. Let the people decide how skateboarding evolves. There's so many pockets in skating that you can always find something you like. Maybe I'd make sure everyone gets free healthcare and bounce.

Any final thoughts? Shoutouts? Anything or anyone to keep an eye out for?

Thanks for hitting me up to do an interview. I've been trying to get more comfortable talking about what I do so this was good for me. Something local to keep an eye out for would be Pepe Betancourt's full length video 'Bootleg Tapes'. He's finishing that up right now and it's going to be sick. Shoutout to all my friends, particularly Tony Croghan and Dave Waite for being such amazing people, my girlfriend Olivia, my parents for always being supportive, and anyone contributing to their local scenes past or present. Building something where you live is always cooler than following some trend on tiktok or whatever. It's okay to keep it underground. Thanks a ton for being down Alex!

Great way to wrap it up, thank you Alex!

Go watch more Alex Cooper videos on YouTube and follow Alex on Instagram.