Hippie Mike's Messed Up Mind Life and Death - And all the Emotions that come in between

Photos From The Moonrider

Sep 24,2013 / By / No Comment

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I hooked up with Mark Halliday earlier in the year and we started hanging out together, me skating and him filming and shooting photos of me. Mark owns Moonrider Productions and shoots documentary style videos of multiple trades along with awesome photos to compliment them. Mark has a knack for discovering the inner beauty and meaning of his work and assisting it to express itself through his lenses. Over lunch one day we were discussing all the events I run and others that I participate in and decided it would be sweet to document 2 of these skateboard series’s together – The 19th year of The Bowl Series, and The 10th (and final) year of Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. So Mark agreed to be part of these projects and committed himself to as many of the proposed dates as possible. Mark had shot a wide variety of different things in his life, but these were going to be serious eye-openers to how a humungous community can come together so tightly and treat each other like family. And the funny thing is, both of these events have a family of their own.

The first stop for the project was all-time best day of the year – Canada Day Bowl Series at Seylynn Bowl, it doesn’t get much more real than this. Mark brought all his gear, and his pal Jamie Madill, and they spent close to 9 hours taking photos and shooting video. The place was jumping, all the old time regulars were present, and everyone was ripping the bowl and having a great time. Anyone who is new to this event would be astonished at how many people can be in one place, all know each other, and have nothing but respect. It was a definite life altering experience for him I’m sure. Mark is a long time skateboarder, but he was new to this contest scene, and he totally loved it immediately. I remember talking with him afterwards and he just kept talking about how awesome all the people were and how everyone was so friendly and when we interviewed any of them they all said the same thing about how they just love being part of a family. It was probably a very heartwarming experience, but there was a lot more work to be done.

The next day we hooked up was July 6th at Cloverdale Skate Park to kickoff the 10th annual Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey. Now the entire feeling and emotional aspects were definitely the same, but suddenly it was all teenagers and young kids that were expressing themselves, and in a new style environment. I knew right away that Mark understood how I took that family appeal that I lived in with the old school skaters through Bowl Series and created the same feel in this group, but it is very different when you experience it. I could tell he was having a great time by the looks on his face throughout the day and just by how into his filming he was. I don’t know how many of you that are reading this have ever tried to film and shoot photos at the same time for a large scale event all by yourself but it’s very difficult and tiring because the action never stops making it undesirable for you to take a break. In your mind you believe that if you put your camera down for 2 minutes, the most important shots of the day will happen and you will miss them, it’s very torturous. The day went smooth and everyone had a great time. We did some interviews with this group as well and coincidentally, the same feelings and emotions were expressed as the group from Bowl Series. All of a sudden, Mark knew he was in for an amazing journey and there was no want to back out.

What a summer, 10 events in total between the 2 series’s and not one of them was rained out or postponed. Every event had the same dudes at them, and all of them were nothing but positive. The skating was amazing and unstoppable at each one, but different people would place in the finals. And the number one thing was how every person that was a part of any of these events was there because they loved to be there, not because they wanted to win. Mark put in a lot of effort while covering these events, and we still have some more interviews to do before either of the videos can be produced, but there are a ton of photos up on Mark’s Flickr page so you can get a real feel of what’s to come. A photo says a thousand words, I’m sure you will be able to hear all of them.

Thanks a ton to Mark Halliday and Moonrider Productions for being so supportive of both of these events and putting in so much effort. I know how hard it is to be a one man show behind the lenses and I know in the end it will be worth it.

Stay tuned for more information about when these videos will be released and how to get your hands on a copy very soon.

Until then, check out the photos from all the stops Mark was able to make it to and recognize that it’s not always about the best trick that went down that day, but actually about the day itself…

The Bowl Series

Hippie Mike’s Tour de Surrey

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