My Analog Life with Rich Odam

Vancouver (via Peru and Toronto) based photographer Rich Odam is best known as one of the country's top skateboard photographers. But what many don't know is that he also maintains a Tumblr site called Analog Life that is home to his analog (film) and polaroid work and filled with gritty black and whites, personal travel moments and more than a few behind-the-scenes moments from his skateboard shoots.

Here Rich shares with us five of his favourite shots from the blog.

To check out more head over to Analog Life

Manhattan, NYC,  2001

I took the train from Toronto to New York in August of 2001 for the first time, I love cities, there's so much to see and experience and each one has something different to offer. While in New York I walked endlessly day in and day out, exploring the streets and neighborhoods, it's such a great place to wonder and get lost in. Walking amongst so many buildings and seeing lots of them from up high is pretty surreal, a true concrete jungle. After a few days I went back to Toronto to start another year of College and on one of the first days back I stood in the cafeteria staring at the tvs watching the Twin Towers on the news.

Checkers players, Bangkok, 2013

Bangkok is super hot and humid, the weather is really muggy and this was winter. While skating thru the city of Bangkok we came across these 2 guys playing checkers using bottle caps, no chips, just upside down and right side up bottle caps. I had to stop and snap a few shots of them, it reminded me how we used to play soccer with anything we could make due because we didnt have a proper ball to kick around at times back in Peru. Where theres a will theres a way.

Tricycle guy, Foshan, China, 2013

I dont normally feel comfortable shooting people in the street, it's something I'm working on. But once in a while an opportunity comes around that pushes me to step out of my comfort zone in order to capture it, you cant see it here but behind me is one of the most famous skate spots in China, the big red 1/4 pipes. This guy was watching some of the guys skate and made his way to the back of his tricycle to enjoy the view while being more comfortable. I thought it was so odd that he was in that box that I stepped in front of him and snapped a couple shots. The great thing about exploring other cultures is you get to see people in their own element, which usually is very different from what we are used to seeing in the streets on an everyday basis; kinda how people in China seem to enjoy squatting in the park instead of having a seat on the grass or a bench.

Bike load, Foshan, China, 2013

This wouldn't happen here in the Northern Western Hemisphere, it sure happens to some level in countries below the States, but definitely not in Canada, and these are a dime a dozen in Asia, overloaded tricycles and scooters carrying a load bigger than any large sized pick up truck should be aloud to haul.

Most of these tricycles are also homemade and put together with a mix of materials like steel and wood; this one in particular has an engine in it so the driver is able to cruise down the street with ease. I found it very difficult to stay focused on shooting skateboarding at this spot because things like this would drive right by us every minute and I wanted to capture every single one of them on film.

Finn Slough,  Canada, 2012

This place looks like a bomb hit it and was abandoned years ago, like a ghost town; but it's quite the opposite. There's lots of people that call the Finn Slough home and have been living there for many years. The houses are all on stilts and the river that runs in front of them is rarely filled, which explains the vast amount of boat wreckage along side the banks. I find it visually interesting, it's a drastic contrast from the very fine tuned look that is Downtown Vancouver and I enjoy coming here every now and then. On this day I was with my friend CJ who loves going on photo missions and breaking thru the comfort zone in order to explore. We walked on a few very unstable docks and got to take a closer look at some of these vessels and the mess that makes this place beautiful in it's own way.