Primo Issue 002

Content: Narcisus, Bs Overcrook on Highline Bridge, NYC / Cover: farrington, 50-50 gap to boardslide . Photo: joshlav
“I’ll stream instead of
stream. Some days I’ll h
do neither. It’s all kind
day to day

skate or I’ll skate instead of
angout with my girlfriend and
of a juggling act that keeps
life interesting.”
Stitched p.50
issue
02
CONTENT
08 What’s New
14 Evolution of spots
32 How to film: With Beagle
36 7 boards set-up
40 skate team: Dear
52 gear guide
56 favourites: ryedaddy16
64 CESP INTERVIEW
74
PRIMO AWARDS
You thought you were
good at video games?
Wait until you see these
dudes! Take some notes
and learn from the best.
90
APOLAUSTIC SPOTLIGHT
Real skate photographers
talking about
virtual skate photos.
152
out of bounds
Cono & Stitched were
running out of new
spots, but they
managed to find some
hidden gems.
102 gallery
134 Session skate sins
142 dre interview
148 anatomy of a picture: with Apolaustic
164 spot bible
172 who’s hot - Foreigneye
176 who’s next - BH_session
178 Last: With Dewski

SESSION MAG / ISSUE 2 / AUGUST 2022
Editors
GoldNoose
JoshLav
Writers
doobeyboob
Mr.E
Cono
Design / Photo Editor
MTL_Ghost
Artwork
Owl
Charley Camirand
Senior Photographer
s1ghtunseen
Social Media
Stitched
Contributions
Apolaustic, CESP, Dewski, DRE, ForeignEye,
Narcissus, Skurt_,
BH_Session, RyeDaddy16,
S1ghtUnseen, Farrington, Simulated,
Ascension, Palais De Tokyo.
ALL ADS ARE LINKed TO THEIR Social media
just click on them
Primo Mag is a group effort to promote SESSION, the
skateboarding video game through social media &
this magazine.
If you are interested in participating,
join our Discord bit.ly/PrimoSM

What happened?
It’s been a year since our first issue, so
you’re probably thinking “Wow they took a
whole year this issue is gonna be crazy.” That’s
not what happened though. The initial
goal for this drop was actually December
2021, and we got to work in August. I
spent around $200 on old Skateboarders,
Transworlds, and Thrashers
from the past ten years to use as reference,
all with the hopes of giving this project
an “authentic” feeling. Halfway through
the adrenaline of impulse buying, I came
to the realization that I was burnt. We all
kind of were. The game was still great,
but it was hard to get excited about doing
much more than the bare minimum. We
sat on a rough draft for a couple months
and it became pretty clear that we weren’t
going to hit our deadline. With no motivation
I wasn’t rushing to get my tasks done.
Interviews shouldn’t take three plus weeks
and be half assed, getting simple things for
projects should be simple, and writing an
intro for something maybe fifty people will
see shouldn’t feel so daunting. I just didn’t
care. With the update dropping we finally
managed to get ourselves together, and fast
forward to today here we are with two new
members, Cono and Stitched, added to
the team.
There’s a lot that has happened in the
past year. The community crowned the
first ever Primo Awards winners, fifty
plus spots were hit, amazing pictures were
taken, and we’ve seen new teams, brands,
videos, and mods pop up with the influx
of new players, whether completely new
names or Skater XL players giving the
game another try. We’ve seen a lot of
bullshit too, but I won’t dwell on that for
too long. What I will say is watch some
skate videos and learn what this is really
all about. Taste is everything and luckily
we’re starting to get to the point where
there’s a pretty big pool of tasteful fakeskaters
in the community. With that there
was a glimmer of hope that Session’s
fakeskate scene would finally break out,
and while it’s still extremely small we are
happy to see it growing at least a bit. By 1.0
I can only hope our scene will be as strong
as XL’s, maybe without all the doxxing
and stuff though.
If you haven’t caught on, Spot of the
Week videos are now a monthly thing and
Pic Your Poison is kind of back. We may
add some more weeklies, who knows? Hell,
if anyone has ideas you are more than
welcome to shoot us a message on our Instagram
or in the Discord. We’ve spent
a lot of time arguing about the things we
should and shouldn’t do but at the end of
the day you’re the ones we’re putting these
events on for, so tell us what you want.
We’re also aiming for monthly streams so
hit us with any content you might have to
show. Help us help you.
Session isn’t the same game it was a year
ago. We probably said that last year and
the same thing will be said a year from
now. By the time you’re reading this we
will be closing in on the September release.
Maybe JL will post the patch notes
early again and clue us in, who knows.
Donovan already teased blunt powerslides
and XL style reverts on the Session
Instagram, so by the time you’re reading
this much more has probably already been
shown. As the game evolves, so does the
community, and with new areas being added,
spots being altered, gameplay tweaks,
there’s no telling what will be possible after
we get the full game in the fall. I can go
on, but what’s the point? Even with the
cuts people are worried about,

MTL Ghost - Flip Shifty / FDR

“Crea

-Ture always delivers.”
Creature always delivers. The
early access tag will be dropped
from the Steam page within the
next several months and we will be
receiving the final product. Playstation
owners will now be able
to experience the game and our
community will expand. The only
downside with 1.0 is that we will
be missing the main creator of the
game: Marc, also known as MAH,
in the official server. Session was
his passion project for the last seven
years that has finally become
what he’s envisioned. Reasons are
unknown for the sudden departure.
Speculation aside, Crea-ture
pushed the boundaries in a niche
genre that a lot of people have been
itching for. Session has kick-started
the revival of skateboarding
games, all there is to say is “thank
you”.
I can’t lie, this intro was pretty difficult
to write. I could type more
about where the game is at the
current state and have Josh fluff the
words up in editing to make it seem
professional, but really, why bother?
Realistically the best thing would’ve
been a synopsis of the articles you’ll
be reading, but you’ve clicked the
link so you were going to read them
anyway right? Maybe I’m rambling.
Maybe I’ve already offended
some of you. Maybe Marc will
start replying to me with all his new
downtime. Maybe I should stop
volunteering to write when I know
I’m not good at it. I’ll stop being
an emotional little bitch and end it
here. We hope you enjoy this issue.
By Goldnoose
Charley Camirand - Bs NoseBluntSlide / Jerome AVE

Evolution of
Spots
H
ave you ever passed by a spot
telling yourself that you’ll come
and shred it someday, but now is
not the time?
Have you ever seen a trick in a
video and thought that you can
definitely get something better
on that same spot?
Have you ever tried a trick on a
spot and didn’t quite get it how
you wanted it, so you left it for
another sesh?
Have you ever updated Session
and realized some of those spots
have been modified, replaced, or
even erased?
How does it feel?
Well it must feel amazing! It must
make you want to tear apart every
corner of the city and take advantage
of every little detail that
the landscape of Session offers.
The surroundings change and the
game feels alive. Change is always
good!
Today’s curb could be tomorrow’s
bank.
The manny pad with no personality
now has a little rail to the side
so it’s easier to play.
Where did this polejam come
from?
Was this gate open before?
How come I’ve never grinded
this?
Oh look, they fixed the road so
you don’t have to go around the
barriers to do a line!
Damn! The small ramp I used to
jump from is now gone…
Here at Primo we encourage you
to skate everything in your path at
any time! Don’t miss the opportunity,
because it may not come
again.
And remember, if you have hard
times finding spots, you can always
check out Spot Of The
Week for some inspiration.
By Cono

“ I don’t remember that spot being there,”

Before

now
B.F.R.
I’m pretty sure most of you
have tried your balance skills on
that multi kinked rail at B.F.R.
We had pretty much the same
rail on both sides, but not anymore.
Now one of the two has
some new intrigue on how to
be skated since they cut it at the
end and added the little ledges
on the side to complement the
bank.

now
Chatham
Apartments
At Chatham Apartments they silently
got rid of the repetitive flatbars
and gave us a yellow loading dock
next to a couple of downrails. You
can piece up a line or even get single
high tech tricks “Fully Flared”
style.

Before

now
The Docks
The few changes at the Docks
actually made it a bit more “skate
friendly”. Do you think we’ll end
up not having the gap to fence? It
is getting smaller and smaller every
time… Also that other fence
we had in the back is missing now,
which gives us the possibility to
actually skate the 3 block.

Before

Before

now
Police
Underpass
The Police Underpass had a
cool bank to ledge and a rusty
fence that we all wanted to try
some wallrides on. Now that we
have the pumping system that
would make this possible, the
spot does not exist anymore, just
a bunch of trash bags and some
metal containers in the way.

now
Chatham
Towers Plaza
Cubes are out of the way now from
Chatham Towers Plaza so you can
go do your Daewon manny stuff there.
They even added a long ledge for you to
wax. If you are feeling inspired you can
combine them both in a single combo.

