All photographs by Jonathan Mehring
Andrew Norton is a skate photographer who has recently adapted his skills to work into todays digital industry. In 2012 I had the pleasure to work with Andrew on some of his initial video works putting together the Photographer Series. Check out the series for yourself and you can see he is a naturally skilled multimedia storyteller that brings his various background skills to his productions. Read on to get a more in depth look at Andrew and The Photographer Series and check out the latest addition to the series with Skateboarder Mag's senior photographer Jonathan Mehring.
Lenny: Tell me a little about the Photographer Series:
Andrew: The photographer series are a collection of video profiles on some of the most iconic and interesting photographers who have captured the most epic and striking images of skateboarding.
Where did you get the idea to start making these videos?
I think I wanted to make these just because I was a skate photo nerd. These are the kinds of videos I would love to watch myself. I'm always curious about the story behind a photo I love, or how a photographer I respect approaches things.
How did it start?
I basically started by interviewing Ryan Allan when I was in Southern California. He was kind enough to sit infront of my camera for an hour or so while I picked his brain. On that same trip back up the coast I somehow talked Bryce Kanights into talking as well. I ended up ending those up for SBC's website as a couple of one off videos.
They were so fun to do and got such a good reception I wanted to do more. So I approached you (Lenny Rubenovitch) at the late Push.ca and pitched a whole series of them. Pretty soon I was on a road trip down the coast from Vancouver with a half dozen legendary skateboard photographers lined up for interviews.
[Lenny: I think Andrew pitched Push the idea to profile about 6 Photographers, Andrew reached out to 8 guys figuring it's likely 2 may not work out. But Andrew ended up working out all 8 interviews on the tightest timeline and trip down south. I was real amped to hear and we ended up having to make some changes to our video schedule to make them all work.]
Recently Push.ca packed it up, so I moved the videos to my vimeo account where they live on. And I while I was in Brooklyn last month of vacation, I couldn't resist talking to Jonathan Mehring about shooting and traveling. I recently put that episode up just on my own.
Are you going to be continuing to release more episodes?
I really want to keep the series going, it will just be at a much slower pace without someone financially backing me. But it's nice to know there is still an audience for them.
And if anyone out there wants to help fund a trip to Southern California to get a couple more under my belt, I'm happy to make it happen!
Do you have some other guys in mind you would like to profile?
Yes, would love to do Brian Gaberman who now works at Element. Also guys like Atiba or Tobin Yelland who have both let their mark in different ways. The pinnacle would be Daniel Harold Sturt. I think everyone I talked to so far mentioned him as an influence. And he seems like such an enigma... it would be epic.
What else is keeping you busy at moment?
I'm currently keeping busy over at Greenpeace Canada as their in-house Multimedia Producer. Working on a podcast now and just wrapped an ad series for them (check one out HERE). Keeps me on my toes for all forms of audio and video and helps me fund stuff like this series.
The Photographer Series: Jonathan Mehring
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And some more of Jonathan's amazing photos:
