Comments on: Anthony Smallwood – Coping Mechanism https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/ burn is an online feature for emerging photographers worldwide. burn is curated by magnum photographer david alan harvey. Sat, 18 Jun 2016 13:34:05 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.4 By: DC Drain and Clean, el colectivo que transforma las piscina en skatepark https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-1113199 Wed, 09 Mar 2016 18:18:57 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-1113199 […] comenzó cuando Anthony Smallwood y sus amigos no lograban encontrar un lugar chido para dar rienda suelta a su pasión. Entonces, […]

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By: En échange de quelques travaux, ce collectif transforme votre piscine en skatepark https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-1112935 Wed, 09 Mar 2016 11:30:25 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-1112935 […] a commencé alors qu’Anthony Smallwood et ses amis ne parvenaient pas à trouver un endroit sympa pour s’adonner à leur passion. […]

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By: csuspect https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-913075 Thu, 22 Oct 2015 01:37:37 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-913075 Yo Anthony! Don’t know how I missed this post on Burn, but congrats man. Really rad stuff. Looking forward to the book. Funny how we both live in DC and never ran into each other before Hole in the Sky last year. Fuck, I was long boarding in the early 2000’s going from the National Cathedral, over to Dupont and landing on the Mall. That’s a fucking ride! And traffic is no joke. Way before that it was A Town and B Town ramps, Lansdowne and Springfield Ditch. Not to mention going to shows at Fight Club. Hope your digging Suspect Device.

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By: panos skoulidas https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-815958 Fri, 04 Sep 2015 18:42:27 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-815958 While I’m checking The WEB to find a used skateboard ,
Couldn’t help it but to check the latest breaking news:
Refugees on their way up North…
Immediately the first question came to my mind is this:
Do Aliens really exist ? Are UFO’s real ? If they are why did they stop visiting us???

Here’s my theory :

“And… All of a sudden … Europe REALIZED that refugees REALLY EXIST !!! Europe is so corrupted , never helped Greece , Italy or Malta to deal with the crisis but now …!??? They suddenly woke up??? Why?? Oh I see why.. Coz they are heading north , passed Hungary , passing Austria and reaching Germany soon…
Oh … That’s why..
And USA ??? After they made sure they (we) destabilized the whole Middle East , war after war, bomb after bomb … we pretend we have no idea … We are busy listening to all bullshit that Donald Trump super IDIOT has to say … Believing every bullshit Obama serves us , ready to vote for yet another Bush !!!
In the meantime China tries to show the world their man power and their ridiculous untrained idiotic Army … Of course Putin riding Harley Davidson bikes , while North Korean Kim JON JUN JIN JAN JOCK ITCH masturbating relentlessly on old penthouse magazines ..
No wonder the UFO’s stopped coming over to this ridiculous planet.. Who wants to visit this joke called Earth , the habitat of a bunch of idiotic violent babies..
WE ALL SUCK

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By: panos skoulidas https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-814601 Fri, 04 Sep 2015 01:40:16 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-814601 https://instagram.com/p/7MMH2ZhrTe/

My buddy just got ticketed by police coz he dared to skate in front of a local 7/11..
The cop of course didn’t care that the 7/11 is a major drug dealing “center”..
But
But
To cop’s defense , we talked him out and DISMISSED THE TICKET

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By: Michael Loyd Young https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-814249 Thu, 03 Sep 2015 21:00:21 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-814249 Love it Tony. Cool video introduction.. Hope to see you down the road

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By: Akaky https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-813857 Thu, 03 Sep 2015 14:23:56 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-813857 Imants, I think I can say, with no small degree of confidence, that I have absolutely no damn clue what you just said means. That I need new shoes is a given, what with the post-Gutenbergism all over them now and staining them a pretty nasty shade of dog crap brown, and I should probably get some new shoelaces as well; the ones I have on seem to be down to the last few knots before friction has its inevitable way with them, but why anyone would want to print messages or pictures on socks is eluding me. It’s not like someone can sell advertising space on socks, you know, or, in our digital age, even wants to. Socks, as far as I can see, are strictly an analog medium of communication and now that Steven Jobs is dead, I don’t think there’s anybody out in Silicon Valley who can change that.