Before

Before

now
James Madison
Park
Someone took the ball and ran away from
James Madison Park. I’m afraid this
scenario seems too good to be true, having
this perfect smooth marble volcano with a
round manny pad on it. They are definitely
knobbing this one in the next update.

now
Police Plaza
Pyramid Banks
Those Pyramid Banks were being
overlooked for so long. They seemed like
a potential spot, but never really got the
chance to shine. Well, not until now. The
update brought a smoothened bottom
that allows you to jump, slide and grind
from all the sides. Some ledges have been
removed for the better enjoyment of the
banks and since it’s right across from the
skateshop alley they will definitely become
a spot to test some freshly bought
gear.

Before

Keep your keyframes moving.
1Never come to an abrupt stop.
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
When using a low FOV, set your DOF
to 5 to have everything in focus.
If you’re filming close up use a
fisheye.
Match your camera shake to your
movement, just try not to make it excessive.
When filming fisheye keep the
skater centered as best
as you can.
Turn your camera light
off during the daytime.
The closer your keyframes, the
faster the movement. Space
them out to give your footage a
natural feeling.
You can turn off the filming
notifications in the camera
settings.

CONO dewski Tipahdis erthlin
Deck: ONE YEAR 9.4 Cono
Pro Model 90’s shape
Trucks: Generic 169
Grip: Used black grip
Wheels: 36mm Molotov
Classic logo
Bearings: Pointless x Molotov
Rails: Black deck rails
Deck: CD 8.5 EgoDeth
Gold
Trucks: Destructo 149
Grip: CD Wavy Mini Logo
Wheels: CD Rainbow Swirl
Deck: Heinous 8.5
Trucks: Generic 149
Wheels: 56mm Session
Wheels
Deck: Orphanage E
8.25
Trucks: Default Mid
Grip: Custom Rose
Wheels: 53mm S
Formula Four Table

7 board set-up
We all probably did the same thing when we
bought our first complete, choosing the “cool
graphic” rather than worrying about specs. It is
a real learning process to choose the right truck
size, the right deck shape, or your favorite size
of wheels.
Session is a sim, and our devs always dreamed
about picking each part of your complete and
fully customizing it, because at the end of the
day, we all have different tastes and skate different
kinds of spots. There is no such thing
as a “perfect setup”, and Crea-ture definitely
understood that. Nobody can deny that having
each part of your skateboard act differently
depending on its size and shape is the most fun
thing to do, and it can be like a puzzle trying to
assemble a setup that will fit your needs.
We’ve asked 7 very different skaters what their
setup was, and the answers were pretty interesting.
g foreigneye s1ghtunseen stitched
gghead
144
Grip
pitfire
t Blue
Deck: Heroin Big Egg Yellow
stain 9.25
Rails: Thick Pink rails
Riser Pads: 1/4 Inch Risers
Trucks: Generic mid159
Wheels: 56mm SML Coffee
Cruiser Forest
Deck: Roger Ryan Thompson
Pro Model 8.125
Trucks: Default Trucks 01
Mid 139
Wheels: 53mm SML Josh
Pall Pencil Pushers
Deck: Dear Stitched Pro
Model 9.125
Riser Pads: 1/8 Inch Risers
Trucks: Generic 159
Grip: Static Grip
Wheels: 56mm Moon
Wheels Logo
Words by: MTL Ghost

DEAR
skate
team
I guess to preface this interview, a lot of these questions were asked prior
to me joining the team; this whole thing might come off as pretty self
congratulatory if that wasn’t the case. What can I say? Our community is
small, and possible favoritism aside, Dear is a somewhat new team filled
with some of the best fakeskaters out there.
JoshLav, Stitched, Farrington, and Palais all have their individual
style and manage the same mindset of simplicity and tastefulness. Paired
with original board art and organic skating, it’s really all you can ask for
from a fakeskate team.
Interview by: Goldnoose

JOSH LAV
How long have you been into skating?
I was into it when I was really young because
my brother skated, but I didn’t really get it
because I was a little kid. I really got into
skating my freshman year of high school, so
I guess 5 years.
Fleep telling me to fuck off.
Were you upset when he announced
his departure?
No I hit him with a Lil B curse when he
didn’t fuck with my XL footage. So I’m to
blame for him quitting.
What got you into fakeskating?
The Dizzy video made it look fun so I just
asked around and ended up on Tempo. To
be honest I thought it was the lamest shit
ever at first, but after I saw “The Dizzy video”
I figured why not try it, especially since we
were all stuck at home at the time. I didn’t
even have any footage to show, but I got on
because I knew how to mod.
Why did you leave Tempo?
I just felt like it was time. I pretty much
had complete control of the direction for
“Premonition” and I was really hyped on the
video when it came out, but after that I just
kinda realized it wasn’t the best fit for me.
I talked it over with Zek a lot and we tried
to revamp the brand, but ultimately I just
decided it was in my best interest to leave.
All love to them, though there was never any
bad blood.
Why Dear? Why dotOrg?
If you mean name wise I don’t know if you
remember Brian Anderson’s company
3D, but that was originally supposed to be
called Dear and then he changed it before
it was announced. I thought it was a sick
name and not a lot of people know that so
I just ran with it, not gonna claim it as my
idea though. dotOrg came from my friends
that I skate with in real life. I’m a filmer and
I was making little videos with them, and
we eventually decided we wanted to start a
brand. dotOrg was a name I had come up
with that didn’t stick, and the brand didn’t
really stick either, so I just used it for fakeskate
instead.
Biggest influences?
In terms of real life I guess just a lot of
newer brands like Polar, Quasi, 917 and
Limosine, FA/Hockey, Isle, really anything
trying to be different and push skating.
My editing style definitely comes from older
videos though, I love all the Alien videos,
Static, Eastern Exposure, all that stuff.
Fakeskate wise I think OneYear was the
brand I was looking at most when I first
started, but I also draw from CNVS, Orphanage,
really anyone kinda on the same
wavelengths as me. Foreigneye’s art is also
really inspiring, when he realizes Contrast
is dusty he’s more than welcome on Dear.
[Editors note: this interview was conducted
prior to Contrast’s disbandment.]
Besides the whack ass camera settings
your XL footy was nice. What made
you stick with Session?
Why are you such an asshole?
I just love talking shit. I go on SLAP at least
5 times a day.
Favorite part you’ve done and favorite
Session part.
My favorite part of my own is probably my
“TORRENT” part, I just had fun with it and
it came out ok. That video kinda came and
went, which makes sense since it was more
or less a shitpost, but that’s probably the only
part I’ve had that I can still watch and be
happy with. Favorite parts from other people
would probably be Stitched in “Fade and
Destroy” or Foreigneye or S1ghtunseen in
“Seeds”. I’ve told this story 1000 times, but I
was in a voice call with Ghost while I was
driving like a month before “Seeds” came out
and he said he was gonna show me some of
“I just love talking shit. I go on SLAP
at least 5 times a day.”
the video, which ended up being Foreigneye
and S1ght’s parts. I pulled into a little
neighborhood and was going like 5 MPH
trying to find somewhere to pull over while
watching it on my phone and I ended up
crashing into someone’s garbage can because
I was so enthralled by the video.
Other interests? What else do you invest
your free time into?
I make music which takes up a fair amount
of my free time, and I’m in school for computer
science so I do a lot of coding and
stuff. I watch a lot of Premiere League
and NBA as well. If anyone wants smoke on
FIFA PM me.
When’s the full length?
After the update we’ll probably do a longer
video, I don’t want to make any promises yet
though.
More dotOrg merch?
Yeah definitely, it’s been kinda slow recently
but I have plans to do more. I’m sitting on
some stuff, but just have to get it all organized.
What stuck out in the skaters on Dear?
Why did you approach them?
I just have an image I want to keep for the
brand and I pick people who I think fit it
and whose content I like.
Favorite members of your brands?
Definitely not you.
Kickflip to Fakie / Philly

