STOKED

"I recently did a few photo shoots for some brands. I like working on commercial work when i can, it pays the bills and creates a whole new set of challenges that I wouldn’t ever experience when working on my own stuff. For these shoots we used street casted models (regular people). They can have a good look but sometimes they are mad stiff because they are not used to being photographed. In an attempt to loosen some of the guys up I asked them what their best memory was. One kid said he can’t remember anything because he smokes a lot of weed (5 to 10 spliffs a day). I also learned that he eats fast food for almost every meal. Another kid who grew up in philly said he didn’t have any good memories. He actually got more and more frustrated through out the course of the day because he literally couldn’t think of any. Another had seen the Wu Tang Clan live in 2004 just before ODB died and that was his. Mine happened when I was 16. I was in a mountain bike race in Boulder, CO. It was called Ride the Rocks, it was a tough race and I was doing pretty good. At one point in the race only the first 10 riders would be left to continue racing and would have to do an extra lap around the course. I was in the top 10 so was my best friend at the time, his name is Dylan. Anyway, i was riding as hard as I could through all of the dirt and dust on the course. I was climbing a hill and looked up and saw my dad there. He was all alone (away from all the other spectators), and he said “C’mon Peter, you are doing really good man!” I could see it on his face that he was genuinely stoked, and he passed the feeling on to me. That moment is my best memory. I kept riding and soon flatted and couldn’t finish the race. My friend Dylan finished the race and was and was semi-crying from exhaustion and his front teeth were caked with dirt. have a good weekend, p."

Peter Sutherland (via Jennilee)