There I was, on a flashback to myself at age 14, sitting cross-legged in front of our new, huge (for back then) 20” TV watching Taj and Roscoe manualing that picnic table, with Shellac’s ‘Doris’ churning unnervingly in the background and my mum asking if it’s “nearly done”. It sent shivers down my spine. In reality, I’m actually sitting in a German schoolyard over a decade later shooting a photo of Nathan Williams for the new Etnies DVD. I couldn’t believe it. I was actually asked to be involved (if only a tiny part) in the updated version of the one thing that kept me awake at night as a kid.
It’s not very often that I get nervous using a camera these days, especially when surrounded by good friends, but this just put the shits right up me. Everything that day seemed like a much bigger deal for me – I wonder if the other guys felt the same? I never mentioned it though. I felt like the loser kid at school who somehow found themselves at the cool party and everyone turned out to be really nice. No matter what, Etnies ‘Chapters’ will leave its mark, just like ‘Forward’ and 'Grounded' did and I can’t wait to get that same buzz another 15 years from now when watching it. We’re a new generation, a new era, able and privileged to follow our inspirational forbearers.