Hippie Flip Crooked Nollie Heel out / Chatham

FARRINGTON
So what the fuck was going through
your head when you were getting your
clip for Spot of the Week 33?
I always try to get creative at a spot where
possible and after skating it for a while that
trick idea came to me. I tried it a few times
and managed to lock in once after a few attempts
so I knew it was possible. Then two
hours later I got lucky and managed to roll
away.
It was pretty wild man you and
Stitched always make me enjoy the
game more with the clips you drop.
You definitely stand out with tricks
and filming, what film school did you
go to?
Thank you! Yeah Stitched never ceases
to amaze does he. I already spent about 25
years in school so I decided to go with the
self taught route for filming (laughs). I’ve
found the trick to getting a nicely filmed
clip, that you’re happy with, is to spend 3x
as long filming the trick than how long it
took you to land it in the first place I’ve
probably spent more time filming than skating
at this point.
Definitely man. I always end up obsessing
over filming. Hours upon
hours of filming. My girl makes fun of
me for watching the same clip repetitively
and refilming when I play.
Do you have any director or filmer
that you favor?
I really like the more cinematic and artistic
style of capturing skateboarding so I’d definitely
say Spike Jonze and Ty Evans. I
was blown away, as I’m sure everyone was,
by Girl “Yeah Right!” when I was a young
un. And then again by “Fully Flared” and
“Pretty Sweet”.
What made you say yes to Dear?
Saying yes to Dear was an easy decision!
Josh is an amazing artist and I love what
he’s doing with the brand. He’s put together
a great team and so I’m stoked for our future
projects together.
What got you into fakeskating?
Well I was following the progress of Session
for years before I was able to play, due
to not having a PC at the time. I remember
Dewski being the first person I saw on Insta
posting Session content that really blew
my mind. He was making some amazing
content already way back then. So that definitely
inspired me to start sharing my own
clips with the community, and the Session
community is definitely the best fakeskate
community out there so I thought I’d stick
around for a while.
Did you play Skate 3 or XL?
Of course! I remember playing the original
Skate 30 minute demo over and over before
the full game was released. I played all
the skate games for years, but never shared
my clips online or anything. And the less
said about my time on console XL the better!
It was fun for a while, but I got tired of
exiting Earth’s atmosphere on every ollie.
ingrained in my memory. Pretty crazy
where we are now with skateboarding
games.
For sure! I think I just skated the same ledge
for hours in that demo just learning tricks
and that’s what Session has brought to
skateboarding games to an even higher degree
now too. I could literally skate just one
spot for hours on end and not get bored.
So tell me about the one foot grinds
and slides man. How did you figure
that out? Were you at a ledge for
hours and it clicked?
There was a lot of luck involved in figuring
those out! I stumbled upon them whilst
trying a nosegrind nollie back heel out on
a ledge. On one attempt my thumb had a
spasm of sorts and I inputted twice in quick
succession to pop out, whilst also missing
the flick for the heelflip, my foot came away
from the board, then went back quickly
when I reapplied pressure on the nose. It
looked janky as hell at first but I knew there
was potential there, and after changing
a few advanced settings and another 300
attempts trying to recreate the happy accident,
I figured them out!
“On one attempt my thumb had a
spasm of sorts and I inputted twice”
Glitch tech definitely looks jank as
fuck at times, but you cleaned that up.
I tend to stay away from those types
of things, but the first time I saw that
I was bewildered and wanted to try
and figure it out.
Thanks man, I definitely did plenty of
janky ones off camera before I got them to
a standard I was happy with. They’re really
fun and satisfying when you finally land a
smooth one. Maybe the devs will officially
add one footed grinds into the game in
the future! I’m excited to see what features
they’ve got planned.
So let’s talk about Downtown. What
was the inspiration behind it? Was it
something planned out?
I’ve been sharing my clips with the community
for about a year now. I had never made
a full song length solo edit, so once the new
replay editor dropped, I knew it was about
time I did. I planned and worked on it for
about a month and I’m really happy with
how it turned out! I’m glad I waited for the
new editor because it just wasn’t possible
beforehand to get certain shots that I had
envisioned.
What about Midtown?
I started working on it as soon as the February
update dropped. I wanted to keep
the same vibes as “Downtown”, but make it
bigger and better in terms of tricks, filming,
and editing. I think I managed to do that
and I’m really happy with how it turned out
and the response I’ve got from the community
about it has been amazing, so I’m super
thankful for that!
Anything else planned for the future?
Got a few team projects on the horizon and
then pretty much just waiting for the new
updates to see what’s possible in the future!
I remember playing that first Skate
demo on the PS3, that skatepark is
Hell yeah man, thanks for your time.

Triple Kinks Boardslide / The Do

PALAIS DE TOKYO
What got you into fakeskating?
In 2010, during the summer I was with
some friends in Barcelona. I got injured
from the first week and had to go back to
Paris to have my operation. Then the more
the days went by and the more I wanted to
skate, an Xbox 360 and Skate 3 helped me
to wait after my ankle. There was also the
motivation and the learning of the realism
which I acquired with the Diabolik team on
360. Nine years on Skate 3, I do not even
count the hours.
So you’re a Skate 3 veteran?
Absolutely it was really cool.
I know you dabbled in XL for a bit,
did you just completely switch to Session?
I regret to see SXL getting here now. I spent
a lot of time and energy, it feels like seeing
the girl you’ve been with for a year going
with your dumbest buddy. It hurts me. As in
any relationship nothing is written. You can
always see your ex again but if you have a
new girlfriend who satisfies you why go to
return the one who disappointed you?
[Laughs] That’s definitely a way to
put it. I feel you though. Are you hoping
to see more brands come over?
I’m afraid to say that but I’m no longer one
of those interested in brands. For several
years now, I haven’t seen shoes and boards
the same way. I would like to see more new
gestures and other mods coming out.
You’re talking like animations and
stuff?
New tricks, animation and emotes.
Ahhh OK.
Speaking of emotes, that disrespectful
taunt you did before winning that
UFC money match. What’s up with
that? You a GSP fan?
I love UFC, I’m a super fan of Robbie
Lawler and guys like the Diaz brothers!
The footage that you saw was probably one
of my most disrespectful games that I have
done. It was for an EA event on Xbox. I
was ranked second in the world already and
I was contacted to make this match with
characters created with legit stats. My opponent
started the match without touching the
gloves and put on a dirty front kick that got
me on the ground. I had to show him what
a French baguette was capable of [laughs].
Many Americans and Canadians think that
we are good at talking, but this time it was
hard for them because I won the contest. No
offense for sure man, but the UFC community
is horrible on Xbox.
So I heard a rumor that you’d be
down to let anyone visiting your city
crash? Is it true? You down to let me
stay a month rent free?
“I had to show him what a French
baguette was capable of”
Well it’s true actually [laughs]. I love to discover
new people and culture! But obviously
if I found you fucked up it’s dead [laughs].
Where did you hear that? I’m curious.
Don’t worry about it.
So what other games are you into?
Not too much actually, only GTA 5 Online,
I tryharded since 2014, UFC 2 and 3, EA
Skate, SXL, Session after that I don’t play
video games like I was young. I expect too
much now from a video game.
I hate saying this because it makes
me sound old but video games are not
what they used to be.
I feel the same, multi competitive games are
the best right now for my vision of video
games. Of course skate simulators remain
the games with which I have the most affinities
after 24 years of skating [laughs].
What are some other hobbies outside
skating?
Well not too much, just painting and drawing.
I love to create things whatever it is.
cks

Fakie Imposs

ible / Chatham
G
OLDNOOSE
Interview by: joshlav
So how long have you been skating?
If we really broke it down like some people we know, it
would be like 7 days. When I was mad young I skated a
bit, but turning really baffled my dumb kid brain. So I
ended up riding a bike more.
You could’ve just said “I don’t.”
So what attracted you to fakeskate?
I played a lot of Tony Hawk and Skate when I was a
kid. When I was teen I was really into COD edits, I had
a cap card and everything and made videos. I always
thought it would be cool to record EA Skate clips and
make videos but never really tried anything. A couple
months before Session came out I found my old 360
and picked up Skate 2 and 3. Then I found out I missed
the whole wave of fakeskating when the games were
popular. Luckily Session was coming out soon around
the time I burnt myself out so now I get to pretend I’m
16 again.
And who was gonna have last part in the XL
Contrast video? I can’t remember…
Wilscot
Stop lying
Alright. It was JL if he accepted the invitation.
JL as in JoshLav. Finally got the truth out of you.
You got me.
So what are you expecting out of this new update?
Bitches hopefully. There aren’t enough hoes in these
streets.
I don’t know really. I’m just happy to utilize whatever
they give us, be it transition being one hundred percent
implemented or animation updates or whatever. I’m just
happy to experience the evolution of the game so I try
not to expect much. If I were to have one expectation it
“Session was coming out soon around the
time I burnt myself out so now I get to
pretend I’m 16 again.”
What’s the most views you ever got on a COD
montage?
[Laughs] I couldn’t say honestly. Minimum 1k and it was
probably a “teamtage.”
Were you in a clan?
Several unfortunately.
Your editing and music in your Session videos is
pretty much the opposite of what I’d expect in a
COD montage, how’d you shake all of that out
of you when you started making fakeskate stuff?
[Laughs] I’d like to say even the editing and music selection
was good in those but that would be a lie. Honestly
I’d say the COD editing helped me in an odd way. I just
mainly try to match what I’ve seen in skate clips and
videos. I’ve always enjoyed cinematography and video
editing so I’m sure that helps. With the music I just use
what I enjoy. If I can’t fuck with the song I’m not going
to enjoy editing the video. I used to hunt for samples
when I made beats so it feels kinda similar.
So before you begged me to put you on Dear you
were running Contrast with Poppy, could you
talk a little about that?
It’s actually pretty funny. Poppy decided to end Dizzy
to make Contrast with me.
All seriousness though. Contrast was originally going
to be a XL team with Session homies. Poppy and I
were pretty burnt on the build of Session that we had
at that time and we had no knowledge of the update that
overhauled the physics. As we were building the image,
team, and footy we got update news and just dropped
the idea. Plus we decided to start working on Primo so
a lot of our energy was focused on that. Around the update
we saw Fleep and Doori looking to join a team so
we just ran with Contrast since we had the brand made
already.
would be more people giving the game a try.
Any new projects before the update drops?
I might drop some low effort shit.
What about after?
I’d like to do a solid solo at some point but I think it will
be after 1.0. Probably focusing on group oriented stuff
for now.
Heard you’re getting kicked off all your sponsors
so those plans might have to change.
That’d be pretty sick. Maybe I’d touch some grass if that
plan plays out.
Speaking of grass I heard you smoke a lot of
K2? Could you talk a little about that?
Fuck [laughs]. Great segue. I’m actually packing a
bowl as I respond to this question. I smoke more than I
should. Dab before work, bowl on my lunch, couple dabs
when I get home. Smoke all day when I’m not working.
Definitely not healthy, but I guess it all depends how you
look at it.
Alright last question: would you rather never
smoke spice again or drink a gallon of milk that
had been sitting on an air conditioner for 12
hours?
Definitely the milk. Nothing but spice thoughts over
here.
Spoken like a real K2 head
I got one for you though.
I think we’re done here. Thanks for taking the
time.

