.......................................................................................................... Five minutes with ...
Ben Raemers
The British skateboarder escaped Essex to make a name for himself as one of the most versatile riders around . We caught up with him on a stop at Campus ’ Pool skatepark to chat about moving to follow your passion and stepping into a world you ’ ve previously been watching from a distance through magazines .
Images : Leo Sharp ..........................................................................................................
How ’ s things man , what have you been up to ?
It ’ s been good , yeah . It ’ s been busy . A lot of travelling . I ’ ve been in New York for a month , Barcelona for a month , and just generally on different trips throughout the year .
Filming or comps ?
A lot of filming . It ’ s been really fun . A lot of Converse trips because we ’ re filming a video , which should come out next year . It ’ s meant to be coming out the end of the year , so we ’ re just trying to work on that .
What do you think of the campus setup ?
It ’ s good . It ’ s really slick . I like it , man . I didn ’ t actually know it existed ! It ’ s good for the winter , so good . The way it ’ s laid out , all the lines hit each other and it ’ s rad .
Sweet , man . How did you get started with skateboarding ?
I grew up in a place where there wasn ’ t much skating . Nearest skate park was Colchester , like half an hour away . Every weekend we ’ d just go up there . It ’ s just like metal ramps , but there were some good times there .
Do you go back there much ?
Yeah , I go to Colchester . My brother lives there and I ’ ve got family there , so I go back every now and then .
But they got rid of the original skate park we grew up in ; now they ’ ve got like a new concrete one , it ’ s sick but I actually kind of preferred it when it was just like these sketchy little ramps - just because it reminds me of when you first start skating , and you ’ re just like , “ Oh my god , this is amazing .”
When did you know that you wanted to skate for a living ? Or how did you turn skating into a living ?
When I was a kid , I played Tony Hawk ’ s Pro Skater and I knew guys that were a bit older than me that skated in my hometown . It ’ s the only thing that I thought about when I was at school . I never really got on with school because all I was thinking about was skating .
I just wanted to be outside . I ’ d be in the lesson looking out the window seeing it bright and sunny , and all I ’ m doing is just thinking about being out there and skating . That ’ s what I always wanted to do . I f ** king love it . I ’ ve had a good time . Travelled pretty much ‘ round the whole world . Seen some places .
Probably met a few of your childhood heroes …
Yeah , it ’ s crazy . Met a lot of my childhood heroes . Gone on trips with some of my childhood heroes .
And it ’ s like now , I ’ m actually with good homies and we ’ re on a trip together . It ’ s weird . Then you find out - I guess it ’ s like any industry - if you ’ re really into something , you find out that people , they ’ re just humans as well , like everyone else .
So what keeps you passionate about skate ? Are you more a competition or filming guy ?
I prefer filming . If I go out , and film a good trick , and get a good photo , that ’ s more rewarding .
I go on so many trips at the moment , I actually really enjoy getting back and just going skating with my mates at a little local skate park . That ’ s the most fun I have , sometimes - just because there ’ s no pressure .
But when I actually do want to kind of get stuff done , I hit up a photographer and a filmer , go to a spot that I know of , and just try and get a photo and film a trick . It ’ s a rewarding feeling , especially if you ’ ve had it in your head for a while .
What ’ s the best trip you ’ ve been on so far ?
Probably one to China . Just because China ’ s a really weird place . It was a very productive trip for us . It was fun . I also went on one to New Zealand about five , six ,
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