Friends Til The End - Chase Hawk and Joe Rich

A photographic journey with lifelong friends: Joe, Chase and Washington concrete...

13 Oct 2014

Chase and I have always had good luck filming together. Mainly because it never really feels like we are trying to film. He just does what he does, and I'm there to try and show what I see. But lets face it, you could film him from any angle, on any camera, and its still going to come out shining bright. Filming Chase almost makes me feel like I'm cheating behind the camera somehow.

Words by Joe Rich Photos by Devon Hutchins

This is always calling, yet we rarely listen

Within the first passing moments, its clear what we've been missin'

With the smell of the trees and campfire in the air

Our days will pass much slower, and free from our usual care

No matter how hard one tries, this feeling doesn't come at home

So temporarily we cut our ties, so freely we can roam

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What do you mean? How did Chase do so good at that contest, it says here his best trick was a 360, I can do that ! . . . Yep, just a simple 360, we all can do these right ?

The sun is lowering in the sky as we sail high above it. Yellows, Browns, Oranges, and purples fill the small window to my left. Its all a giant welcome sign to the great Northwest!

As I unroll my tent, that smell grabs me. Its a combination of material, soil, campfire, and time. Its one of the most welcoming and familiar things I feel each and every time. Fifteen years deep this temporary home has delivered good times. My neighbors are always changing, but that familiar feeling remains the same. This is where I want to be. It started when I was 25, and now at 40, it feels as though time has almost stood still.

Wearing a sweatshirt at the beginning of September isn't ever a reality back home in Austin. So the cool, crisp weather that Washington is known for was welcomed with open arms.

The ferry ride to Orcas Island give one the same feeling as Christmas Eve as kids. You know something good is around the corner, but you can't grasp how good it’s actually going to be. I'd ride this ferry a 100 times and suspect I would have the same anticipation each and every time. Pugent Sound delivers!

Travel is a departure from how we fill our days. What we spend our days looking at in HD, is finally all around us. Its the widest screen there is, but its not flat, and it has smell, feel and texture. This is the channel I want to be watching . . . The stoke is high and so is the moon out here. There is light even away from the campfire because of it.

We can't see as much in the dark, but there is a certain magic that comes with that. Maybe its some kind of metaphor . . . We see less, but feel more. Our insides are awake.

It was absolutely baffling when I read that this park was built 11 years ago and never remember seeing it. But after a few minutes there, its easy to see why. The Kent 360 park is so gnarly, but oh so good. The steep and deep gets minimal love compared to the rest of what is offered out there in the world of concrete. But the Steep and Deep WANTS to give back to you, I swear it does. Places like this only make me wonder what could be unlocked if this was your local. I guess I'll never know. But in the meantime, I'll just enjoy the trannys for the time I have there. Souvenir

Maybe its some kind of metaphor . . . We see less, but feel more. Our insides are awake.

Renton

Gig Harbor

Orcas Island

Port Orchard

Auburn

Kent 360

Carnation

Chase is the guy that comes to your town and does the lines that have either only ever been talked about, or the ones that no one ever brought up. And it's all done as casual as can be.

Chase is the guy that comes to your town and does the lines that have either only ever been talked about, or the ones that no one ever brought up. And its all done as casual as can be. He talked a lot about wanting to ride the Gig Harbor park on this trip. And after that happened, the park was left smouldering.

During the late night hours while working, I tend to take breaks that consist of me scouring the interweb for concrete. This gem in Port Orchard had my attention the entire time they were building it. I just kept wondering what it would all feel like because the photos were telling me it was going to be good. I always have to take a moment after finally making it to places I've only ever heard about, or saw in photos. That pause, is one of my favorite feelings I can think of. We are actually here! Having frozen memories like this will always stand to remind me in later days that it wasn't all a dream.