STITCHED
You’re definitely someone who sticks out in this
community and it makes me appreciate the game
more. Me and the homies joke that you’re on a different
build of the game.
So my first question is what build are you on? Second
question is how do I play the game you’re playing?
You’ve definitely thought outside the box with
your wallrides and your style is so unique.
(Laughs) I’m on the same build as everyone else. As for the
2nd question, I don’t know man, I skate a lot IRL and the
way I skate in real life carries over pretty heavily in session. I
can teach anyone the actual tricks, it’s just like taking advantage
of the real world physics.
How long have you been skating IRL?
20 years at this point, I got my first board for my 7th birthday
and I turned 27 last November.
So what you’re telling me is you’re pro?
(Laughs) Definitely not pro but I’ve got a few sponsors and
a few video parts under my belt. Definitely half chasing the
dream but I’ll live if that never happens.
Well I know of a guy that learned to skate in his 30s
after picking up the game and he’s damn near pro
already so who knows man that dream may come
true.
I’ve seen your IRL footy and it’s fucking crazy. You
skate some pretty sketchy spots as well. Have you
ever run into people sketchier than the spot?
Yeah there’s a couple times I’ve run into some real sketchy
people. One time we were skating to a spot and I got sucker
punched by some crackhead, he ripped my shirt off and everything.
It was fucked, I hit him back as hard as I could and
it didn’t phase him at all (laughs).
Was it kind of like a dog sniffing the meat in your
pocket situation? Did you have some crack on you?
(Laughs) Nah man I don’t do drugs, he was just crazy. After
he stopped swinging he started chanting at the sky about how
the demons were coming for him and he didn’t have much
time left.
Crackheads are something every community needs.
They are indestructible and can tell the future. Modern
day superheroes the way I see it.
I’m cool admiring them from afar but keep em away from
me (laughs).
Who are your favorite skaters?
Man favorites are hard to pin down but if I had to pick it’d
be Heath Kirchart for favorite of all time with Jerry Hsu
and Louie Barletta tied for close second, and then currently
I’m big into Tom Knox, Cyrus Bennett, and Max
Palmer.
I’m really into a mix of powerful and creative skating, go
fast, jump high, blow minds.
Favorite skaters in the community?
Ah shit that’s even harder to pin down, everyone rips. Farrington
and Seshinaround are probably the two I look
forward to seeing most, Seshin is like your favorite skater’s
favorite skater. And Farrington just knocks it out of the
park with filming.
Farrington definitely has the angles and Seshinaround
always drops heat.
I swear every time I open Instagram you’re posting
something, or you’re always in someone’s videos.
How do you find the time to always be recording?
I never sleep actually. I had to really make an effort to balance
all the stuff I’ve got going on, some days I’ll stream
instead of skate or I’ll skate instead of stream. Some days I’ll
hangout with my girlfriend and do neither. It’s all kind of a
juggling act that keeps day to day life interesting.
Sleep is the killer of productivity.
It’s the worst and best thing. Feels great, but there’s also only
so much time in the day.
What’s more fun? Fakeskate parts or IRL parts?
Definitely real parts, those take years so finally finishing one
is the best feeling.
Favorite trick you’ve landed IRL and in Session?
My favorite IRL trick is probably this really gnarly Ollie I did
into a crazy steep skinny bank. That thing was insane, it was
more wall than bank with a board’s width of escape room at
the bottom with a curb to your right.
In Session I don’t actually know (laughs), maybe the first
wallride I did, that was super satisfying. I spent all night
theorizing different ways to make it work and it was right
after they added primos to the game. I just threw some and it
worked so that was pretty sick.
What got you into fakeskating?
I’ve always played skating games, the first one I had was
THPS 3. I started playing Session as a rainy day kinda
thing, something to scratch the skating itch when I couldn’t
skate. My IRL filmer went on like a two month vacation so
this part I’m working on just kinda halted all of a sudden at
that time and so I dove head first into making fakeskate content.
Did you ever fuck around with XL or get involved in
the Skate 3 community?
“My irl skating fuels my ideas for session and
my fake skating fuels my ideas for irl skating”
Yeah so I got Session first on the day it came to Xbox and
a buddy of mine told me to try XL so I did. My thoughts
on that game is like, it’s fun but not it ya know? I still play it
every now and again but it just doesn’t scratch the same itch.
I never actually owned Skate 3, only the first two.
I played 3 at friend’s houses and stuff but I was so hyper-focused
on IRL skating at that time that it just wasn’t a big
priority.
Did you ever think you’d be this deep into Session?
Hell no (laughs). I originally started my Instagram account
as a way to just archive cool clips and it’s snowballed pretty
rapidly. But with that said I love this community, and I
wouldn’t change how active I’ve become in it cause it’s rad as
shit.
If we were to make a tier list I’d definitely have to
say you’re up there when it comes to this community.
What would you like to see in this community/
game though?
Thanks man. In the game I really just want some transition
love, you can make single tricks work fine but I wanna rip
a mini ramp soooo bad. As far as the community goes I’m
pretty content, I get to see the homies rip every day.
Do you ever get burnt?
Yeah but I just go out and actually skateboard, luckily I never
need more than a few days away from the game for fresh
ideas. My IRL skating fuels my ideas for Session and my
fake skating fuels my ideas for IRL skating.
What’s the story on CD? When did you join?
I joined CD in May 2021, feels like a lot longer (laughs).
Simulated hit me up one day asking if I wanted to do a
collab with some of the team and I was of course down, that
collab ended up being my welcome “part”. We’re like a family
over there, the team chat is poppin every day all day since
the team is worldwide. I owe Simulated and Weekday a
lot since their decision to put me on is what jump started my
whole fakeskate endeavor.
What do you have planned for the future?
I’m just gonna keep making videos until I don’t wanna
anymore man, it’s the most fun part of this game.
Gap to Noseslide / Chatham

Gear
The
Band TShirt
Everybody has a band tee in their closet.
Not necessarily a favorite band of yours,
but still.
Bad Brains and Minor Threat are two of
the most known punk/hardcore bands
from the 90’s and they are directly related
to skateboarding culture. You can go with
black or white in this case and trust me,
you will feel your attitude changing
while using them (play some of their
music in the background for a more
powerful impact).
PALM.
AVE Bench
This green metal bench,
which was originally
seen in AVE’s part in
The DC Video, has
seen a massive resurgence
in the past year
thanks to its arrival at
Tompkins coinciding
with the opening of
the FA store in New
York. Thanks to Palm,
you can now throw the
bench down anywhere
and shred it in game. The
only rule is you must do a
switch back noseblunt on it at
least once.
CONS
Shoes
Everyone knows what Cons are, and whether
you’re a fan of skating shoes with rubber
toecaps or not, you can’t deny that they look
pretty nice. These were originally posted by
Rakk (or Sutoroberi), with more colorways
and an added sock mesh coming from Blitzkow
later down the line. Just don’t wear these
around Anthony Pappalardo.
Guide
ultimate guide to stay fresh in the streets
Dear
Team Decks
Spice up your footage with these bright white
boards from Dear, just in time for summer.
Both are 8.25 with a standard popsicle shape.
Fun fact: that’s me in the pictures.
Cuffed Baggy
Pant
If you want to skate a water gap without
worrying about your pants getting wet, these
are for you. In all seriousness, these pants are
perfect for showing a little bit of sock or wearing
high top shoes without the pants covering
them up. The best thing about them though is
that they work with the default pants textures,
so you can customize the colors all you want at
the skate shop or even try your luck using other
modded textures on them. More great work
by Blitzkow.
Shredding
Pant
We’ve all been there. You just finished
watching Josh Kalis’s Photosynthesis part
and now you want to throw on some baggy
ass swishy pants and skate Love. Well
now you can, virtually at least.
These pants come courtesy
of Rakk (or Sutoroberi)
and will give your footage
some 90’s or early 2000’s
east coast flare, coming in
five colorways. Pairs perfectly
with a pair of Kalis or Lynx.
Nike
Janoski
The Janoski is probably
one of the most popular
skate shoes of all time;
you can’t go anywhere
without seeing a pair
whether you’re at
the skatepark or just
walking around. It’s
so popular in fact that Nike
was rumored to have offered to buy
Stefan Janoski’s name so that they didn’t
have to keep paying him royalties for the
shoe. Is this true? Probably not, but it
sounds almost believable. Anyway, now
you can enjoy the shoes in game thanks
to Blitzkow, and even make your own custom
colorways in the skate shop.
Words by JoshLav & Cono

