Chris Marshall - Unseen Works

"When shooting a photo everyone has their process... just like when you go out riding"

13 Jan 2015

About two years before we shot this photo I had seen the spot on a LFS mission, minus the fence plus two handrails. It was crazy to see the spot ‘shutdown’ because they were fixing up the joint only to create another awesome spot in the process. Joby Suender does her proper with a dipped 180.
About two years before we shot this photo I had seen the spot on a LFS mission, minus the fence plus two handrails. It was crazy to see the spot ‘shutdown’ because they were fixing up the joint only to create another awesome spot in the process. Joby Suender does her proper with a dipped 180.
Late Night Missions around the Bricks are a necessity to hit some of the inner city spots. Dave Wagner takes full advantage of a security free evening with a wild man bump jump from the bottom stair to hanger the top ledge. 
Late Night Missions around the Bricks are a necessity to hit some of the inner city spots. Dave Wagner takes full advantage of a security free evening with a wild man bump jump from the bottom stair to hanger the top ledge. 
I think Sean Ricany is about 14 or 15 in this photo. It was taken on one of the first times that I had hung out with him outside of the skatepark. We went to this gigantic pool that i knew about in hopes of no water. We got lucky and it was bone dry. After the session we started to investigate around the pool and the small building that was on the plot. I asked Sean to take a seat and snapped this off after asking him to look "casual". Still till this day one of my favorite portraits I've ever shot. 
I think Sean Ricany is about 14 or 15 in this photo. It was taken on one of the first times that I had hung out with him outside of the skatepark. We went to this gigantic pool that i knew about in hopes of no water. We got lucky and it was bone dry. After the session we started to investigate around the pool and the small building that was on the plot. I asked Sean to take a seat and snapped this off after asking him to look "casual". Still till this day one of my favorite portraits I've ever shot. 
On a visit to NJ far away from home, Glen Salyers came through and roller coaster hanger’ed this set-up like a local.
On a visit to NJ far away from home, Glen Salyers came through and roller coaster hanger’ed this set-up like a local.
Ryan Niranonta narrowly missed being dirty as the crabs in the river on a previous topside smith attempt gone awry. RyRy rode away cleaner then a brand new Medicali on this one though. 
Ryan Niranonta narrowly missed being dirty as the crabs in the river on a previous topside smith attempt gone awry. RyRy rode away cleaner then a brand new Medicali on this one though. 
After some proper observations and calculations ‘Drew The Plumber’ fired out this threader feeble, slice free… and first go too.
After some proper observations and calculations ‘Drew The Plumber’ fired out this threader feeble, slice free… and first go too.
About two days after Hurricane Sandy ripped South Jersey a new asshole, I took a trip to Dan Diehl's town of Union beach along with Smallfry and Nick Seabasty. This was the first place we came across after walking down the block from where we had to park our car. The place was fucked! This dude was standing on his porch just looking at the destruction and heckling anyone that came near. It was quite comical too. It was crazy to see this dude just having a good ass time being a salty old man in the face of such devastation. 
About two days after Hurricane Sandy ripped South Jersey a new asshole, I took a trip to Dan Diehl's town of Union beach along with Smallfry and Nick Seabasty. This was the first place we came across after walking down the block from where we had to park our car. The place was fucked! This dude was standing on his porch just looking at the destruction and heckling anyone that came near. It was quite comical too. It was crazy to see this dude just having a good ass time being a salty old man in the face of such devastation. 
A full day of searching for spots and hitting the stuff we found Erk Carment still couldn’t turn down this late night find. Look for the Clip of this Wild man Gap in his upcoming Banned 5 DVD part.
A full day of searching for spots and hitting the stuff we found Erk Carment still couldn’t turn down this late night find. Look for the Clip of this Wild man Gap in his upcoming Banned 5 DVD part.
After a 60/40 to pop out wasn’t enough to eat for JWG (aka Jeff With Glasses), he took his right front peg off so he could get this insanely tight 60/40 crooked threader through the pole.
After a 60/40 to pop out wasn’t enough to eat for JWG (aka Jeff With Glasses), he took his right front peg off so he could get this insanely tight 60/40 crooked threader through the pole.
I shot this photo of Freeway while on location for a Music video shoot. Colin Varanyak introduced me to this dude Jimmy Giambrone that he grew up with and one day Jimmy hits me up and asked if i’d like to do some behind the scenes photo work for his Freeway video. Of course I said, hell yes! So I go down and meet up at this spot called the G lounge in Philly. While they were taking a filming break I worked up the courage to get close up and try start getting a couple photos. I got two close ups out the set with this one being the favorite of the two. 
I shot this photo of Freeway while on location for a Music video shoot. Colin Varanyak introduced me to this dude Jimmy Giambrone that he grew up with and one day Jimmy hits me up and asked if i’d like to do some behind the scenes photo work for his Freeway video. Of course I said, hell yes! So I go down and meet up at this spot called the G lounge in Philly. While they were taking a filming break I worked up the courage to get close up and try start getting a couple photos. I got two close ups out the set with this one being the favorite of the two. 
Leave it to Paul Horan to always finagle extremely awesome situations when it comes to riding or anything else for that matter. After staring at his neighbors pool for years Paul struck the deal of a lifetime. A hassle free drained pool right next to your house.
Leave it to Paul Horan to always finagle extremely awesome situations when it comes to riding or anything else for that matter. After staring at his neighbors pool for years Paul struck the deal of a lifetime. A hassle free drained pool right next to your house.
Ramel Williams calmly chucks the bars to fakie to cab off while carefully avoiding the hazards in front of him.
Ramel Williams calmly chucks the bars to fakie to cab off while carefully avoiding the hazards in front of him.
Iron Lungs Ryan Niranonta must of worn his polo socks for the day. Supercharged barspin gap into the driveway landing. 
Iron Lungs Ryan Niranonta must of worn his polo socks for the day. Supercharged barspin gap into the driveway landing. 
Going into abandoned buildings and checking them out and shooting some pics of the interiors has been becoming a nice little past time for me during the East Coast Winter. Nick Bardzilowski has similar interests and also takes photos of the buildings. Here I caught him in mid contemplation mode as I was descending from the fucked up floor above. 
Going into abandoned buildings and checking them out and shooting some pics of the interiors has been becoming a nice little past time for me during the East Coast Winter. Nick Bardzilowski has similar interests and also takes photos of the buildings. Here I caught him in mid contemplation mode as I was descending from the fucked up floor above. 
While everyone present was jibbing around on flat Sean Ricany came through and busted out this neck height double peg while no one was looking. Then next thing you know everyone started trying to see if they could get the height too. All present came close but Sean was the only one to stick it.
While everyone present was jibbing around on flat Sean Ricany came through and busted out this neck height double peg while no one was looking. Then next thing you know everyone started trying to see if they could get the height too. All present came close but Sean was the only one to stick it.