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-812928 Wed, 02 Sep 2015 22:28:16 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-812928 you need new shoes now that the printed word is no longer is the sock it has become just a picture

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By: Akaky https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-812746 Wed, 02 Sep 2015 19:57:40 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-812746 The groundswell of Post-Gutenbergism? Is that what that stuff I keep trying to get off my shoes is? Well, I’ll be damned–I was wondering what is was.

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By: Imants https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-812338 Wed, 02 Sep 2015 04:55:38 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-812338 Give me time, I’ll think of something………..you better hurry as photograph and text are expecting their first litter of ………the groundswell of post-Gutenbergism is upon us

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By: Akaky https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-812022 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 23:35:28 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-812022 “forget photo essays…you are not going to do that…it’s not in your nature, or you would have done it…”

I haven’t tried to do one yet. Give me time, I’ll think of something.

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By: Francesca https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811757 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 19:14:30 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811757 Tony… you already know what I think about you as a friend and as an artist… This work is brilliant, you and the crew renewed the meaning of pool-skating… I think it give everyone a glimpse of the true skate-life, made of brotherhood, passion, determination and a big heart.
Respect brother.

Fran

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By: Charles Peterson https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811635 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 17:06:33 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811635 One of the best takeaways from the Chrysler show I did was that in the time it was up (three months or so) youth membership at the Museum tripled. The director of the museum hated the show with a passion (he’d rather stick with the Adams/Weston ilk) but everybody else loved it and loved the fact that it brought young people into what is generally a very stuffy museum. Mudhoney played the closing party to over 600 paying attendees on the front lawn. The portrayal and celebration of youth culture, no matter how frivolous it may seem to the high art or war zone pj world, is exactly what is needed right now in order to bring young kids into the bigger equation of what art is and can be. Just a thought in regards to Coping….

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By: bob black https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811557 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 15:53:32 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811557 TONY/CP/PANOS :)

Tony, first let me say THANK YOU for the recommendation on Rising Sun! :) what a great film…and what an amount of ups and downs while watching it until midnight last night….you know, that’s my generation…Christian is 1 year younger than i am and he was the first ‘it dude’ i remember in late high school and college…along with Alva….and boarding with surf and punk rock and books literally saved my life in school on many occassions…and while i’ve only crunched a wave 2 times in the last 14 years (both times in Taiwan), all boards still pull at my skin…shit, i can tell you stories of raising my step son (6 when i met him) and he went all wild mad with skating and his my (my ex, still one of my best friends) hated the noise and the clatter and our weekly trips to the store and nights spent watching Rodney Mullen vids and then i showed my gen’s stuff…anyway….Christian was amazing…and what a great redemptive ending….and where Tony H mades millions and continues to help alot, christain found his belief…and so gorgeous….

and PLEASE let me (without being so pious or obvious) point out this significance: i want you to embrace HOW important this project is…and you must get it done and turned into a doc…i’ve seen almost every skateboarding doc and this idea/project is like habitat for humanity in a sense: uniting families…and I’D Love to go to the birthday bash..but i’m in toronto, as i told David this morning, i’m stuck with insane work schedule this summer (what is a single dad/writer/artist to do putting a kid through univerisity to do, but work ;) ), but i hope we can all meet on a porch in obx one day….meet my buddy Lance Rosenfeld…he knows me personally, let’s share a ride someday, would love that….and PLEASE PLEASE get this done….really, the story of the families with the homes and the cross fertilization is so important…MORE NOW than ever….do NOT make me explain why, in all kinds of high falutent, academic language (which i can, of course) ;)…..there is so much to this project, yes, as DAVID says, it is feel good…BUT, it is really so so much more and i’m really stoked about its potentialo and significance….in a world christened by squalor and dour news, this is one of those projects that gets at so many questions in the us/dc etc….and yet can be a bridge…and u r so fucking humble about it…and yes, that jones me :)…stick it and make it olley up :)…hugs

DAVID: well said….i have enjoyed again, the long discussions…after all these years, i’m finally enjoying the time to read rather than to write pages of comments here ;)…..hahahahahahahaha….

AKAKY: for christ’s sake, get that book done already…mine is done at end of year, don’t make me kick your ass…that, as always, was brilliant! :)

hugs all, KEEP MAKING CATS :)

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By: mw https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811540 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 15:40:45 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811540 Regarding the constructive criticism of Tony’s photos, I thought that was along the lines of what John and Charles had said and I meant it as a friendly gesture, which I think (hope) was how it was received.