BY: MTL

Ghost

What is your favorite skate video?
I wouldn’t say I have one favorite, more like
there are a bunch of videos that have equally
amazing parts and I enjoy them for their
uniqueness. To make this an interesting answer
let me go through my personal VHS collection
just to name a few. These are dearer to my heart
but there are more videos I enjoy just as much if
not more on other aspect levels. 411VM BEST
OF 5 - This was the first established movie to get
hands on. My cousins owned it; used to skate
with them every weekend from sunrise to when
we would get in trouble. This was our go-to to
get hyped and ready to skate. 411VM #33 - Was
introduced to Matt Milligan, Jeff Lenoce, J.P.
Jadeed. Inspiration for style through these guys.
411VM BEST OF 7 - Was introduced to Javier
Sarmiento, Rodrigo Teixiera, Colt Cannon,
Kristian Svitak, John Rattray, “Day in
the Life.” Even more steez and style from these
guys as well. In Bloom - Young guns killing it and
local boy Chris Cole happens to be in there
with Evan Hernandez, Tony Trujillo, Paul
Rodriguez, Mike Taylor & Alex Gall. Song
choices were fitting and got me pumped every
time. Transworld Skateboarding #13 SIGHT UN-
SEEN - I actually got to see John Cardiel skate
instead of hearing about him. Fell in love with
Henry Sanchez’s style and Tosh Townend is
just a straight beast. Heath Kirchart’s part was
just magical with “Nights in White Satin.” Opinion
- They chose this title so perfectly with a
well rounded skate team that each skate to their
own interpretation. This is from where I started
calling BS 180 hardflips “Chets,” ”Chet flip,” ”Chet
Thomas”. Video is well produced and has a nice
genuine feel. Love of the uniqueness, diversity,
and togetherness skateboarding brings. Menikmati
- Doesn’t need an explanation but killer team
and killer filming/editing. Oh yeah, (Ronnie)
Creager is a butter slider flipper.
What is your favourite spot to skate?
IRL - Other than the Flat Gaps, I always enjoyed
the streets of Warminster, PA, my home away
from home on weekends. So many more spots in
the more urban area compared to my local suburban
town. From shopping centers with benches
out into the parking lot, or the loading docks
and embankment out back, to the grass gaps
and stair sets. Banks drive-thru was always great.
In the summertime we’d go chill in the small
flower room in Giant when needed [laughs].
Kickflip to Back Smith Grind, Philly

But nowadays not so much anywhere other
than some local parks when I get a chance. In
Game - There really is no one favorite. There
are so many good spots and I have been forcing
myself to explore more since I tend to
skate the same stuff quite often. Plus I want to
see things before more keep changing in maps
(like the Chatham loading dock area). Typically
it depends on the mood I am in or what I am
trying to accomplish if I happen to be filming
for any specific “project.” As of lately I have
been finding myself in Philly as it’s close to
me IRL and gives me that extra feel. My dad
used to take Sunday family trips with us to the
museum and eventually FDR once my cousins
and I started skating. So to be able to actually
skate LOVE and Muni now that I’m busy being
a father, it is comforting to my inner skate rat.
“used to skate with them
every weekend from sunrise
to when we would
get in trouble.”
What are your favorite video games?
When I was younger and actually more of a
general gamer it was always hockey, baseball,
soccer, basketball, golf, car racing, 2-Xtreme,
Crash Bandicoot, but once THPS and Thrasher
Skate & Destroy came out it was 99% skateboarding.
Occasionally we’d throw in Mario
Party and GoldenEye because my brother had
the N64 so how could you not play those two.
When EA Skate was announced I broke down
and bought a Xbox 360 just for that game
alone. Once they stopped making the series
and the game got stale for me, as I didn’t know
of the fake skate culture at the time, it was on
to Guitar Hero for a bit and then no gaming as
life changed. Fast forward to 2017 I’m searching,
curious if there’s any new skate games out
in the market that might spark my interest and
I come across Session videos on YouTube that
led me to their Kickstarter. So needless to say,
Session has won the cake for closest to my
heart besides any hockey game growing up.
Inward Flip, Philly

E
NTE
V
IE W
As the founder and team manager of One Year. and Fade, CESP has
been making waves in fakeskate for quite a while.
A lot goes into maintaining fakeskate brands, but CESP has managed
to balance the two companies and produce high quality boards and
shoes, as well as building stacked teams to rep the gear. We sat down
to pick his brain on the history behind the brands and how
he has navigated the fakeskate world.

Ok so firstly, who are you?
My name is Chris but most people know me
as CESP.
How did you originally get into fakeskate?
I originally got into fakeskate when Skater
XL released. I saw people making edits and
board graphics and I thought it was the coolest
thing. I never thought I would be a part
of it as much as I am today.
Before getting into the scene did you
have a background in skating? I feel
like more often than not the best fakeskaters
are the ones who are really
deep into skating.
When I was younger I would skate a lot with
friends. I was never great at skateboarding,
only the basics like cruising and olling. I was
in love with the skateboarding games that
were out at the time like THUG, THAW,
and Skate. Those games introduced me to
skaters that till this day I idolize. To name
a few: Stevie Williams, Andrew Reynolds,
P-Rod, and Nyjah. I will always have a love
for skateboarding because it was so much a
part of my childhood and upbringing.
Who would you say has inspired you
the most? You have a pretty unique
style, I couldn’t really pin down someone
you skate like watching your footage.
As of late two skaters I’m super inspired by
would be Mark Suciu and Chris Joslin. Suciu
is a tech master and Chris just goes big. Huge
gaps and stairs; I love it. My style is probably
a mix of both. I wouldn’t say I have the most
out of the bag creative tricks but I go for a
more clean and simple style. I leave those creative
tricks for Cono and Stitched. My style
is also always changing. Depends a lot on the
song I chose to skate too.
Cono and Stitched are on some galaxy
brain shit for sure. It’s always good
to draw from multiple avenues like
you said, you need a diverse palette
to make things interesting. So the last
thing I want to ask about before we
move into your brands is the mental
health awareness event you organized.
How did that come about and how did
you feel it went?
The Mental Health event was organized by
me but it wasn’t just me. I had a tremendous
team of people behind me making designs,
helping me reach out to different organizations.
It was an amazing stress free process
the entire way. Special thank you to Jboogie,
Teq, Provo, Demzilla, and all the teams that
were involved. Also shout out my brother
Mathias for being the top donator! The way
the event came about was one of my skaters
on my team One Year. was really having a
tough time and was struggling with his mental
health. It really hit home because I care
about this kid very much. I felt that in the
community there wasn’t much talk of mental
health and I thought an event to bring
awareness to the cause would be huge. So we
came up with a live stream and raised money
for the Ben Raemers foundation, an organization
that also strives to raise awareness
about mental health. I do plan on bringing it
back. We have actually already started talking
about it. We would love to include Session in
it as well. The event is for people who love
fakeskate and care about mental health.
That’s amazing, I’d definitely like to
see another one and everyone on Primo
would for sure be down to help out.
Hopefully we can get the ball rolling very
soon. Would love to have you guys involved.
Yeah just keep us posted. So right now
you’re running two brands, One Year
and Fade; how did you first start making
your own brands?
So One Year. started when I was looking
through the custom decks section on SXL
modding Discord. Some guy named XERO
posted a board that said One Year. and the
name really hit me at that moment. I loved
the simplicity of the name. I had tons of
ideas of what the team could be so I messaged
XERO. I asked him if this was a team
he was starting and he said no it wasn’t a
team. I told him if you ever want to make
this a team let me know. Next day he sent
me an invite to the One Year. Discord. We
came to an agreement that we will co-own
the team, I would be in charge of the team
and he would be in charge of designs. Ever
since then we have been around. I love One
Year. more than some people will ever know
and I hope to one day make it a real brand.
We have some amazing skaters on the team,
in game and IRL, so it’s definitely possible.
Long Live One Year.
Fade was very similar. One of my best friends
Provo ran a shoe brand called Alchemy with

“Long Live One Year. means we will never quit or
end the team. One Year. will be around forever and
hopefully all over the place.”

