Images by: Felix Strosetzki
The shooting for my Be-Mag 35 interview started in Dresden. It was really random but I was with my girlfriend and we wanted to go somewhere for the weekend, so I connected it with a street competition so we could get the accommodation paid and maybe win some money as well.
I let my German friends know that I was coming and Felix called me right when we arrived to hook up for a photo session. There was nothing to say other then yes. I was there with my girlfriend, but my trip was paid for so I needed to get some work done, so Felix came by in the morning to pick us up at this hippie hostel in the center of town where we had checked in the day before.
He drove us out to the skatepark so we could find some locals to show us the spots in the city. First spot was this curved drop rail. I only got to try it two times before some guy came out to tell us to leave. Jojo conviced him that we were there for a really serious magazine and the guy let me lace the Savannah.
After that we drove around the streets of Dresden and found the ledge with a huge drop and a rail on the side. I Fishbrained it after a few tries. We got two really good pictures that day and Felix told me that he was working for Be-Mag now and so they were down to make a full interview with me.
To celebrate that evening, I took off with my girl and walked the old town of Dresden. I must say thats something to see if youre going there someday.
The next day I won the Real Street Dresden comp, finishing up the trip with a real German-style afterparty (where I spent all my winnings on Jagermeister shots to keep up with them)!
For the second photo shoot, Felix came to Copenhagen so we could get some pictures from my hometown and I was really excited for that. I borrowed a car and that made it much easier for us to get around to the different spots with all the equipment. Usually we go around with bicycles here. Some of the days were pretty stressful though, because I had to lace all the tricks we planned and then get to my delivery job around five in the afternoon. First trick I landed was the True Top Pornstar on the ledge, though we returned later to do it again and make the picture perfect.
I wanted to show as many different spots as I could, so we went out to one of my favorite rails. Its really sketchy because the ground in the run-up isn’t very good, and you have to keep an eye out for bicycles every 10 seconds. Plus the landing is right in a bicycle lane, but I still managed to lace an Alley-Oop Topsoul.
It was hard to decide where to go next, but my good skater homie Christian Berg gave me an idea and reminded me of an old spot. First I Top Mistrial 540’d out a few times but then in the end I put on some sunglasses and went straight for it and fakied out. The same evening, Felix showed Be-Mag the Top Mistrial shot, they said that was the cover shot and I was stoked!
A few days later it was the SRSC and I’ve won this great street competition 6 times in a row, the only rule I have is that only a Danish guy is allowed to beat me. But in the end it looked like Daniel Prell was about to take 1st place. My friend Henrik clapped me on the shoulder to encourage me and there it was – the 540 Truspin Mizou – first try. The after party was on a huge boat and everybody got drunk as usually in the DK.
The days that followed were really chill and we spent some time in Christiania at the sunshiny café Nemoland, and in the little indoor bowl park. On the way out we passed the metro station where I wanted to skate this wallride that I’d done before; but I did it again, this time with a mute grab.
After two weeks of skating, partying, working and skating again, Felix needed to head home and I was also pretty exhausted. We still went out for one more session. The only spot I had in mind was a crazy drop rail that I hadn’t even seen before, but had been told that it could be skated. We found some boards and I climbed the roof. After rolling a bit back and forth I went for a bs royal, from the roof onto the rail coming down from a 5 meter drop. I landed that and told Felix that I would go for a Top Acid and that he should be ready to shoot it. The second try on the run-up I changed my mind and landed a True Mizou first try. A couple of my friends were there and were shocked, telling me that they had never seen anything like that before; thats freestyle rolling!
After our sessions in Copenhagen I needed one more place to go and finish up my interview. Our first idea was to go to South Europe for the good weather since it was beginning of fall, but after talking to my good friend and personal cameraman Jonas Hansson we decided to go to Berlin to begin filming for his new movie and to hang out with Dominik. So, all the tricks from Berlin will show up in his new movie Traitement. We stayed in Berlin for two weeks filming and getting photographs. That was nice because I got to do the tricks a couple of times, like the four double-kink rail that I Truspun Mistrialed.
One of the days I was bicycling in the center and I found a perfect line spot by myself. Later when I met up with the guys and told them it turned out Dom had already planned to take us there the next day. So I had some time thinking about what to do. Top Acid and Truespin were what I could come up with, but the trick I got most excited for in those two weeks was a huge 540. It shows up in the last part of the interview. (And you guys will also get to see the footage of it when the movie comes out!)
Unfortunately, after the magazine came out, I had to have an operation on my knee for an injury that has been keeping me from skating at my best for the last 1/2 a year. The doctor repaired the cruciate ligament in the front of my knee. Now 14 weeks after the operation I can work and bike but only very slowly and I really have to take it easy. Right now I mostly stay at home to train and ice my knee so it heals better, as well as getting laser treatment. I cant tell for sure when Ill be ready to skate, but I’ve promised myself to get to the gym and take my recovery seriously.