I wouldn’t describe my being put on the defensive as an irony. Granted, this may not be the time nor place for it, but that kind of back and forth is the cornerstone of intellectual discourse. It’s one of the best ways for thoughtful people to hone their ideas, especially by having the bad ones exposed by facts or superior reasoning. That’s a good thing. On the other hand, I think, far more often than not, universal approbation is a bad thing.

On the larger issue of storytelling, I’ve never wanted anything to be all inclusive. Yes, that would make a boring story, indeed. Unless of course you are Borges writing about Funes the Memorious.

No, my most typical advice is for the storyteller to add contrasts. The chasm between the contrasting images gives a story depth. My second most typical advice, as was the case with Tony’s story, is to add context, which also tends to add depth. That context part is where I suspect you get the all-inclusive idea.

I’ve both studied and practiced storytelling pretty much my entire life, which includes taking many classes, reading many books (both on the subject of storytelling and critically reading stories as well), doing some teaching (which requires an even deeper level of study), and actually telling stories both written and visual. None of that makes me right about anything, but I think it suggests I’m not totally talking out my ass on the subject.

One of the key takeaways I’ve gotten from all that work and study is that there are storytelling formulas that work and I believe that storyteller should be aware of them. Another is that the best storytellers find unique ways to subvert those formulas. They typically know, however, what the formulas are and subvert them consciously. Here on burn, where most of the work shown is by what you might call “emerging” storytellers,” I often suspect that the photographers are unaware of those time tested techniques and would benefit from considering them. That’s the heart of my typical critique.

I would be way out of my league discussing photo books with David Alan Harvey, or most people here, but I have studied your work fairly thoroughly and actually use it to make those very points when I teach. I’d almost go so far as to say that the masterly use of contrast (both in the storytelling and the color sense) is your hallmark. For me, the Nairobi story is exemplary (look at the preacher by the railroad, the big game hunter and the taxi driver side-by-side), but it’s part of just about everything you do. You are also very good at context, like the shot from the air of the beach at Bahia. Though I know many of those helicopter shots are part of Nat Geo’s formula, that is an example of a time tested formula that works. A better example, I think, is “Based on a True Story” which is so friggin contextually savvy that the pictures can be mixed and matched and still work.

So basically, my typical advice is to be more like Harvey, not to be all-inclusive.

Lastly, I’m really surprised you would say that a story, or even an individual photo, should be about just one thing as your work always tells numerous stories. Divided Soul is, imo, an example of that in book form. Just off the top of my head, the picture of the kid with the musical instrument and the old car in Cuba is an example of it in a single.

But perhaps it’s just a question of semantics as in both those cases one could argue that the many stories add up to just one thing? But again, from a storytelling perspective, while far from being all-inclusive, in both those examples we are seeing contrast and context create depth. imo.

Anyway, back to Tony’s story… After learning something about what he and his friends are like, their positive social activism, and the skate culture in general, I think that the pool story is much deeper than it appeared on first glance. I understand and respect, however, that projects can become “dead languages.” That’s how I felt about “New York” when a lot of people were urging me to continue it but I knew I was done. But dead languages often beget living ones with greater vocabularies. As storytellers, I think that’s pretty much what we do. I’m looking forward to the next two parts of the trilogy.

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By: Charles Peterson https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811513 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 15:06:18 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811513 DAH,

Very well put. One of the greatest compliments I ever received was when I did the Touch Me I’m Sick exhibit at the old school museum, The Chrysler, in Norfolk Virginia. An old lady (a board member actually) came up to me in the cafeteria and said that she did not know a thing about rock and roll but after seeing my pictures now understood why people are into it and what the experience of a rock show must be like. Not why wasn’t there more/less of Kurt or more/less of so and so, or you needed more of this or that etc etc… But she got the experience and thats always been my goal, to preach to the uninitiated is always more exciting than to catalog for the collectors. Same with Cypher – many people’s first reaction was that they thought this was a movement that died in the eighties even though breaking is now bigger than ever. And of course not only couldn’t I capture it all, I couldn’t come near to including in the book all that I did capture. All that said, I still have plans to do a grunge book that might literally include at least one pic of every band I shot during that time, no matter how good or bad the pics are. More of an encyclopedic version of TMIS. But if I tried to do that originally it would have fallen flat on its face, or just been another so so geeky rock book.