another good friend of mine named Goof.
I was dying to get on the team but the timing
never really felt right. Unfortunately the
team was disbanded. I love shoes IRL so I
spoke to Provo about starting our brand and
Fade was one of the first names to pop up.
Provo is the best hands down when it comes
to shoe designing. Without him there is no
Fade. He does all the designs and I run the
team. Love that guy. Now Tipahdis is helping
us port all the shoes to Session and hopefully
we can build a hell of a Session team.
Well you have me on the team so
you’re already up. As far as making
One Year a real brand it could definitely
work, the designs are insane and
were super inspiring to me when I first
started making decks. Is there any significance
to the names One Year and
Fade?
Yes XERO in my humble opinion is unmatched
when it comes to deck art. This guy
for two years straight dropped straight fire.
It would be stupid not to look into getting
these boards made irl and get people to skate
them. That last question is great. Never
really sat back to think about it but now that
I think of it. Fade just sounded really clean
and looked good with a logo. Not much of a
back story there. One Year. can be taken as
forever evolving. Every single year One Year.
has been around we have only progressed
and the family bond only gets stronger. One
year can make a huge difference. So every
year there is progress. We just have to take
it one year at a time. Long Live One Year.
means we will never quit or end the team.
One Year. will be around forever and hopefully
all over the place.
I like that. So as you mentioned you’ve
been moving into Session recently after
being on XL for a while, when and
why did you start to dip your toes into
Session?
I bought a PC just to play Session. When I
first got my PC I found a cracked version of
the grid map and the prison. I played it non
stop and couldn’t stop thinking about how
great this game would be when it was almost
finished and complete. Mind you there
wasn’t even a trailer or anything about SXL
at this time. SXL came out of nowhere. At
the time it was way more active than Session
so I started playing that more. You can ask
anyone on One Year. Session was always the
game I was most hyped about and couldn’t
wait till it had a working replay editor. Now
it does. So I haven’t officially switched over
and probably never will. As long as I have a
team that is interested in both games I will
be a part of both. As for which game I enjoy
playing more, it’s Session by a long shot.
Knowing how much they have progressed
and still progressing is like a breath of fresh
air. It’s something that was severely lacking
at SXL. Kind of the reason I’m over that
game. I will still be involved with both games
though.
I’m really glad people are starting to
come around to Session more, obviously
it’s come a long way and still has
a ways to go but the fact the community
is growing and increasing in quality
is great. So with the scene starting to
grow, the last thing I want to ask you is
what advice would you give to anyone
trying to start a brand?
Don’t start a brand just to start a brand! Actually
love the product you are putting out.
Make sure you have vision and surround
yourself with a great group of people that
can help you. Quality over quantity as well.
Be open to ideas and collaborations. We are
all here to have fun at the end of the day.
I definitely agree with that, actually
caring about your craft and enjoying
what you’re doing goes such a long
way. Thanks for taking the time to do
this.
Of course man any time.

With the introduction of the overhauled
replay editor in July, 2021 was a huge year
for Session’s fakeskate scene. We saw
countless great parts and full length videos
and got to witness many fakeskaters,
veterans and rookies alike, build impressive
portfolios. We aimed to celebrate this
explosion of great content by hosting the
first ever Primo Awards, giving out six
awards through a community vote from a
list of nominees. Your voices were heard,
with almost 100 people casting their votes
for their favorites, crowning the first
ever Primo Awards winners.
2 21
Cream
on top of
The Cream

PHOTO of the
year
S1IGHTUNSEEN”
I remember the first footage from S1ght: it was a line
at Love Park, and I probably watched it ten times
in a row. He’s one of the really rare people who can
make the unfinished and buggy goofy stance in the
game still look very good. My first reflex was about
asking what his stats are. Cause I’ve honestly never
seen anyone else having very very close to IRL skate
physics in Session. But then I’ve thought “Nah I will
not ask for it” I want to keep the magic, and still be
stoked to see every single clip from Sight, rather than
just copying him and still never being able to have
clips as cool.
He’s all about staying simple; no circus tricks or clown
outfits. You can see that he knows his skateboarding
culture very well, and as an old man, I really appreciate
that.
He also has a very good eye for angles, tricks selection,
and spot selection. I remember that clip of him where
he heelflip smith grinded the 9 stair rail at the Banks.
I’ve seen hundreds of cool clips on that spot already,
but for some reason that clip is just perfect; it makes
you want to try that trick on that spot IRL.
On top of that, he’s very humble, a very nice person,
and a very passionate skateboarder. If you didn’t
know, S1ght comes from Ukraine, and we all know
the struggle he has to deal with in these times. But he
still finds some time to play Session and still amazes
me.
Having S1ght as a friend makes me want to be a better
person everyday. Everyone should have a friend
like him. I’m very glad he won the Primo Award
for the Photo of the Year, he really deserves it, and even
more.
Congrats homeboy!
Words by: MTL Ghost

Treflip / Pyramids Ledges

MTL Ghost - 50-50 Triple Kinks / Philly

Video of the year
PalM. SEEDS”
Words by: GoldNoose
There was tons of good footy in this video, but what
really stood out the most is the directing and editing.
You could record a bunch of footy and slap it together
with some solid music or you could make a genuine
piece of art like the homie MTLGhost did. With no
solid direction or vision for a video it just makes it another
edit. He will tell you to redo things if it’s not to
his liking, he’s really out here being a high expectations
father. I’d say it’s safe to say it paid off.
Accompanied by voice acting from Gnarkilly and
skits you get a heavy line up of skaters in this film, all
names you’ve seen from earlier builds of Session.
Stitched, ForeignEye, S1ghtUnseen, RyeDaddy16,
MTLGhost & Fraiboy!. The introductions
to each skater are probably my favorite things about
this video. Ghost did a good job with keeping everyone
leveled if that makes sense? Even with the trio
of Stitched, ForeignEye, and S1ght, not trying to
discredit anyone elses skill on the team, but let’s face
it there’s three golden eggs on that team and I’d be
stressing when due dates come around. In the end it
felt like homies just having a good time making a great
skate video. That’s really what we are all trying to do
isn’t it?
Palm. has come out with shorter videos that keep the
same consistency as “Seeds”, so maybe we will be
writing about another video of theirs next year?

Video Part
of the year
farrington downtown”
Words by: JoshLav
I think by this point we all know that Farrington
is good at Session. He’s gotten to the
point where regular tricks are too easy and is
now doing one footed grinds, landing primo on
rails and sliding on his baseplates, and whatever
other crazy shit you could think of.
He continually puts out standout footage with insanely
creative tricks, and when the replay editor
got overhauled he also proved to have some of
the best long lens filming out of anyone.
The guy just knows how to make the game look
good, and that skill played a huge part in why
this video part was so great. In a shortlist full of
great parts, Farrington’s “Downtown” came out
on top by a narrow margin. The video was Farrington’s
first full solo part and it delivered in
a big way, giving us plenty of tasteful tech tricks
and creativity.
The newly reworked replay editor was put to
good use, as the part is full of masterful long
lens filming and smooth fisheye clips. The video
racked up over 5.6K views, so I bet he’s kicking
himself for not throwing some midroll ads on it.
At least he gave his sponsors and the game itself
some free promo. Farrington recently
followed “Downtown” up with his “Midtown” part
in March, delivering more of the same skill and
class that made his first solo so great. Devs, if
you’re looking for someone to film the trailers for
you, here he is.

Up to Hardflip Revert / Philly

readers’
choice
simulated
Words by: Stitched
About a year and a half ago, when I was still
really new to posting Session content, Simulated
approached me about doing some sort
of community edit that ended up being a ploy
to get me to film a welcome to Concrete Dishonour
video. Simulated was one of the first
people I had ever seen posting Session clips to
Instagram and he was one of the first people
to start following me. The dude absolutely loves
Session. He wants this community to thrive
and has taken his own steps towards making
that happen. I could sit here and talk all day
long about just how good he is at the game,
but if you’ve been around for even a little bit
you know already. I’d instead like to highlight
just how much effort Simulated puts towards
making new players feel welcome by continually
following all Session content, good or bad, and
commenting frequently on posts that otherwise
would get no comments. I think that’s why he
won Readers’ Choice. He makes you feel like
you belong, like the community’s big brother.
Simulated continually puts out lots of footage,
all of it is super good. He’s incredibly realistic
with his approach but also isn’t too serious.
Check out some of his reels on Insta for a couple
Session related laughs. But jokes aside, the
dude is a beast. He manages to be really tech
and stylish at the same time, without ever doing
any over the top tricks. Maybe it’s his clear love
of skating that makes him this way, I don’t know,
but I do know that he’s gonna keep pushing this
community and his teammates to be better well
after 1.0 comes; if not him then who else? We
need people like Simulated around, people
who manage to bring cohesion to an otherwise
chaotic community.
Cheers to you man for getting Readers’
Choice, you absolutely deserve it.
Frontside Noseblunt / Chatham

Ollie over the chain to 50-50 / Brooklyn Bridge
rookie of the
year
ascension
Words by: Stitched
Over the past year, specifically after the replay
editor overhaul, Ascension went from
orbit cam fanatic to one of the more wellknown
names out there. In what can only be
described as a prolific explosion of content,
Ascension’s output is a level or two above
most.
Out of all the “rookies” in our community his
glow up over the past year stands out most of
all. Ascension has had a few parts affiliated
with Concrete Dishonour (CD), notably
his part in *69 and his footage in CD-R
standout as heavy hitters chock full of creative
tricks and spots you only wish you could
find/think of.
When Ascension joined CD I was pretty
stoked since we had talked a few times and
always got along well but never had an avenue
to actually get to know each other. We
skate fairly similarly so it was exciting to have
someone else around who thought about
skating the way I do.
Since he joined we’ve become pretty good
friends and with how much stuff he puts out
it really doesn’t surprise me that his following
just grew and grew. He really deserves to
get Rookie of the Year, he fucking kills it.
Looking forward to what else he has in store
in the future.

