Under Exposed with Kyle Steneide

Photo by Mason Miller.

In this Under Exposed interview we chat with Kyle Steneide, a NW raised and LA based videographer and video editor.

Thanks for taking some time to sit down with me Kyle! I know you spent your early childhood years in Snohomish county, what was like growing up? Tell me about getting started skating?

I got into skateboarding at 9 years old in Arlington, Washington and remember going to daycare before & after school on weekdays. The older brother of the family who ran the daycare skated. I'm pretty sure he had a Tony Hawk Birdhouse Falcon board, which he spray painted entirely gold (which I thought was the coolest thing ever), and he'd skate the curb out front and would throw his board across the cul de sac when he got frustrated (laughs). I was pretty hooked from that point on. My dad later bought himself and I both complete boards at a local shop and he would skate a few blocks to elementary school with me to drop me off when he had time, which looking back was really special. He was extremely supportive of me skateboarding and would take me to go skate at every skatepark we could find. He would hang out at these parks and would film me and whoever was there for hours on end and fully edit and produce these janky videos ('NW Skateparks One'), and basically have Innerspace stock them back in the day alongside the other videos they were selling (laughs). I was so embarrassed about that back then as a kid just trying to be cool. Looking back, I'm just so grateful that I had a father as supportive as him, who actually gave a shit about what was important to me. Those are some super core memories for me during that time.

Kyle and his father way back in 2004.

It’s pretty rare to have that kind of support, that’s really special. So then eventually you moved to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. A lot of people reading this might not be familiar with how unique and special the islands are, can you give some background on life there? 

San Juan Island is a very small and safe community. About 2,000 people lived there year-round, that number always slightly jumps in the summer because it's a tourist destination. There aren't any stoplights on the island, even to this day. We don't have any big chain restaurants or fast food, it's all local economy for the most part. The toughest thing about living there is you're kind of trapped and at the mercy of the ferry schedule. There isn't a bridge connecting the islands to the mainland, so if you're trying to leave the island, you have to completely plan your day around the ferry schedules. You're supposed to pay per passenger in the car when taking the ferry back to the island, and in those early days of skate trips, one of us would always end up getting in the trunk while we went through the ticket booth, and they'd get out once we parked, to make it cheaper (laughs).

Will Kromer trunking it back in 2008.

We were lucky enough to have a local skatepark at the fairgrounds, which was our saving grace to be honest. Without that park growing up, I think the trajectory of our skateboarding would have been a lot different. It's terribly designed, with the worst concrete work and everything is practically transition. The quarter pipes are so funky and the cement is lumpy. Luckily there was a small street section with a box and a nice square rail going off the box, which was always my favorite part of the park (04:24 in 'FH Skate' for reference). Friday Harbor is where I for sure developed my sense of self and overall identity, which is why I don't really say I'm from Lynnwood or Arlington. Those middle & high school years on the island were very transformative for me. 

Yeah for sure, I think that timeframe is pretty pivotal for a lot of us. Friday Harbor is where you started making videos with Kyle Nolan, how did that all come about?

We were really blessed with honestly the best crew for such a small place. Kyle Nolan, Will Kromer, Will's twin brother TK, Brandon Irwin, Elliott Garl, Aaron Prager, Ian Carnell, and some of the older guys who we looked up to like Chris Cowell, etc. All of us were obsessed with skateboarding and it's all we wanted to do. I'm 4 years older than Will Kromer and Kyle Nolan, and the age gap seemed pretty large back then. I'd be a junior in high school hanging out with kids in middle school (laughs). There were some older kids in my neighborhood too that skated and we'd set up these janky contraptions on our street and just get creative (02:15 in this video reference). After school we would all congregate at the skatepark for a few hours until dark. Kyle Nolan had a little handycam with a death lens and we'd all film each other and push one another to try harder tricks. At that point, we would all film full length parts and make legitimate 20-30 minute videos on DVD back then and would try to emulate the skate videos that we watched during that mid-2000's time. During that time period from 2005 until 2009, Kyle Nolan made 10 full length videos, I made three and Will Kromer made two. Oftentimes we would reuse clips in each other's videos, but rarely in our own (laughs).

Holy shit, that is an insane amount of videos! Are they all available to watch still?

Yeah, here's the full list of videos that we made during that time period.

