At that time, Stereo was a very exciting place to learn about creativity.
I think skateboarding is an inseparable part of your career. When did you start skating in the first place?
Greg: It's going to be in the 80's, okay? (Laughs). My hometown is a place called Michigan in the US, and I started playing with skateboards when I was 13 years old. It was a closed district, and youth culture had not taken root at that time, so skateboarding was a very underground culture. The only media was magazines, so photography was fascinating to me even then.
Greg joined Stereo, a skate company founded by Jason Lee and others in the 90s, and appeared in "A Visual Sound". How did you join the company?
Greg: I moved to San Francisco in '91 or '91. I was already sponsored by Real Skateboards at the time, but when Stereo was going to open, I had to choose between the two. Jason Lee and the early members of Stereo were like idols to me at the time, and I had a lot of friends who belonged to Stereo, so I decided to move to Stereo.
Greg's self-portrait taken in 1995.
Greg in the present. Photography by Ben Colen.
Did you start filming and photographing after joining "Stereo"?
Greg: That's right. A friend of mine who was skating with me was taking pictures, and that influenced me to start taking pictures. At the time, Stereo was a very exciting team where I could learn a lot about creativity. I remember one time I got into an argument with Jason Lee. He wanted me to shoot a skate film, but I told him I didn't want to do it because the equipment was too heavy and tiring when skating (laughs).
(laughs). So you were greatly influenced by people close to you.
Greg: And I think Gabe Morford is also a big influence. I think everyone has seen his photographs in magazines at least once, and he is a legend. He was a friend of mine, and we shared a room together, so we went into the darkroom together and I just fell in love with photography. I also became interested in film at the same time, and naturally started taking pictures. Gradually, my interest shifted from skating to photography and video, and I decided to work as an artist on my own.
