Rolling Through the Shadows: Ed Templeton

Mark Whiteley, skateboarder and Leica photographer, provides us with the next installment of his interview series “Rolling Through the Shadows.” This series takes a closer look at the seemingly unlikely collision of skateboarding and M photography from the perspective of the skaters and photographers themselves.

Name: Ed Templeton
Age: 41
Home: Huntington Beach, CA
Sponsors: Toy Machine, Emerica, Eswic, Thunder
Galleries: Represented by Roberts & Tilton Gallery, LA; Tim Van Laere Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium; and Nils Staerk Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Q: How did you first get into skateboarding?

A: I saw some kids cruise by my house on skateboards and ollie up a curb without missing a beat. I was hooked. I wanted to do that too.

Q: How did you first get into photography?

A: In 1994 I had a realization that not many people get to live the sort of life I was living as a pro skater and wanted to document it from the inside.

Q: How have they influenced each other in your life and work? Meaning, what has skateboarding done to the way you see photography and vice versa?

A: Skateboarding has taken me around the world, so travel has been a big part of my photography, and also the idea that as a skater you are literally in the streets. Not walking through, not going from point A to B, but living in and using the streets. You start …read more