2013 Round Up; November

The first thing that struck me when revisiting November's IDYSM content was that the month offered a great insight into the past, present and future of the sneaker game in different ways.

Throughout the month adidas featured heavily in some interesting pieces.  

Global adidas ambassador DJ Neil Armstrong shared his personal sneaker story when I took him shopping and recounted how it all began for him.  

My f50 Yohji Yamamoto collab football boot showcased an interesting current project, while my coverage of the brand's 2014 brand preview featured all manner of great product coming our way in the next 12 months; from the imminent Stan Smith relaunch, to exciting drops with the ZX, the Boost, Springblade, and football footwear ahead of the upcoming 2014 World Cup.

The Sydney sneaker scene was also alive and kicking as it celebrated the past, present and future of sneaker design with a couple of marquee events.

The first event was the fantastic Swap Meet hosted by sneaker x rev heads Zen Garage. Sydney has struggled to witness anything quite as bold as this swap meet during my time here, and I hope it shows that the city deserves some of the big action most commonly reserved for Melbourne

Finally, the exciting double whammy drop of the ASICS x Ronnie Fieg Gel Lyte V 'Volcano', and the Le Coq Sportif x 24 Kilates 'Flash' got the punters frothing at Sydney store 'Above The Clouds' – 2 great shoes that added to a number of amazing collabs through the year.

Shopping with; DJ Neil Armstrong, adidas Originals

Global adidas Ambassador recently came to Australia to help add some true New York flavour to the adidas Originals x Foot Locker drop of the new Brooklyn Nets Collection.
While the main focus was on Neil coming to Oz to headline killer gigs in both Sydney and Melbourne, I caught up with him one afternoon to shoot this short vid during a sneaker shopping session.
In this interview Neil talks about how sneaker loving began for him, how sneaker culture varies from country and country, and how finding shoes he can't get back home still makes this A Lister go crazy with excitement.
A big thanks to Neil for his time - he's a legend, and thanks to adidas Australia for the hook up.

A BIG thanks to DJ Neil Armstrong, adidas Australia and Vice.
Shot on the Lumix GX7
Music 'Skyline' by The Passion Hifi.

2012 - The Videos; Behind The Brand

I've been Producing more video content in 2012, something that I love doing, and something I plan to do more of in 2013.  Today I wanted to revisit some of my 'Behind The Brand' videos, a sub-series I created which allows brands I like to give up their own story in their own words.  These videos are all shot, directed, produced and edited by myself so I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy working on them as I plan to add more in next 12 months.

2012 - The Men

Happy New Year everyone!  Following on from yesterday's retrospective on some of my fave female related shots of 2012, todays it the men's turn.  Enjoy!

Behind The Brand; DJ Neil Armstrong

At the recent Melbourne Carbon Festival I was lucky enough to sit down with DJ Superstar and adidas Global Ambassador DJ Neil Armstrong.
His story is a pretty amazing one; he grew up in the golden era of Hip Hop in New York, and his eclectic love of music took him from a mere music lover, to Producing mix tapes, to becoming Jay Z's tour DJ and a global ambassador for adidas.
The 3 stripes have a rich history of backing music acts (think Run DMC, Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown, Snoop etc) and Neil is among the elite who wear the brand with pride.
Enough of my rambling, check out the vid to hear his story in his own words.