NosePress Into the Ledge / Chatham
skater of the
year
stitched
Words by: MTL Ghost
If Session had a serial killer, it would be
without a doubt Stitched. He’s literally
butchering every single spot in the game,
even the spots you would never think
about.
Stitched is probably one of the biggest
skate nerds that I know in the Session community,
that guy just never stops talking, eating,
and shitting skateboarding every day.
He probably still dreams about skating the
couple of hours he sleeps.
It was not a surprise to me that he was
voted Skater Of The Year 2021 by the community.
By the time you read this text, he has probably
finished 5 new edits and found 15 new
spots.
For me Stitched is an inspiration and an
example to follow, by going full frontal in
your passion.
Next time you see him streaming on
Twitch, just watch him, analyze his process,
and learn about skateboarding, IRL or
in game.

Treflip / Brooklyn Bridge

C A N D Y F O R Y O U R E Y E S
Apolaustic
s p o t l i g h t
If there is a sure thing in this world, it’s that imagery is everywhere
and used by pretty much everyone everyday. In this
modern civilization that we think we’re in, an individual can
consume thousands and thousands of images every day. In the
skateboarding world photos are everywhere. Let’s face it, without
pictures and videos, skateboarding couldn’t progress and
grow the way it has. People will always praise the pros and their
careers, but it’s often forgotten that without photographers and
filmmakers, a lot of pros would never have had any career at all.
The people behind the lens are the pillars of skateboarding, as
much as the pros are.
The same thing applies in skate video games, you can do whatever
insane tricks you want but if it’s not recorded, it’s like it never
happened. Also, having your trick badly filmed or photographed
will not do justice to all your efforts to land that trick.
Interview by: MTL Ghost

Hey Apolaustic, can you tell us
about your skateboarding background
and where you are from?
What up Primo! I’m a skate/lifestyle
photographer from Toronto Ontario
[Canada], currently living in Vancouver
BC, but headed back to the concrete
jungle very soon.
That makes a lot of sense with
the quality of your pictures! How
did you start photography?
I actually started out filming with a
VX1000 back in Toronto and then
when I moved here I had to buy an
HD setup to help film my homies
parts for the American companies
they skated for. One day I opened up
an SBC [Skateboard Canada Magazine]
photo annual issue and saw my
camera listed as top five cameras to
shoot skating with, so I figured I’d give
[shooting photos] a try. I spent a lot of
hours learning about photography on
the internet before my photos started
turning out the way I wanted.
It’s a magical moment when you
open a mag and see your pictures
in it. I got chills every time! What
are your influences for your photography
work?
Yeah, seeing that first photo ran, or
that first cover is like nothing else! I’m
thankful I set those goals and reached
them. As of late I’ve been doing more
look book and studio still life stuff.
Recently finished a campaign for
G-Shock [Watches] involving a bunch
of different aspects of photography. I
got into cycling a few years back so my
circle is very cycling based these days,
from road riding to bike packing. I’d
say that has been influencing me the
most for sure!
Has skate photography helped
you in your non skate photography
work?
Yeah for sure, it gave me the confidence
to pursue a lot of different
avenues of work. I also use some of the
lighting techniques in cycling as well,
especially mountain bike photography.
Sometimes I wish I had the same
control of lights and elements
IRL that we have in Session!
What would you like to have IRL
that you got in the game ?
The ability to control the weather considering
I live in Vancouver! [laughs].
I’d like to see Session focus more on
photography actually. I do like the ability
to place lights, but it would be super
rad if they made an off camera flash
option and a true photo mode! Stoked
to see where they take it though, it’s
really nice when devs listen to the community!
I agree, waiting hours for the
golden light for a 5 min time
frame is a struggle [laughs].
How did you discover Session?
I’ve always been a big skate video
game fan, I remember getting super
hyped for the original EA Skate game
when I was in high school. Session
just kind of popped into the mix and
I got stoked. It was a few homies from
Canada making it so I just purchased it
as soon as it was available on Xbox. it
really helped passing the time out here
during the rainy winters [laughs].
Most definitely! It was out right
in the middle of the pandemic
too, it helped a lot to get through
it.
What is/are your favorite things
in the game?
I like the fact they took the time to
work on the replay editor. I feel like
if you enjoy watching skating that’s
more than half the game. Also the fact
they put so much time and detail into
the maps is crucial! I’m excited to see
where they go next, a Montreal or Toronto
map would be ideal but I’m sure
that’s asking a lot [laughs].
I would love a Montreal map,
since more than half of Creature
is in Quebec it will probably
be a thing at some point.
Same my dude, gotta be something
Canadian in the works I hope!
When you shoot a pic in game,
what is your Modus Operandi?
I usually go spot first, the maps have a
bunch of hidden gems and when I play
something new usually presents itself.
I try to stick to my style that I use IRL
but sometimes I like to think outside
the box for angles. As for tricks I try
my best to keep a solid trick selection
of somewhat basic stuff, if you have
some good lighting and solid angles

Kickflip / Philly

Bs 180 to Switch Fs Crooked / Parking Underground

Fs Blunt into Bank / Jerome Ave
any trick can end up looking nice in
the end.
My favorite shot of yours is the
one up in the building in the
window reflection. It’s actually a
shot I was looking for but never
managed to find the right angle.
The idea to go up in the building
windows is genius. It’s an IRL
shot that would need a drone.
Ahh thanks man. Yeah I mean you can
always find angles in the game, IRL it
might be a little bit more difficult but it
can still be done for sure, there’s always
a way to find a good angle for a photo!
Have you been published in some
skate mags?
Yeah I used to work closely with King
Mag, Concrete, and SBC, I’ve had a
couple covers with King over the years
and recently have had a few things
published in Thrasher as well. It helps
when your friends are amazing at skating
[laughs].
Yeah it definitely helps to have
good skaters, but you can’t be
published with trash pictures
either!
Yeah that is a fact, it took me a solid
six to eight months to start getting the
hang of shooting runnable photos but
after that it was second nature.
You are playing on Xbox, which
is limiting you with possibilities
with the game. Do you like to
have limitations on projects you
are working or full power?
I feel like limitations are just something
in your mind, when shooting skating I
always look outside the box, I’ll keep
trying things until I get it the way I
want it to look. Sometimes homies
land stuff first try and it can be good or
bad depending on how I’ve set up, I’ve
definitely had to ask for another try
before, never a good feeling [laughs].
True, first t skaters are the worst
for photographers! But it’s a
good habit to keep your mind
sharp and be effective on a set.
I agree!

Gap to Switch FS Crooked / Pyramid Ledges
I’ve had conversations with studio
photographers and explained
to them that we have to deal with
no permit, with probably a couple
of tries only, security running
after us, and having no more
than two or three speedlights for
a skate pic, and they just don’t
understand how that is possible
to achieve. That’s not even
talking about shooting the pic at
the right momentum.
Do you have some stories about
shooting photos?
Ahh I’m sure I have hundreds of
stories, but one that comes to mind is
a cover I shot of my close homie from
my hometown back in Ontario, I knew
him since I was like eight or nine? He
got so good at skating when I moved
out to Vancouver, we would always still
talk, he asked to come stay with me to
try and find a job and live out here and
I said yeah for sure. After about a year
he was absolutely killing it out here.
Another photographer that worked at
King [Skate Mag] got asked to shoot
a cover with him and he knew how
close we were and that we grew up
together so the photographer hit me
up and said I should go shoot it. Genuine
move by a genuine dude for sure.
I was working that day at my 9-5 job
and my boss was a skater. After we got
to talking about how I’ve been asked to
go shoot the cover my boss gave me the
day off and I was able to head out to
the spot. The spot was insane, a super
busy intersection at 12th and Broadway
here in Vancouver. I had to set up
flashes in awkward spots…and stand
in wild traffic at rush hour. Luckily
enough my homie stomped it like fifth
try and we got out of there. I ended up
buying a six pack for the photographer
that hit me up to go shoot it. Gotta be
one of my favorite memories for sure!
(click here to see the picture).
Awesome! It was definitely a super
gnarly spot to hit!

