Getting creative in Lizzie Armanto’s backyard

One of the great challenges for a photographer right now is how to photograph subjects safely, or at least as safely as possible. The answer, it seems, lies in space—both in shooting outdoors, and shooting from a distance away. Luckily, Lizzie Armanto has the kind of backyard paradise most photographers (and skaters) can only dream of.

I used to always correct friends outside of skating who called me a “skate photographer,” by saying, “No, no… I photograph skaters. I don’t shoot skate,” mostly as a point of semantics. To me, the people are the most interesting part of skateboarding. When I first encountered skateboarding on a study abroad program in 2011, I was fearless when it came to my images. There were no rules, because I didn’t know any of them. The more I learned about skateboarding, the more fascinated I became. But along with that fascination came self-consciousness. I started learning some of those “rules” of skate photography, and was constantly scared that I would be laughed at or even derided for not knowing what tricks looked good on camera, or which side of a board should be facing up when, or how to properly frame a trick. Honestly, I’m still scared of those things. It’s one of the biggest reasons I avoid shooting action.

Lizzie told me to stop listening to that voice in my head. To return to my mindset when I not only fell in love with skate culture, but fell back in love with photography because of skateboarding. Together, we play. We experiment. And if it doesn’t work, fine—at least we created something. And when it does work, it feels all the more magical.

Words & photos: Linnea Bullion