United Skateboard Photography Project
Grind For Life
PLEDGE HERE
"Grind For Life, Inc was founded in 2003, by life-long skateboarder Mike Rogers, after his second battle with sarcoma cancer. Mike's tumor was located behind his right eye and nasal cavity. He endured a 17 hour surgery a cranial-facial resection with a brain-lift, removal of his eye, cheekbone, and half of the roof of his mouth and some of his teeth. He beat cancer once as a pre-teen, and again 25 years later. Mike beat the odds and is a competitive skateboarder again."
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| Mike Rogers |
Our ultimate goal with this organization is to have a couple of apartments near Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in Manhattan, so people who are receiving treatment at the hospital can have their family near them. We want to be able to provide a comfortable place to stay, charge fees based on a sliding scale, provide support for those who are not accustomed to the city, and make a rough situation a little easier for those who travel long distances for treatment."
"Let me introduce myself, Jonathan Young, and the “United Skateboard Photography Project” to you.
I’ve been a skateboarder since the age of 4, I’m 42 years old today and I skate bowls, vert, mini ramp and street as often as I can still. I run the skateboard website Europeskate.com and since January 2013, I left the security of a full-time job as a senior international ecommerce manager for Germany’s largest coffee producer to dedicate my time and energy to pushing Europeskate.com and the “United Skateboard Photography Project”.
Skateboard photography, the photographers and the skaters have accompanied my experience with skateboarding for practically all of my life and especially during my work with Europeskate.com. In December 2012 I decided that I would like to create a website and a book dedicated to skateboard photography and the photographers to present their work to a worldwide audience. At the same time I wanted to combine this effort with a donation from the sales of the book for a charity that works with skateboarders – 50% of the revenue from the book sales after German taxes will go directly to the charity foundation, 50% towards funding the continued development of the United Skateboard Photography Project website and further projects supporting non-profit organizations.
This is how the whole idea for the “United Skateboard Photography Project” originated and the set goals are the following:
1) to create a one-of-a-kind skateboard photography book featuring skateboard photographers from around the globe supporting the charitable foundation Grind for Life. Planned publishing date for the book: Summer 2014
2) to create an online platform for amateur and professional photographers worldwide to present their creative skills to fans of skateboard photography around the world. The site is here!
The idea for the concept has grown in combination with the Europeskate.com skateboard website which was founded in 2004 in Hamburg, Germany as an online platform to present all types of skateboarding on a regular basis in order to keep up to the ever evolving growth of skateboarding around the globe. A strong focus was set from the beginning to connect with skateboarders, skateboard companies and especially skateboard photographers and videographers to support their creative work through the platform which reaches fans of skateboarding in countries all over the world.
During the years the online article series ‘Europeskate Photo Of the Day’ which presents photographer’s photos on a regular basis on Europeskate.com has grown into an institution on the website giving the photographers and the skaters depicted in the photographs a platform to present their creative work to a large following in the international skateboard community. Due to the huge growth of the Internet social communities in the past years the possibilities to reach out to ever more fans of skateboarding and skateboard photography has given the presented photographers a fast growing and widely accepted platform to present their work on.
The goal for 2014 and the future is to stengthen and focus this community with a dedicated Internet platform solely for presenting skateboard photography/photographers and a printed book published on a regular basis (I am aiming at releasing a book once a year depending on the initial feedback and support from the skateboard community, companies and sponsors) featuring skateboard photography and all of it’s components.
Now it is all about raising awareness of the project, getting as many photoographers as possible on board and gettiing the advertising placements for the book set up.
Some of you may be thinking “Advertising in a book?”. Well, to publish 1,000 copies of a hardback book with 300 pages costs a lot of money. Getting the photographers involved takes a lot of time and work to coordinate – if possible I would like to even pay the photographers money for being involved in the book. Creating the book drafts and the final copy of the book involves many weeks of work with designers, photographers and the publishing house in Hongkong. And the book needs to be marketed which – yeah you guessed it – costs money as well.
I’m looking forward to connecting to many more people working in the skateboard industry, as photographers, skaters or just fans of (skateboard) photography itself to make this project successful. Any ideas and support is needed and welcome so please use the Contact Page to get in touch."
Why not get involved?
The 300 page book will include work by some of the best skate photographers around, including Grant Brittain, Jim Goodrich and Brian Fick to name just three of what I understand will be a total of 100 contributors. And money raised will go to such a good cause. I hope that after you watch the Grind For Life clip you'll understand why I contacted the USPP and get involved yourself.
Whether you want a copy of the book, want to give what you can or just want a new wallpaper for your desktop with pledges starting at €5 there should be a pledge level to to suit everyone.
Whether you want a copy of the book, want to give what you can or just want a new wallpaper for your desktop with pledges starting at €5 there should be a pledge level to to suit everyone.