Kyle Nolan's Videos:

- 'The 2ft Video' (2005)

- '2ft Island' (2006)

- 'Bubble Gum Blowout' (2006)

- 'FH Sk8' (2006)

- 'Too Freakin Tight' (2006)

- 'Who'll Stop the Rain?' (2006)

- 'All-On-The-Marrow' (2007)

- 'How To Not Go Pro' (2007)

- 'Without Notice' (2007)

- 'Welcome To Washington' (2008)

Kyle Steneide's Videos:

-  'Unknown' (2006)

- 'The Harbor' (2008)

- 'School Days' (2009) Co-Directed with Mark Kirkland

Will Kromer's Videos:

- 'Modern Love' (2008)

- 'PoPtarded!' (2008)

Mark Kirkland's Videos:

- 'Affair De Couer' (2008)

- 'School Days' (2009) Co-Directed with Kyle Steneide

That’s incredible work ethic for young kids honestly. Tell me some more about that timeframe?

At some point during that time period I got a Canon GL2 from my Dad and Will Kromer got a VX1000 with the Mk1 fisheye. Kyle Nolan became close with All-A-Board shop owner Seth Ivers, and Seth would bring the local Tacoma kids to Friday Harbor for the weekend once in a while, which is how we met Mark Kirkland and Jake Wood. Mark had a crew called 'PoPtardZ' and after we all got close, the island crew quickly became 'PoPtardZ North' (laughs). Mark and I began to bond more as skate filmers, which is how we ended up collaborating on 'School Days' in 2009.

Oh yup, that ties in some connections with my zone down here in the south end. What was it about filming and editing that pulled you to it?

I just loved the creativity of it all. That's what initially drew me into skateboarding in the first place. I'm a creative person and I need to express that part of myself in order to be happy. After I started buying skate videos, I was completely captivated by how they made me feel. Studying the filming/editing and overall production of videos like 'Yeah Right', 'Sorry', Transworld videos and the storytelling of 411vm's & ON Videos were just so compelling. I loved homie videos too, because they were slightly more relatable growing up, like "Oh! Literally a dude and his friends made this without any real company funding. I can do that too!". When videos like 'Boondoggle' and 'A Happy Medium' came out in 2008, I was just so dead-set on dedicating my life towards the craft. Nothing in the world was cooler to me at that time.

I feel that, I loved all those early videos too. We touched on it a bit but what cameras were you filming with to start?

As mentioned previously, my father would make these skate videos of me growing up, but I never really helped him film any of them, I just wanted to skate. He'd legitimately have his girlfriend and himself posted up with Canon GL2s capturing park tricks (laughs). I also have to credit Kyle Nolan for getting me into filming and editing skate videos as well. He was so ahead of his time as an 11, 12, 13 year old. His vision & music taste was just so great for a young kid and he was just as dedicated to the craft as me, which was deeply satisfying growing up. He had a Panasonic PV-GS150 mini DV camcorder with a Century Optics 37mm thread mount MKII fisheye. It's funny, just recently over this past summer Kyle Nolan was cleaning out his garage and found that actual camera & fisheye that we first started filming videos on. He didn't want it, so I instantly jumped on the opportunity to take it home with me as a little reminder about where it all started for us. Thanks Kyle! From there Will Kromer got a VX1000 with the MK1 fisheye in 2007, which changed everything for us. We had no idea how to use it but we were so hyped to have the same camera as the pros who were producing the videos that we were all so influenced by growing up. We definitely felt legit (laughs).

I always love to hear the shit people were using when they started. So let’s dig into some of your projects throughout the years. You made a couple homie videos when you first started there on the island, the first was ‘Unknown’, tell me about that first project and the process?

'Unknown' (2006) was my first real attempt at making a skate video from start to finish. Back then, you'd film as much as you could after school at the skatepark or street skating and just slowly start trying to make something come together. I'd try my best to emulate the company videos that I was watching, but you always suck when you're starting out. Nonetheless I was hooked on the process and couldn't get enough. It's funny how the same process applies to making skate videos now, except for a lot more gets left on the cutting room floor these days (laughs).

And then the next one was titled ‘The Harbor’. How was that one better or different? Any good stories?

'The Harbor' (2008) was essentially the same as my first video, but more refined. I was using the Canon GL2 with a shitty fisheye that got the job done well enough. You learn more about filming and editing and try to make the best product you can with the tools you have. It's funny, because the video I helped make the following year, 'School Days' (2009) was noticeably better, by a lot. After making 'The Harbor', and later that year in 2008 my dad bought me a VX1000 with an MK1 fisheye and I basically hit the ground running. I really learned how to use and set up that camera properly and got good at filming in 2009. For anyone who cares, this is my footage in 'All City Showdown 2008' (09:37 for reference), and 'All City Showdown 2009' (10:55 for reference), and the progress in filming in my opinion is basically night and day. 

