Bondi Vans Bowl-A-Rama Turns 10 Pt 1; Sydney

Vans Bondi Bowl-A-Rama celebrated it's 10th Anniversary this weekend, so apologies for whisking you briefly away from my Euro travels for a taste of the Aussie summer, but this was an event well worth checking!
Bigger than ever, the event lured HUGE crowds to see A list skating, all backed by Vans and Red Bull, and as always the event attracted both skaters and non-skaters who couldn't help but get caught up in the action.
I admittedly fall into the latter category, but it seems that the skate community seems to be increasingly liking my own take on skate culture - sort of fusing street photography with action and reportage...actually, I'm not sure what you call it, but people seem to like it - so thanks guys!
There will be countless sites you can go to for pure skating shots, so I tried to capture something a bit different - pointing my camera at the things that to me showcase what the mood of the event is all about; action, people, tattoos, shoes, weird stuff and offbeat moments.

This is set 1, and a 2nd set will be published tomorrow - enjoy!

Chima Ferguson x Vans Video BTS

Thanks for the great feedback on the Vans x Chima Ferguson vid from a few weeks ago (see here).

Here are some shots from behind the scenes of the vid's shoot.  Big thanks to Anthony De Sylva for sharing his skating skills.

Exclusive; Chima Ferguson x Vans Signature Pro Shoe

Everyone's sneaker story is of interest to me on I Dig Your Sole Man, but when someone makes the journey from the Sydney suburbs, to becoming a world name, and landing the Holy Grail of having a Signature Pro shoe named after them it's guaranteed to get my interest.
Case in question is Australian skater Chima Fergusons, whose first signature Vans Pro skate shoe has generated a lot of interest around the world, and   I was lucky enough to get some exclusive time with the supreme skater to discuss what skating means to him, and how stoked he is to be involved with a shoe collab like this.
Overlaid with vision of a skater wearing the shoes, the video showcases inner city skating in Sydney, the city where it all began for Chima.

A big thanks to Anthony De Sylva, and Music; Sydney - On The Run by Dupree.

Nathan; Sydney

Say hi to Nate, a mate of mine who it's taken way too long to feature on IDYSM.  He's a very talented Editor that I have the pleasure of working with regularly on when I'm Producing different TV shows, and when we decided to rock up to the office in some pretty special kicks there was no doubt that it was finally time to give him his IDYSM debut.

Nate's a big sports fan and his shoes reflect this interest with most of his kicks being skate related, but in these DC P.K. Gatsby shoes his love of BMX'ing is also clear to see.

Only 1500 pairs of these shoes were dropped worldwide to celebrate the 2007 limited edition project named '30 Years of Radness' which honoured the original P.K. Ripper bike and saw DC produce this select and highly sought after shoe which features the SE wings embroidered on each shoe side, a P.K Ripper heel tab, an insole with a classic BMX racing image and a colourway that mirrors the custom P.K. bike colourway. 

A great effort from Nate, I just wish he spent this much effort on his jokes which are quite possibly worse than mine (which is saying something!).

Bowl-a-Rama 2013 Reportage Pt 4

Daniel; Sydney

Daniel is a skater with pure and simple tastes, he's been rocking DC shoes for as long as he can remember as in the brand he has found a no-nonsense brand that caters for his needs - comfort, and skating ability.

This is the interesting thing with skaters, a lot of the time the look of a shoe comes secondary to comfort and practicality and in the Black 'DC Tonik mid, Daniel has the shoe that does everything he needs it to do.

Bowl-a-Rama 2013 Reportage Pt 3

Win; Sydney

Yes, you may think that Win looks deep in concentration in the above pics from Bondi's recent Bowl-A-Rama, and you would be correct.  He was in his own words 'very stoned' when we met (which was a good ice breaker as I was very hungover) so this didn't make for my deepest ever interview, but it still made for an interesting story.
Win's shoe choices are heavily influenced by skate culture, and his skate mates who are all Nike SB or NB fans so it was no surprise to see him in a slick pair of NB SKG Black/Green 620's.
While their street shoes have been killing it for years, NB's foray into the skate world with their anticipated 'Numeric' range of skate kicks is generating a lot of talk ahead of it's release, but stood next to the infamous Bondi Bowl I couldn't help but think that Win and his kicks are already showing that NB look great on the grass. (Pun intended).

Bowl-a-Rama 2013 Reportage Pt 2

Bowl-a-Rama 2013 Reportage Pt 1

Steve Caballero; Sydney

We're taking a couple of weeks away from the IDYSM London season as the next fortnight will feature some hot off the press content I shot this past weekend at Bondi Beach's 2013 Bowl-A-Rama (London season will resume after this).
The event is an annual mecca for the skate world and draws huge crowds all lining up to see skate greats of all ages put on a fantastic show and needless to say the event brings some serious shoe swag along with it.
To start the week I'm proud to welcome some skating and indeed shoe royalty to IDYSM in the form of the one and only Steve Caballero.
He's not just a skating legend who helped shape the sport, but also an iconic figurehead in the shoe scene too with his own Half Cab signature shoe just as iconic as his skate moves, and he's adamant that the influence of sneaker culture is as strong as ever.
Well, he would know, as his Half Cab shoe is so iconic it's led to it's own collabs, and in the above shots he's wearing the Vans x Metallica 20th Anniversary Half Cab, a shoe made in conjunction with his favourite band.
The shoes dropped in 2012 to great acclaim, and the collab gathers more momentum this year with the launch of a 4 part video series focusing on the band and shoe ambassadors, and includes Steve meeting Metallica frontman James Hetfield (check it out here).
A huge thanks to Steve; a skating legend, a shoe legend and an amazingly nice bloke.

Nick; Sydney

A skater and BMX fan through and through, Nick had to go to the other side of the world to pick these RAD shoes up.

Purchased in London, the shoes are in fact part of the RAD x Vans era pack, a drop that had fans of the cult BMX movie RAD frothing at the mouth with their play on the classic Era silhouette that enforces the RAD logo with detailing around the midsole.

As you can they see finish off Nick's interesting look very well, which on the surface looks simple enough but when you look closer seems to fuse elements of Hunter S Thompson with Bam Margera.

If you're looking to add some Vans product to your wardrobe then check out the array of great Vans product Crooked Tongues right now, right here.