Category: Skateboarding

1st June 2007

If you open a French skateboard magazine, or even Kingpin for that matter, chances are you’ve spotted a shot from Cedric Viollet. This young Frenchman started taking skate photos slightly by chance, but is now a fully fledged lensman with many miles of film and flights under his belt. You’ll probably spot Cedric cruising around Europe with his black rimmed glasses and finely trimmed goatee, rubbing shoulders with the up and coming youth as well as societies cognoscenti. A classy individual who lives and dies by the 36 exposures. – RLD.

Full name please captain?

Cedric Raymond Viollet!

How long have you been a photographer?

I bought my first camera in April 2000 for my birthday, with tips from a friend regarding what to buy. Up until then, I had never shown any particular interest in photography.

How did you get into skate photography?

Pretty fast – I just took my camera with me on all the sessions we’d have, and started shooting tricks and stuff. In June 2000 I was lucky enough to get a photo published in Freestyler Magazine – a full page shot too!Just a black and white shot with a 50mm lens, plain and simple. I didn’t get another photo published for another year after that!

What were the best and worst bits of advice anyone gave you in regards to photography?

The best advice anyone has given regarding skate photos is try and avoid using a fisheye lens as much as possible. You need to get used to using your zoom and measuring the different depths in your shot, something that will help later when you use a telescopic lens. For the first three years, I used an 85mm, a 50mm and a fisheye lens.

The worst advice would have to come from camera shops that are always trying to push to buy the wrong material and use wrong techniques.

Your inspiration shot here of Adrian Lopez outside Hong Kong Airport, 1998 shot by Thomas Campbell is a beautiful choice, tell us more…

Ever since I started skating back in 1988, I’ve devoured skatemags! So, I obviously saw a lot of photos before deciding to shoot some myself. One of the shots that impreesed me the most was by Thomas Campbell. I think the first time I saw it was in a copy of Skateboarder Mag, and I thought it was really cool viewpoint for a skate photo.

At that time, I still had no idea of how to shoot skateboarding. But now I think I understand how Thomas had to use the natural light and silhouette of the skater, for lack of generated light or flashes. The result is incredible, and as in most situations, constraints can lead to great results.

Have you ever felt bad about taking a photo?

I don’t remember ever feeling bad about taking a shot. I won’t take a photo if I don’t feel right about it first.

What were the best and worst days shooting skateboarding of your life ever and why?

My best sessions are with Boris Proust because he’s my neighbour and we grew up skating and taking photos together. Otherwise Danny Brady because he’s always smiling and has the incredible knack of finding spots where there aren’t any! Everything is kept simple and sweet. The worst scenarios are usually due to poor weather conditions, and not the people involved. Wind, rain, snow, security guards, broken flashes… That stuff happens more often than not and it is an undeniable source for stress!

What’s the relationship like between a photographer and filmer?

Most of the time there is a mutual respect between the two. The most hassle usually comes from newbies who don’t know where to position themselves or feel like they have to prove something to you. The more you work with experienced individuals and the better the vibes, that’s why working with Ty Evans, Fred Mortagne or Ed Templeton is so much fun.

In a bad situation, stress levels run high, as does the pressure, and you have to try and remain focused on the tricks going down. You just have to keep all your parameters clear so as not to get the cameraman in the shot.

What main advice would you give to upcoming skate photographers?

I think the first thing is not to try and become a skate photographer or even a photographer! Just try and take photos for the fun of it and enjoy yourself. Fate will take care of your future. You have to take photography in the stride of things with life.

Chad Bartie, top geezer, amazing Frontside Ollie here as your personal fave skate shot, tell us more….

I don’t usually like taking photos at skateparks, but then I saw that lone silhouette of a person gripped to the fence in the background… I set up my flashes and took a few shots. The skatepark was a very dull grey, so I used a special developing process to enhance and saturate the tinting, creating unusual colours and a strange atmosphere.

Are there ways of getting better/free equipment as you continue to grow or do you have to fund everything yourself?