Since we’re on the subject, let’s talk about ‘All City Showdown’. Tell me about that experience? 

When Tony Croghan gave me and Kyle Nolan an opportunity to enter in All City Showdown in 2008, we were beyond ecstatic. We idolized all of the Seattle crews making videos growing up and we'd constantly watch ACS 2006 and 2007. Having the opportunity to compete in that felt like we were being somewhat accepted by the Seattle community (laughs). Growing up on the island made us feel a bit disconnected from all of the amazing skateboarding that was happening in Seattle, so we literally just wanted to give it our best shot.

Yeah ACS is a NW institution. So hyped to have it come back this year finally after a long hiatus. Ok, so your filming is getting better and better, and then it kinda seems your first video that really made the rounds in the NW was the project you made with Mark Kirkland titled ‘School Days’. Give us some stories from working on that one?

'School Days' (2009) was interesting because I had graduated high school and was figuring out where I wanted to live, because staying on the island wasn't something I was super excited about. I was ready to expand my horizons and get more in the mix with people doing bigger things than myself. I was really interested in what Mark Kirkland was doing and he was just as invested in making skate videos as me. I remember living with Mark for a month in the back room of his skate shop 'Boardwalk', which he co-owned in Tacoma while we worked on editing 'School Days'. I was almost certain that I was going to move to Spanaway, WA after high school because that's where that crew was spending a lot of time and we'd always skate at Sprinker Skatepark. Looking back, I'm really glad I decided to move to Seattle instead (laughs). 

The trips that we would take during that time filming for the video were super fun. We'd take long 3 day weekend trips to Sacramento and San Francisco and drive all night both ways just so we'd have enough time to skate and make it back in time for the work week. Mark would always be mischievous on those trips and would love the road trips antics. Part of the initiation process on those trips was this thing Mark called the A.G.G.S program (Ape Grapes Gentleman's Society), where you had to rub Bengay on your balls, which was torturous and the pain would be pretty unbearable. I remember once we were all in so much pain, we all had to pull over on the shoulder of the freeway and just try and run the pain away in the roadside ditch. Mark would also chug those Redline energy drinks too (the ones that Biebel took in his 'Fully Flared' intro) just to stay awake. Mark was so gnarly in the best way possible and there was never a dull moment with him. Jake Wood was also a maniac too; He was just a constant ball of energy. Jake was the best though and such an incredible talent! We were really lucky to have been able to document his skating during those days. Jake's ender part in 'School Days' was for sure everyone's favorite. Going full circle back to A.G.G.S, Fun Fact – Mark named his team A.G.G.S. for All City Showdown 2010 (03:52 for reference). He really was about that life!

With 'School Days', that was the first skate video of ours where we really tried our best to compete with what we saw coming out at that time from other independent skate video makers – as far as trick selection, filming/editing, music and other elements of production. Mark and I wanted to try our best to create something great. It was fun at the time, but we've both learned a ton since then! I'd say I like that video much more than 'About Time' personally.

And then you do eventually move to Seattle. What was that process like? Did it change your life? Open you to new opportunities?

During the summer of 2009, I moved from the island to my Dad's place in Arlington, in preparation for a full move to Seattle in the coming months. I met Joe Andrews at SeaSk8 park that summer while he was on a trip from Montana, and we instantly became bros. Later that summer, a car-full of the island kids – Myself, Kyle Nolan, Will Kromer and Will's twin brother TK all went to Missoula, Montana for a week-long skate trip, while Joe and his crew showed us around (shout out Vic Hernandez for the hospitality!). Joe and I talked, and he decided that he wanted to make the move to Seattle, so in the new year of 2010 we moved into the 'Bay Ridge Court' apartments in the First Hill neighborhood of the city. As fun and productive as that first year was living in that apartment, it was beyond hectic. At one point we had 5 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment. It was Joe and I sharing a room, Graham Churella and Brent Willard sharing a room, and Cyril Jackson sleeping on the couch (all three of them were Joe's homies from Ohio, where he had grown up prior to moving from Montana). There were constant fights and mayhem, and once Brent had stabbed Graham's air mattress, completely deflating it. Once someone got shoved at the dining room table, which put a huge hole in the wall which we had to get repaired. Probably the most hectic of all is when Cyril befriended this super hood neighborhood weed dealer, who once robbed Chris Cowell at gunpoint inside of our apartment for this weed. Coming from the island, this lifestyle was just too much for me and I didn't really know how to deal with it all. Plus there was another filmer living in the apartment (Graham Churella), so whenever we would all street skate, it was always like "who's videos is this for?". Having all those people living in the apartment made it cheap, but at one point it was like, "is this even worth it?". Aside from the madness inside our unit, we had a pretty sick 10 stair rail in front of our apartment complex, and we could see it from our living room. One time when we were all home, Michael Patterson rolled up one time randomly (this was years before I knew him) and he started trying to smith grind it while Sean Pattison was filming him (00:47 in his 'Low Keyed' part for reference). I can't remember how long they were there, but the apartment manager called my cell phone mid-session while this was going on, and in a frustrated tone, asked us to stop skating the rail/stairs out front because of complaints (laughs). I always thought it was funny that his first thought was that it was us skating, because apparently we were the only young group of skater kids in the building. The funny thing is that we never skated the rail until later that year, during All City Showdown 2010, when Kyle Nolan tried to tailslide it and got bodied (19:27 in 'ACS 2010' for reference).