Words and photos by Chris Marshall

When I had realized that I had a good amount of stray photos piled up in a folder I hit up DIG in hopes that maybe Will Smyth (Dig's Founder/Editor) would have an idea for them. His suggestion was to do an Unseen Works gallery. I’m always hyped as hell to get photos of good people doing sick shit in proper places so I said “hell yeah!”

Now I really try to shy away from having to write anything in-depth, especially when it comes to something about photos I’ve shot but Will asked one really stood out to me, “Why did you shoot this?” It’s not a provocative question in a normal type of conversation but it definitely got my wheels turning. My initial blunt reaction to thinking about this was “shit was sick, shot it the way it happened” but that obviously doesn’t make for a good explanation either, so I started to think about it a bit more. Why did I shoot this the way I shot it? I guess when shooting a photo everyone has their process, just like going out riding. You warm up, you go check some shit out, then you go in. Or if your not feeling it, you say “fuck it.” Same thing with shooting photos just in a different realm of variables. You check out your angles, feel a couple out maybe, then based off what you see and what you like you go in and commit. The tension of getting the photo timed correctly and making sure you make your homie look sick can be nerve wrecking but the end result is well worth it. The true worth of shooting a ‘good’ photo is not only the vibe and excitement that you yourself experience but more importantly the satisfaction and excitement of your ‘subject’ after viewing the fruits of their labor and your representation of it. That to me is one of the most rewarding aspects of shooting and motivation for shooting.

All of these photos don’t have a home per say and that’s why they are all in this gallery, although somehow a link does actually exist. Between all these photos is a timeline of experiences that myself and friends have gone through. You guys get to have some insight into what happened via the captions but we all got to live it. The unifying aspect of all these photos is that they represent people living life the way they want to. Hopefully after reading this crap and peeping out the galley you guys get hyped to go live some life too. 

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