Photography sponsorship doesn’t really exist. I started shooting skateboarding but I was also had a job at the same time. Any money I earned from shooting photos was injected straight back into buying film, material, batteries and all the other stuff that costs a lot. My job, in the meantime, helped me pay rent and other external expenses like bills and so forth.

When Freestyler hired me, I decided to quit my job and concentrate on photography. It was a tough decision to make and meant full dedication to the camera. I finally went freelance 10 months later. During this time, Clae Shoes was sponsoring various photographers and they helped me out with travel expenses to places like Asia and eastern Europe. Then Sugar offered to hook me up as a photographer on their payroll. This was the first time I actually received some free goods which is pretty cool, I must say.

Is the work of a skate photographer well paid? Do you get by in life with this income alone?

It all depends on what ‘well paid‘ means. I live, I have a roof over my head, no car but a Vespa, which is already sufficient. The greatest return is getting to make a living from taking skate photos and non skate photos alike.

One day I’ll shoot super models and have my pictures on huge bill boards all over New York… I’ll be rolling in a Bedford van with a collapsible bike in the boot to break out and cruise around the city with. I’ll have a house on the beach and a place in Paris for business, and a beautiful girl by my side of course.

Ha, make sure you let us know and we will celebrate with you! Please tell us about the non skate shot you have submitted and the story behind it.

I was walking around with my camera as I usually do when I’m alone in a city – I still remember the exact moment I saw this bench from above on a footbridge.The problem was that was already thinking of all the things that would such a shot interesting… But unfortunately the bench was vacant. So I decided to carry on my travels and pass by again later. A few hours later I’m back and I spot a person with a dog on the end of a leash to their right.

I start to take a few photos and line things up with the floor boards and pylon on the right, but alas nothing happens… An hour passes and I’m still waiting… Then, all of a sudden the person falls asleep and the dog makes a run for it off to the right. The whole thing happened in less than 30 seconds. I took a couple of shots and hope I didn’t mess up the composition.

Does music ever inspire your photography? What music artists can you not leave for a tour without?

When I’m shooting photos I don’t listen to any music because I need to concentrate on what’s going on. However, whenever I take photos outside of skateboarding, I have to have good music playing that will inspire me. The music will get me in the vibe of things and let me wander wherever, like Cat Power, Johnny Cash, Jacques Brel and other sad but soothing music. I don’t know why…

If you were to buy a pocket snapper for capturing skating on a budget to get going, which camera would you suggest?

The best buy is a good old Nikon FM2. It’s the ideal piece of equipment: It’s robust, adaptable to all sorts of fisheyes and lenses, plus when the batteries run out you can still keep shooting! It’s a manual camera which will help you learn the parameters and use of light properly. You can find really cheap ones nowadays seeing as digital cameras are the new craze. An FM2, a fisheye and 85mm lens, and some Kodak Tri-X film – these are main ingredients to a kick start in skateboarding photography.

Would you recommend digital or film?

From my point of view, manual and digital cameras are two entirely different machines for photography. For me, digital cameras don’t represent my vision of things when it comes to photos. I don’t want to see the result right away, that way I can feel excited and satisfied later. You need to pay more attention to detail and make use of a physical object, the film, instead of staring at a screen or rummaging through discs in your drawer.

What are the benefits of using film or digital?

Digital cameras are still far from developing the same results as film has over the years. For example, an image on 24.36 you get about 22 mega pixels of information, something that’s only obtainable with a digital camera worth at least €12,000, so I don’t really see the point… If film disappears, then I’ll probably stop taking photos altogether.

What kit do you use?

For the last couple of years I have been using a medium format with a fisheye and a small telescopic lens for multiple flash skate shots, and a digital camera solely for sequences. On top of that, I have 2 telemetric cameras that are nice and discreet and quiet. One is loaded with Tri-X black and white film, whilst the other one is loaded with colour film.

Thanks for your time Cedric, do you wanna leave these people with a web address to find your work online?

Yeah, thanks. My personal website is www.purplephotographs.com and a group website is www.misc-photo.com