Sounds hectic! You got some absolute banger stories out of it though. So the next project you were working on is the video ‘About Time’ you mentioned. Give me some background on that one?

Originally 'About Time' was supposed to be 'School Days 2', but at one point Mark decided that he wanted to pursue other things, so I went on to make that video solo with a different name. Mark and I released a trailer for our film in 2010, but things restructured pretty shortly after. The filming for 'About Time' took place between 2009 and 2012, mainly filming every weekend and some weeknights too, lighting up spots and trying to be as productive as possible. During that time I had moved out of that hectic apartment in First Hill, and got an apartment on 12th ave, not far from 35th with Joe and Travis Usselman. Eventually Joe and Travis both moved out and Andy Froberg and Zach Bishop took their spots later on in 2011, while I decided to stay. With a homie video like that, it's so hard to set deadlines as there's little motivation to put it out before it's ready. I really liked the trailer that I had made for the video at that time, and wanted the full length to live up to the hype. Eventually you have to just put the video out after working on it constantly for nearly 3 years. Shout out Reilly Schlitt for naming the video 'About Time' for me, since it was about time I just put the damn thing out!

Any good stories from this time?

Man.. Too many good times and memories. Originally Cyril Jackson was supposed to have a full part. We filmed so much while he lived with us, and eventually he moved to Los Angeles and off of our couch. He asked me to put together a 'sponsor me' tape for him, which included nearly 6 minutes of his footage, which I had compressed and sent off for 1031 Skateboards to view, which ended up being a big mistake. They ended up using everything without permission for their video, 'Get Bent' in 2011. (Here's CJ's part at 02:46 for reference). Lesson learned. Kids, watermark your exports or send brands private YouTube links to avoid this happening and make your intentions clear. I reached out to them and they sent me boards as compensation. Looking back, I would have handled this differently, but was just a shy kid back then. Can't pay your rent with product, folks! At the end of the day, you're spending hours filming, spending money on gas to get to these spots, and buying gear to document these dudes properly. Small brands like that don't have money though. I didn't understand the way the industry worked back then, but you've got to learn somehow I suppose.

Man, that’s a bummer, but a learning lesson for sure. You actually ended up moving down to LA as well with Will Kromer to pursue the skate thing, him as a skater and you as a filmer. What was it like taking a leap like that?

It was really exciting because Will had just graduated high school and we were both ready for a change. He got accepted to ArtCenter, College of Design in Pasadena and also wanted to pursue trying to get sponsored by industry brands in LA, while I knew it was the perfect time for me to pursue my life-long dream of trying to film skating for a living. We moved to a house in Pasadena in September of 2013. That summer, a month before our move in August, Skatelite hosted this huge event on the Lopez called The Retreat. Skatelite donated and built a brand new skatepark on Lopez Island, which is a part of the San Juan Islands, built a full size vert ramp, and had the top pros in skate and BMX come out and do a huge demo – For skate, they had Paul Rodriguez, Manny Santiago, Bob Burnquist, Bucky Lasek, Jereme Rogers, Greg Lutzka, Jagger Eaton, and more. I remember so vividly thinking that I wanted to try and talk to Paul while he was there, letting him know that I was a local filmer that was about to move to LA to pursue skateboard filming. I replayed this scenario over and over in my head about how I would approach him and what I would say, and hoping that he'd be down to film and I could get in the mix that way, which looking back was so farfetched at that time. I never did find that opportunity to talk to him at The Retreat, but it's a trip looking back now because I got hired to work for his new board brand at the time, Primitive as their filmer six months after this all went down on Lopez Island.

It’s so wild to have an event like that on Lopez Island of all places, haha. How strange! And then so really quickly you’re tapped in with a crazy group of skaters, how’d that all come about?

