In a previous issue, we introduced the "overlooked" female skateboarder Magdalena Wosinska.
Her skateboarding photography book, Fulfill The Dream, was published, and the photos in this book capture the world of skaters through the eyes of a little girl!
Can you talk about your early experiences as a young girl in the male-dominated world of skateboarding?
When I immigrated here, I felt like the only way to feel like I belonged was to be one of these misfits. But even in this group of misfits, when you're a girl, you're even more unsociable. I mean, the skaters of the 90s were all jerks, and if you were a girl, you wouldn't be accepted.
When I started taking pictures at the age of fourteen, I had a reason to exist, and that was my passport. I also go skateboarding every day, and my attitude is "if you can follow it, I'll learn it too" and "if you play with the bowl, I'll try it too". There were no people to guide me at that time, especially women.
Do you feel like you've been accepted into the skateboarding community?
In a skate park, when you're a little kid, you're treated like a nuisance. Big guys in their 30s would bump into me, slip past me, and knock me out. Still, I kept sliding. But there were also people who were a few years older than me who treated me like family, and they were the first people to ask me to take pictures of them.
After proving my mettle in Arizona, I wanted to take a photo shoot for a skateboarding magazine. No one will take me seriously because I have never photographed professionally. When I came to a conference in Los Angeles and said to them, "Let me shoot for Thrasher or Big Brother," they told me that no one would take me seriously because I was a girl and I wasn't one of the famous skateboarders of the time. I worked three jobs, one as a waiter and the other at a food court at a local mall, just to be able to afford film while going to school and skateboarding every day, which required a lot of hard work and perseverance. But the skaters in Arizona took me in, and they said, 'Okay, you're one of us.'" After 10 years of skateboarding photos, I don't want to prove my worth to people who don't take me seriously. So, I formed a metal band! When I was 20 years old, I played guitar in a metal band for ten years.
In these early photographs, your perspective is very mature for a 14-year-old. Are there any other female photographers you admire?
There was no internet back then, and I didn't know a female skater like Ellissa Steamer. I live in Arizona, where there are no photographers who take photos for magazines, they all live in California. There are some people who show up and are willing to help me, but there are very few of them, and it's hard for anyone to take me seriously. Interestingly, I'm 40 now, but I still have this weird feeling. I've never thought in my career that it's because I'm a woman, but it's true! Some people still don't take me seriously.
I was one of the first women to photograph Harley-Davidson. I took a cover photo of Austyn Gillette for Solo Mag, where she was doing a backside smith grind. I don't think a girl ever had a photo shoot on the cover of that magazine. Is there a girl who has ever shot the cover of Thrasher? I would love to be that girl, but people still don't take you seriously, and I don't want to prove myself anymore. I just want to make something cool, and if people like it, that's great, and if they don't, then I don't care.
When you work so hard, you become very masculine, almost alpha personality, and that doesn't help you in the end. I just want to be a woman without having to prove my worth through masculinity. I'm still trying to find identity in this place. I was so relieved to publish this book that I cried. In the upcoming exhibition, I invited everyone at that time, and maybe I finally felt a sense of belonging. I think each of us has felt like we don't belong at one time or another. It's a great feeling to have a community and be able to support each other. Taking these photographs and making them into a book thirty years later made me feel special.
The book has a picture of forty skaters, all adults, huddled around a small ramp in someone's backyard. See that photo and try to put yourself in the shoes of a teenage girl walking through a backyard gate. Do you feel comfortable in that environment?
This is one of the few photographs in the book that was taken from a distance. I was very scared when I walked in. Shooting from a distance is because I'm not ready. But I feel like my life is all about taking risks, and I have nothing to lose. What happens? yes, you won't get used to it. You're not used to it, so what? I found Cedric's photo and accompanying text to move me deeply. It's a picture of an innocent-looking little boy you know, and your first kiss, and you write that a few years after the photo was taken, he killed someone. It reads like a story published by Dennis Johnson.
I mean that story was crazy because I showed how young we both were at the time. I shaved my head and had orange hair. That picture was taken when he was 14 years old and I was 13 years old, maybe I was 14 years old and he was 15 years old. A year later, he killed someone. This photo encapsulates the world of skateboarding and how some misfits can become very scary people at a young age. Cedric was tried as an adult and is still serving his sentence in prison. When you're very young, the outside world starts to get really scary. You're going to have a lot of trauma. When I was working on this book after working as a photographer for so many years, it dawned on me that I wasn't influenced by anyone else, I was influenced by my environment. I didn't find my style from other photographers. I just sat down, looked to the left, somebody leaned over, smiled, and I took a picture.
Any surprises in retrospect?
I don't remember taking a cover photo for the book. I wanted to use his photo because it's a really cool skater and he has a lot of style. He held a flower and put it on his nose, and it felt very delicate. Back then, skateboarding was tough and hated homosexuality, you know, and this picture feels very fluid. I love the feeling.
Some of the photos were taken when I was drunk. How do I pull myself together and run around with an expensive camera when everything around me is so bohemian? It's clear that I'm addicted to photography.
Do you have any advice for female photographers who are trying to get into photography?
Don't worry about your ability to withstand stress. You are more powerful than you think, so don't let "rejection" affect you, I have been rejected every day of my life. That's what a freelance photographer does. I always lose my job. I often feel disappointed.
Just go for it, take your time, and be patient. It's good to have expectations, but be realistic.
为什么这本书的名字取名为“实现梦想”（Fulfill The Dream）？
"Fulfill the Dream" is a well-known skateboarding video from the late '90s, produced by Chad Muska, Brandon Turner, and Peter Smolik. They were in their prime, and I ended up befriending them. This film is the time capsule of that era. Two of my friends, the McQueen brothers, the designers of the book, said, "You know, your dream has always been to be a professional skateboarder, and now you're making a skateboarding book. You have achieved your dreams!" I have a lot of dreams and this is one of them. I made that dream come true.
文字：Wes Glover翻译&编辑：小怪兽来源：Monster Children