Joe Brook Interview

As I began to shoot skating and became oriented to the local shooting scene one name was heard often. That name was Joe Brook. It was never just Joe or Brook always Joe Brook, like one could not stand with out the other. Anyway I started to look at his work and was definitely stoked on it. Great lifestyle and the skating stuff was top notch. Had a chance to meet him at a little show put on by 510 and knew then that at some point I would endeavor to get him up on the blog. That day has come. So with out further ado I give you the Joe Brook interview.

Christian

C: Name, age, age, occupation, location

J: Joe Brook, 38, Photographer, SF

C: How long have you been shooting?

J: 17 years

C: Formally trained? Apprenticeships or just getting out there
and getting it done?

J: All of the above. I went to City college of San Francisco for a few years. Barged SFAI darkrooms when some of my friends worked there. Learned a lot form listening. Did some assisting and learned quite a bit there.

C: I recon you travel a bit to get material...is this true?

J: Yeah we get t travel a lot. I love it! Skateboarding, Photography and traveling! We are really lucky!

C: Could you talk to me a bit about the van?

J: Big Blue was the Birdhouse team van. I was in Tucson finishing up a Suski interview. Seamus was the TM at the time and said that was going to be the last trip for the van since they were getting a new one. I told him I wanted it. He checked with his Bosses and they were down. It got broken into at Birdhouse and they fixed the brakes and window and smogged it.They wanted $500.00 for it now. Fausto wanted me to get it, Unfortunately he passed away. RIP Fausto Miss you!I told Brian Brannan I couldn't afford it. That was that. 6 months went by Brian calls me up and says you can have the van for free it you get it by friday. I told him I'll see you tomorrow morning. Flew down to LA got picked up by Kurt Hayashi was at Birdhouse at 9am. signed the papers drove it back to SF with no tire jack or tire repair equipment. On my way to SF got flashed by some Spring break chicks nice racks! haha. Must have been the skate stickers on the van. My intent was to take it to Skatopia and blow it up. It sat around High Speed for 5 months I was traveling a lot. Ben Sanchez that skated for Chocolate was working in a garage. He fixed the AC and put 2 tires on it. He said it still had a life in it. So I took it to Portland Seattle to work on a gravette interview with Guzman in tow. I told everyone it might not make it! The crew was down to roll! It's been on the road ever since across the US quite a few times. Lots of good times and the American flag too! It just broke 238,000,00

C: What is the longest you have road tripped to get shots?

J: 2 months all around Europe for my first trip there.

C: You have shot some heavy hitters in the industry. How have
some of those relationships come about?

J: I met a lot of people when I was skating a lot. Around the EMB days in 1991
I met Aaron Meza and some Dlx heads and lot of skaters. I didn't shoot then I just wanted to skate. I would trip out on Morf and Tobin shooting photo's I thought it was a cool job. All I wanted to do was shred and feed myself so I worked as little as possible. Those were Awesome times! Not a care in the world!

C: I see your work every where is there any advice you might give to aspiring photographers about getting work published?

J: Work hard,love skateboarding and shooting it. Do it for the love of skateboarding. Try to see stuff differently.

C: Mostly film or digital?

J: 50/50 I like both

C: Can you give me a brief list of your set up?

J: Nikon D3/Nikon F100/ Contax T3/Toyo 4x5/ Hasselblad 501cm

C: Shooting in broad daylight...any tips?

J: Motion blur sucks! Short flash durations.

C: As far as I can tell you are the main guy over at SLAP how did you hook that up?

J: Mark Whiteley got me the job. He s the back bone of Slap he works super hard and has an Awesome vision.We work really good together and.Had a lot of Fun times!

C: That's enough grilling...I really appreciate your time and you answering my questions if you wanna give any shout outs this would be when it happens, so go for it.

J: All the skaters that let me shoot them! Everyone in the industry that gave me a chance. High Speed Productions for being my Cali Family!