When I first moved to LA, I knew I had to make moves if I was really going to do this. I scoured the internet for top skate filmers emails at that time and would basically send the same email to all of them. I would include my footage reel in the email, and basically introduced myself and told them who I was and my intentions with my move to LA. I would say things like, "I'd love to donate my time, help shoot second angles, carry gear, sweep the spot and make your life easier on the session however possible". Chris Ray was one of the first people to get back to me and was always super gracious and cool to me. He was stoked on the email and told me to meet up with him and the DC crew that upcoming weekend and from there, he would have me come out just about every weekend after that because he saw that I wanted to work hard and I was good at what I did. One of those early sessions I went on with Chris was while he was wrapping up Nyjah's 'Fade To Black' part. He had me meet him at the Uni 8 stair rail, which is the session where Nyjah got his 2nd to last tricks in that part, the cab flip front board and the bs 270 kickflip to lipslide. I was filming long lens and Chris was filming fisheye. (05:12 in 'Fade To Black' for reference)

Straight into Nyjah bangers! And then right after that you’re hired as the filmer for Primitive right when Paul launch the company. How the hell did that happen?

Man.. What a dream come true that whole scenario was. Especially because I had so vividly wanted things to work out this way with P-Rod specifically around the time The Retreat happened, like I mentioned previously. It was just the right place, right time, kind of scenario for that to come together like it did. At that time, OG filmer and Paul's business partner, Heath Brinkley was asking the top industry filmers about filling the filmer/editor role for Paul's new board brand that was about to launch, following Paul's departure from Plan B. He had talked to Chris, asking if he knew of anyone that fit their needs, and Chris immediately mentioned me and that I was doing a great job helping him out with DC stuff, but that DC wasn't hiring at that time. He gave Heath my contact info and shortly after that, Heath set up an interview for me at the local Starbucks, where we met for the first time and chatted about everything regarding the position. I was so nervous for that coffee meeting, that I drank a cup of coffee or two on my way to get coffee with Heath (laughs). From there, Heath put me on a 3 month trial run to see how well I meshed with everyone, and after that they kept me on full-time.

The coffee panic is real, I feel that often! But yeah that’s pretty insane sequence of events. A bit like the actual skate dream come to true type shit. After you paved a lane in the industry and started having consistent work, how did you stay motivated? Have you had periods where shit wasn’t working out?

I stayed motivated because I felt like I had to (and I wanted to) prove myself. Here I was, a new young filmer coming into the industry without any prior industry experience, working for one of the world's most famous skaters & his new board brand. I wanted to do good work and show Heath and Paul that I was meant to be there and I wanted to feel like I had earned my role at the company. It wasn't always easy though, I felt sort of hazed a bit by both Heath and Paul (laughs), but it was all in good fun and they were just breaking in 'the new guy', which is completely understandable. There were certainly times where I felt super burnt out and couldn't remember why I even liked skateboarding a couple of years into the gig. When I first got hired in early March of 2014, I remember working for three months straight, no days off between filming and editing work, and eventually had to convince Heath to let me have a day off for 4th of July that year. I felt that it was challenging to manage a 7 day per week work schedule early on, while being on-call every night if the guys wanted to light up spots to film. I knew what I had signed up for though so it wasn’t a surprise and just tried to manage my schedule the best that I could, although I could have definitely dialed it in a bit better at the time. It just felt like a lot at the moment, and I know Heath wanted me to jump through the same hoops that he did as a filmer, like he did when he was coming up. Health and I butted heads a little bit back then, but I always respected him above all else and we're good friends to this day. I owe a lot to Heath, Paul, Chris and Andy (Primitive founder) for what they did for me. I really can’t thank them enough. 

Respect, that doesn’t sound easy. I feel like I see a lot of people get stoked on filming for a bit, and then get overwhelmed with what to do with it, how to progress or how to keep moving forward in skating. How have you manage to stay inspired and keep going all of these years?

Oh man, I just really love this shit. It all comes back to me being completely obsessed with pro skaters and skate videos as like a 10 year old kid, with his walls covered in skate mag posters and ads. I wanted to see this dream through for the younger version of myself, plus this kind of work gives me a strong sense of purpose in general. You have to really love the craft if you're going to be a filmer, because oftentimes you get the short end of the stick. Industry filmers are often overworked, underpaid and under appreciated. A closed mouth doesn't get fed, so you just have to work hard and be vocal about what you need and expect to work your ass off for it. If you're a filmer who's not getting paid for this, like I was 9 years prior to getting hired at Primitive, you have to be completely down for the cause as making skate videos takes a lot of time, money and resources, on top of being your crew's babysitter essentially (laughs). You basically have to do this for more than monetary reasons, because you're often going to end up disappointed if that's your end goal with all of this. Traveling is by far the biggest perk for me about being a skate filmer. I have been to so many places in the world that I never would have gone to if it wasn't for skateboarding, and I'm very grateful for that.