My first thought was that maybe Tony should do Coping and Fight Club as one, but you laid it out so well as to why small acts are sometime best. Yes, I too have many of those big tomes you talk about and they’re just too damn heavy to take off the shelf (sometimes quite literally!). A friend and peer once said that leaving Inferno laying around is a bit like leaving a loaded gun on the coffee table. But its the small, single subject books that I always come back to – Ray’s a Laugh, Boxing, Odo Yakuza, Christmas Tree Bucket, etc

Talking about making his mark among his community – an old friend here in Seattle who still skates bowls hard, posted the Coping Vimeo vid to his FB feed yesterday apropos of nothing else. I posted the Burn link to his feed. So this stuff starts to have a life of its own within its own community. And to many thats whats most important, not whether it will inform the world at large of the poor or abused or exotic, or even how clever the photographer can be. But telling the small stories no matter how seemingly frivolous to some (I got that a lot in my early days of rock photography). Like DAH said all we can do is what we DO – no reason to fret over what wasn’t done or that which we couldn’t.

Best,

CP

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811352 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 12:21:08 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811352 MW

i totally get Michael the adversarial journalist bit….and yes, people defending themselves does often enlighten….my ire is only directed at you when you make condescending declarations as if you knew what you were talking about …so sure, dig dig dig..yet isn’t it incumbent on the digger to have done a wee bit of homework as well? or ask a provocative question rather than being so damned definitive?…

otherwise my friend that puts you on the defensive as here…you on the defensive explained things pretty well..irony of ironies…but is that really necessary on what is presented as a light perhaps refreshing break from all the “heavy and deep” essays?

cleaning pools and skating them is not a “deep” subject like rain forest destruction or favela life or cocaine blue…it is what it is and what it is i don’t think many people know about…everyone i have seen looking at this, and most are not in the skating community, say something like “damn i had no idea people did this”…that’s all..done..

you have this insatiable desire to include and add and almost catalogue any subject….you always want more, and this angle and that angle and what an incredibly boring book you would have ….can you think of any good book that was all inclusive about the subject? i cannot think of one….good books are tightly woven….and if you want more, then you should simply get another book on the same subject…

books, essays, single photos, are best when they just say ONE THING…

i absolutely appreciate anthologies….epics….like Meiselas Kurds….years of research and work …definitive…..academic….worthy….or Nachtwey’s Inferno….a monolith of heavy horror…those kinds books have a special place in my bookshelf..and guess what? they stay on the bookshelf…viewed very carefully once, but then you never come back…

Delahaye’s Winterreise stays on the table and it is hardly an academic resource on Siberia…he left a lot out!! As did Pinkhassov with Sightwalk..this is Tokyo?? ….yet little slices are the most digestible, remembered, viewed again and again….

I try to motivate people to do what they can do and will DO…no small feat…their own mark…their special table in the corner…..

i am not comparing Tony Skater’s “Coping Mechanism” to these photo world classics….no way…..yet inside his skating community he will make a mark…hero in his world…where everybody knows his name…and shouldn’t we all be so lucky?

cheers, david

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By: david alan harvey https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811275 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 11:00:25 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811275 In reply to Akaky.

AKAKY

i’ve been saying this for a few years….you gotta get this stuff in a book…forget photo essays…you are not going to do that…it’s not in your nature, or you would have done it…what is in your nature are these incredible observations so well done…Teju Cole’s “Every Day is for the Thief” marries writing and pictures very nicely…you should do something similar..or not “should do” but could do…not pictures as illustration, yet as adjectives to the subject…that extra twist…your office life, your small town life which might seem like a molecule in a mass can become larger than life…Thurber used Walter….whether you make it fact or fiction doesn’t matter….try to get this done before those guys who are following you close in….

cheers, david

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By: panos skoulidas https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-811201 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 09:43:19 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-811201 I’ll definitely be checkingbit out. No doubt:)
Thank u

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By: mw https://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2015/08/anthony-smallwood-coping-mechanism/#comment-810930 Tue, 01 Sep 2015 05:01:36 +0000 http://www.burnmagazine.org/?p=33830#comment-810930 Panos, Paranoid Park. Not instead of anything anyone else might recommend, but definitely in addtion. Bob, back me up on this.

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