Some gems in there… Any other advice you feel like would have helped you when starting out or going through some hard shit?

I would tell myself to quit smoking weed and pick up healthier habits. I would have told myself to get off your phone and social media and manage your time better, even if you feel like you suck at it. I just needed a better tool to deal with being overwhelmed at that time. You're not going to love all aspects of your job 100% of the time, so you just have to accept that reality and work on becoming a more refined professional through your personal experience and learning from your mistakes. 

OK, moving into the present, what are you up to nowadays? I see you all over the world filming with Paul, Torey and Shane. Tell me about what's going on in life now?

Well right now I'm healing from a broken elbow that happened on my recent filming trip to Bangkok with Shane. I never get injured, so this makes me realize that I want to do whatever I can to prevent this from happening again and just do my best to keep my body healthy. I'm unable to film at full capacity right now, so I'm kind of stuck editing or doing other computer work, which is kind of driving me crazy. When I'm not healing from an injury, I'm usually filming skating on the weekends, whether that's with Torey, Paul or Shane. I don't film with too many other people currently. I usually keep a small circle. During the week I'll do freelance production work with my good friend and business partner, AJ. We do corporate video and have clients ranging from law firms to cannabis brands (laughs). Being a freelancer has allowed me the flexibility to travel for skateboarding when I need to, and AJ's always been really cool and supportive of my schedule. 

Photo by Corey Greengage.

That sounds like a pretty good setup. How do you feel your filming style and perspective has developed over the years? 

I'd say my current filming style is really influenced by skate filmmakers like Jason Hernandez, Ty Evans, Russell Houghten, Chris Mulhern, Buster O'Shea, Alan Hannon, Jake Leger and Bobby Bils, who really understand their craft. What I like about their work is that it transcends beyond just 'being good at filming skateboarding'. They're just good filmmakers in general who could make a documentary about something completely non-related to skate, and absolutely crush it. There are quite a few filmers now who are really mediocre at filming and barely understand their camera settings, but that's also like the cool thing that the kids are into these days. I feel like really putting work into understanding your craft and working towards becoming really skilled at it is something of the past a bit. We're so used to instant gratification now, that it's like, let me set up the HPX as raw as I possibly can with no external mic and whip it around handheld while filming long lens. Everyone just wants to film like Strobeck now. He definitely started a movement. You could say the same thing about the kind of filming that I like and wanting to mimic or be influenced by that style, but at least those individuals actually understand the fundamentals and the rules of filmmaking – That's what I appreciate about it. You could show your work to a filmmaker outside of skating and they'd actually appreciate it and take it seriously.

What video projects have you been working on or helping with lately?

Last year Torey and I traveled 3 months out of the year filming for his part in the upcoming 'Thank You' video. We went to China twice, England twice, Portugal and Spain. We linked up in April of last year and have been going hard since. When I'm home, I'll film Torey, Shane or Paul and just try and be in the mix with my core group of dudes. 

Hell of an itinerary there! Give me a crazy travel filming story?

The craziest filming stories that I have are with Will Kromer, when we were filming for his 'Transworld x Brooklyn Projects' video part. We worked on that part for four years (2016-2020), and went on so many adventures, it's pretty insane. During that time period we were obsessed with fixing spots or kind of creating our own. I think we just loved the idea of creating 'the perfect spot' that wasn't blown out or was something that nobody had really seen. There was one night where we drove out to this really shitty abandoned school in Victorville, CA to restore this bump over bar that was there. The spot was originally a really high, unskatable bump over bar and some locals had cut it in half, making it much more skatable. At some point, the over bar portion of the small bar was removed and Will and I wanted to restore it, to make the spot skatable again. We cut out a section of railing at another part of the school, to put in place of the missing bump over bar, and returned to the school later that night once it was dark with cement, spray paint and whatever else we needed to legitimately fix the spot for good, and touch-it-up to make it look as natural as possible. We hopped the fence with all of Will's tools in his backpack and my camera bag. We had managed to fix everything perfectly within an hour and we were waiting for things to dry, when out of nowhere, car lights turned on and blinded us from inside of the school. Somehow security had managed to drive inside of the school without us hearing, which was so peculiar, because we were making sure to be quiet the whole time and were on high-alert for anyone who might be trying to catch us. We were like deer in the headlights and were so frightened, because of the nature of what we were doing with spray paint, tools, cement, etc. The security was pissed and did not want to hear our side of the story at all, and informed us that cops were on the way. Will quickly managed to hop the fence, leaving everything of his behind, while I was stuck inside with my heavy-ass camera bag for at least a few more minutes. I'm not sure how I was able to get my bag over the fence and have Will drag it to safety, but we did and I was still stuck inside of the school with two security guards chasing me around as I was trying to flee and find a way out. Somehow I was able to have them chase me as I bee lined it for the fence and tried to hop it as quickly as I could. They could have easily grabbed my leg as I was hopping over, but they never touched me. Will and I sprinted towards my parked car and we peeled out of there as quicky as we could, hearts pounding. There's a main street that runs through Victorville, so we knew we had to avoid that, so we took some sketchy dirt road to try and find back roads to the freeway. I'm pretty sure Will and I were both silent for that 2 hour drive home. I've never been so scared in my life, thinking I was going to jail. Thank God we got out of that one safe. We swore off that spot for good and never went back. 

Fuck that’s pretty sketchy! But yo lemme get the pin? haha. What are some of the challenges with being a skate videographer in 2025?

The main challenge with being a skate filmer in 2025 is making decent money, for sure. If you can look past that aspect, you'll be alright. All filmers for the most part can find skaters to film and can get a hold of some gear to start making videos, but being able to make a living from skate filming is an entirely different thing. It's not impossible by any means, but it's more like what are you willing to settle for. The skate industry as a whole is really hurting right now, and budgets for video are tight. Even the filmers working on retainer for skate brands right now are making around $3,000-$3,500 per month full time, and I'd say $4,000-$5,000 a month if you're really lucky. Of course this varies by brand, and their personal budgets for production. If you're a well known industry filmer with a portfolio under your belt, you're going to be able to negotiate a different rate at larger brands and be able to sustain yourself, but you're also going to have more responsibility beyond just filming clips in the streets – You're going to be shooting commercials, lookbooks, campaigns and all things video-related for that brand essentially. This doesn't include all of the filmers who are working for free up front, and charging $100 per clip six months later when the video comes out. The pay structure for freelance filmers charging per clip is basically the same as it was 20 years ago. Skate filmers could really benefit from some type of union situation, if that were to ever become a thing within the skate industry. 

I appreciate your candidness, we need more of that. I know Shane Auckland (Sk8rats) had brought up this topic and the filmers union a few years back and seems like it was getting some traction. It seems the pay is definitely the main issue, but we also are responsible for driving everyone and fixing spots, providing wax, sealer, rub bricks, grinders, bondo, etc. Plus of course we have to have all of our own camera gear, and I’m a big gear dork, so that’s not cheap either. We discussed the gear you started shooting with, but what are you shooting with these days? Can we get a detailed breakdown for all the camera nerds like myself?

These days I'm shooting with a couple of Panasonic GH5S's – One for fisheye filming and another for second angles. I usually always try to use both when filming a trick. I’ll just have the b-angle continuously recording while I’m filming the main angle. I'm also using a Panasonic CX350 camcorder for long lens, because I like the zoom rocker and that it shoots in 4K/60p. I've been using the Panasonic Lumix line of mirrorless cameras for 10 years now I'm completely ready to switch everything up. Within the next few months I will switch to the Sony ecosystem and hop on the Sony FX6 bandwagon with the native Sony lenses, etc. The lenses I'm currently using with the GH5S (via Metabones adapter/speed booster) are the Canon 8-15 for fisheye, I have a couple of Canon 24-105's, which are my go-to to for second angles, and I have a Canon 70-200 for some long lens and shallow depth of field artsy shots. 

Big change coming! He’s a Sony guy now. Is there anything gear wise you wish you knew back in the day, that you know now?

I wish I fully understood that the gear isn't nearly as important as the filmmaker and their vision. You could give Jason Hernandez the shittiest camera and he still will make something incredible.

Basically, don't let the lack of desired gear stop you from making something that you want to make. I also wish that I never would have sold my VX1000 for a VX2100 while making 'About Time'. If I fully understood the importance of color science, audio, and camera ergonomics, I never would have switched. To be fair, I was pretty influenced to switch after watching Brandon Jensen's "Cory Kennedy skates the new Seattle Center park" edit. He made the VX2100 look damn good in that video. Mark Kirkland was also a VX2100 God too, which influenced my decision to switch at that time.

Alright let's switch it up a bit for some fun NW stuff to bring this interview to a close... Who are a few of your favorite NW skaters of all time? Fav part from each of them?

My favorite Northwest skaters of all time are Bobby Snowden, Michael Patterson and David Gravette. I've always thought they were all so sick in their own ways. Watching Bobby skate Innerspace in the mid 2000's is something I'll never forget; He truly had the best style, and was just so insanely talented. Not to mention he always had the sick baggy fits and would wear Dunks. Watching Mike skate Bellevue indoor as a little kid, the tricks he was doing at the time on rails was just incomprehensible to me and I couldn't believe he was capable of doing some of the things he was trying. For me, I never really saw David in person too much, but I've always thought he was cool and loved seeing him turn pro and get industry recognition. Growing up, I loved David's part in 'Reelize' (2005). That part really sold me and on David, Michael and Matt Lonergan being the coolest (Mike and Matt have the sickest guest cameos in that part). That honestly might be my favorite Northwest video part of all time, because it reminds me of the era that was fondest to me. Plus Mike's switch heel front board on Garfield 8 rail is probably my favorite trick he's ever done. His tricks in that part of David's are definitely a testament to how insane he was as a 14/15 year old kid. Plus You can't forget how sick Matt Lonergan was back then too skating in that raggedy brown jacket of his.

My favorite part of Mike Patterson's is for sure his 'Nufevah' part (2007). I watched that part religiously growing up and thought Mike was just the sickest young kid skating street in the Northwest at that time. I couldn't understand why he was so good (laughs). 

As far as Bobby, he never had too many video parts, but I'm going to go with his 'I Of The Tiger' (2007) Innerspace part because he looks steezed-out in his footage. I love that line of his at the old Macy's ledges in Shoreline in that baggy fit, dunks, and spray painted grip, followed by Ethan Fitzpatrick doing the robot.

If you had to choose 3 of your favorite skate projects you've made or worked on over the years, what would they be? Why are they meaningful? 

My top 3 favorite skate projects I've worked on would be Brian Peacock's 'Full Clip Friday' at P-Rod's park (2015), Will Kromer's 'Transworld x Brooklyn Projects' video part (2020) and Bastien Salabanzi's 'Not So Sorry' Video part (2021). I liked Brian's 'Full Clip Friday' because we shot it entirely on the VX1000 and we treated that segment like an actual video part. I think we spent 3 months total filming everything and we worked hard on that to try and make it stand out.

Will's 'Transworld x Brooklyn Projects' video part is on the list because that was my attempt at putting everything I had into creating the best part that I could for Will. He still really wanted to try to make something happen with skating at that time, and I wanted to give him the opportunity to try his best to do so. We went on so many missions and adventures that I'll never forget for that part.

Bastien's 'Not So Sorry' part was special for me to work on because I was always such a fan of Bastien since the 'Sorry' days. We had met while I was employed at Primitive and I noticed that he wasn't really skating with the team in late 2018 after his knee injury. I think he felt like he was struggling to skate how he wanted, but I felt like we could do something really great if we tried making something solo, to boost his confidence – just him and I, and it worked! We managed to film many great clips and sometimes he'd get 2, 3 clips in a day and I would be blown away. Filming got cut short for that one after another knee injury in late summer of 2019, so we decided to put it out after sitting on the footage for about a year and a half. Aside from the injury stopping our filming process, I'm so pleased with how everything came together for that one. Thrasher was stoked to host the part and I couldn't believe that I was actually able to obtain the music rights from the artist 'Cee-Roo'. Huge should out to him! I knew that I was going to use that song regardless because I felt like it was the perfect fit, and I literally DM'd Cee-Roo on IG telling him about the part and he was kind enough to sign the paperwork that Thrasher had sent over for music rights usage. How everything came together for that one was just incredible and I'm really happy that I was able to make that part for Bastien. At that time, people hadn't seen a full video of him in a very long time and he was really pleased with the response he received from that part. He's literally crushing it so hard right now and his footage is top notch in that new 'LAKAI IN TOKYO' video. I'm really stoked for him. He's an actual legend and deserves the recognition.

Alright I've probably asked way too many questions already, so we’ll wrap it up there. Any final thoughts?

Thanks for interviewing me! I've never really done anything like this before, so thanks for caring to hear my story. Thanks to everyone who's managed to read through this long interview and make it this far as well – I appreciate you all. I just want to keep doing work that inspires me, skate-related or not and continue learning new skills while refining my work and workflow; It's a never ending process, but that's the fun part, right?

You can keep up with Kyle by following him on IG, and go subscribe on YouTube.