Kickflip / Pyramid Ledge

“it took me a solid six to eight
months to start getting the hang
of shooting runnable photos but
after that it was second nature”
BackTail / Black Hubbas

Other than your camera and
your skateboard, what are your
most trusty pieces you always
bring with you?
These days, I’d have to say my bike!
My car sits in the driveway and I bike
a lot, but as for equipment I use, it
would be my Fuji x100F Fixed 35mm.
It’s easy to pack and shoots super crisp
images when I’m on the move. It’s
decent for skating being that the focal
length is what the human eye sees. It
just makes you get out of your comfort
zone and try to find new ways to shoot
things!
Back in the days, the photographer
was the guy with the car
with a trunk loaded with gear,
when the filmer just had his VX.
And nowadays it seems to be the
opposite to have the photographer
with minimal gear to backpack
on a bike, when the filmer
is getting loads of gear for his
HD cam.
That seems to be the way these days.
for the Session players who want
to be good at taking pictures in
game?
I’d say open up a skate mag and try
to emulate IRL photos and your style
will start to grow. Also lighting is everything,
use those lights, shoot at dusk or
night to accentuate certain spots, play
with the depth of field and fisheye.
Just try things until you get something
you’re stoked on!
Who would you love to shoot?
Ahhh, I’d have to say Peter Smolik for
skating. For sure one of my all time favorite
skaters! I grew up in the shortys
era so he’s at the top of the list. As for
portraits it would have been amazing
to shoot with someone like Tupac or
Big L!
Very good choice!
What place do you wish to go that
you have never been yet to skate
and shoot?
I’ve been to a few amazing cities, my
favorite being Tokyo for sure but I’d
love to go to Lisbon, Brussels, or Madrid!
They are all on my list, and I will
be bringing my bike for sure [laughs].
Brussels has amazing parks! I
recommend it.
Hell yeah, looks amazing out there!
What would you give as advice,
You can follow the work of
Apolaustic through his social’s
Portfolio
www.tyjamesphotos.com
Photography on Instagram
@tyjamesphoto
Session on Instagram
@apolaustic

Photo
gallery

PREVIOUS: Narcissus - Treflip / Chatham
LEFT: Farrington - Impossible / Chatham
RIGHT: Cono - Boardslide / Chatham

Skurt_ - Bs Kickflip / Chatham

S1ghtunseen - Ollie / Brooklyn Bridge

Charley Camirand - Backside Noseblunt / Jerome AVE

Narcissus - Five-O / Chatham

Narcissus - FS Blunt / Philly

Cono - Backside NosePick / LES

Narcissus - FS Pop Shove-it Heel / Pyramid ledge

Stitched - Shove-it Hippie / Black Hubbas
Stitched - Wallride / Black Hubbas
S1ghtunseen - Fs Blunt / Veteran Plaza

Apaulostic - Heelflip / Black Hubbas

MTL Ghost - FS Nosegrind / Hubba Hideout

Stiched - Back Tail One Foot / Black Hubbas

Narcissus - FS Feeble / Pyramid Ledge

Skurt_ - Crooked / Chatham
MTL Ghost - No-Comply

/ FDR
Charley Camirand - Switch Treflip / Love Park

Cono - FS Wallride / Philly

Goldnoose - Switch Bs Smith / Pyramid Ledge

Doobeyboob - Up and Gap to Crooked / Pyramid Ledge

S1ghtunseen - Boardslide through the kink / Jerome AVE

MTL Ghost - Full Loop / FDR

Session
Skate
Sins
The Most SinfulPlayers
The Most SinfulPlayers
There’s a lot of fuckery that goes on in the
community, some of us are occasionally
guilty when it comes to these sins. Some
tend to dwell and live in the darkness but,
alas, we are here to shed some light along
with a hand to help you wash away the
evil. They say it’s better to forgive and forget,
some of you just make the latter pretty
fucking difficult.
Words by Richard Ryder

low effort fonts
I’ve seen it many times across many games, and in
YouTube videos in general. You are so hyped to edit
your video with your last bangers, you’re sure as shit
your part will make people scream on each land. So
you can’t miss it, you will work on that edit for months,
get the right cut, the right song, the right name...and
wait a minute.
You need to put your edit title in your montage, and
you don’t want to spent another night on it. Lets use
that Comic Sans Serif, or that sinful Avatar-Papyrus font,
nobody will pay attention to it. People want the tricks,
they don’t care about the font.
Excessive Camera shake
The addition of camera shake keys has made it way
easier to get clips looking realistic, removing the need
to slightly tilt the camera back and forth between keys
to simulate movement.
However, having this option does not mean make your
clips look like they were filmed during an earthquake.
You’ll have a fisheye clip where the filmer is completely
stationary and moving their arm the slightest bit, and
yet it looks like that one video of Blac Youngsta in
his car talking about “I’ll have a seizure if I set next to you.”
Keep it below 5 for long lens and 20 for fisheye unless
theres some crazy movement going on, no more filmers
throwing it back while they’re holding the camera.
Well no, the font is just as important as the number of
pixels or the sound quality. You need to spend some
time thinking about it. If you have no idea, or knowledge
about it, ask somebody with more experience, or
even ask your graffiti artist friend to hook you up with
some cool art.
Its not that hard, you just need to spend time on it.

0% Grind alignement
Despite it not being completely functional yet there’s a
bunch of people jumping on the 0% train, and while I
give you guys props for sticking to it, it’s starting to get
to people’s heads. “0% EDIT” plastered all over the
title and description and even in the video itself.
“Oh you don’t play on 0? That’s not real Hardcore mode”. We
get it. You wanna stroke your egos. You wanna make
sure your kickflip smith isn’t just a regular old kickflip
smith, it’s a *0%* kickflip smith. You want motherfuckers
to know you spent HOURS getting a 5 trick line
cause 2 of the tricks were grinds; and for what, a final
clip that has sketchy landing and sloppy grinds? “Oh but
man, gitgud!” Yea, ok.
You enjoy those extra 45 minutes trying to get a
tailslide down the 9 stair rail til you just say screw it
and take the clip with the sideways landing cause it’s
the only time you stayed locked in from the start.
Longfish/fishzoom
It’s hard to decide what ruins a clip more. Zooming in
with a fisheye or filming up close with a long lens as if
it were a fisheye. Both may just be equally as sinful as
the other, I would just like to understand the thought
process when it comes to both of those decisions.
You literally get to see what your footage looks like
as you film it. The devs spent months working on an
editor that works and people decide to disrespect it.
Are people scared of using a fisheye? Are they scared
of the skater when you’re in fish so you just film from
afar?
I don’t get it, someone please explain to me why they
think either of those “methods” of filming are nice. If
one of your reasons for longfish is “fisheye makes the
footage look bad” don’t even bother, just stop playing the
game.

using “realistic” in your title
Skateboarding video games have come a very long
way. When the first official skateboarding game was
released in 1986, everybody was hyped, the game was
hella fun, even with the bare basics. In the three decades
to follow, some good and some very bad skate
games have seen the light of day. Some brought next
level features, when some were just a cash grab or just
misunderstood skateboarding culture. It’s without a
doubt that the players became less gentle to criticizing
what some people worked a few years on. No disrespect
to the THPS series who definitely opened the
gate of skateboarding to the world, to my eyes, the EA
Skate franchise was the real banger for me (and probably
you too). But let’s be honest, when something becomes
ultra popular, it’s also bringing some bad things
on its way. And the Skate franchise did it too. Bringing
a huge community of non-skaters into the game,
and creating the most sinful of tricks ever made in a
skate game.
From there, real skaters kept fighting it by creating a
“realistic skate community” and producing some very good
edits within the last decade. And having to co-exist
with these sinful non-skaters, made the bad habits from
the gamers to add “Realistic” in their edit, in the hope
of not being lost in the mass of trickliners edits. Here
in the now Session Skate Sim has arrived, and like
it says in the name. It`s a SIMulator. You don’t need
to write that “realistic” word anymore in your edits, because
it’s what the game is - A realistic game!
In fact, if you wanna go crazy in Session and do some
1080 McTwitch revert one foot, well yeah, it would not
hurt to add “Unrealistic” to your title.
unintentional grinds
We’ve all been there. You get to the end of a line that’s
going well and then you go to back smith a ledge and
back lip instead.
You think ‘maybe it didn’t look bad, maybe I can make
this work’ only to find out that it still looks like a back
smith that you just didn’t lock. If you’re going to go
for a trick, stick with it. Nothing grinds my gears more
than seeing a ledge or rail trick that someone clearly
wasn’t actually trying.
Don’t be lazy, do your shit proper, if you fail then try
again. Session is hard, it’s going to take patience but
the reward will be all the better if you just try a little
harder.

vigorous pushing
at the beginning
of clips
There’s no need for 8 seconds of aggressive pushing
before a 2 second ledge trick. I guarantee most people
will stop watching your clip before you even do your
trick.
And if you’re pushing mongo, no one wants to see
even one push, nevermind 15 pushes. Maybe when
the push animations are completed it might be cool
to show a run up to a big gap or something but until
then, cut it out.
Bad Outfits
Highlighter shoes, full color blocked sets, Camo Cargos
with Floral Tank Top, whatever it may be, if you
brick your fit your clip is instantly less watchable. Session’s
customization options are solid straight out of
the box and even better with mods, yet my eyes still get
assaulted on a daily basis.
There are plenty of ways you can put together a good
outfit, whether you want to be hesh, fresh, trendy, or
whatever else, but please just dress like a normal person.
Watch a skate video and copy their outfits, wear a
white tee and black pants, just do something other
than stepping out looking like a clown. Please.

Starring
Mtl Ghost
ForeignEye
S1ghtUnseen
Stitched
Fraiboy!
RyeDaddy16
Introducing
Cono : Ollie

Dreby:
INTERVIEW Words
Doobeyboob
Let me start off by telling you all, I dropped the
ball on this one. This was supposed to be another
installment to the “Last” interviews, but I decided
after smoking over some of Dre’s content that he
needed a more in depth interview than that weak
shit. At least that’s the excuse I’m coming up with
for my potato brain. In all seriousness I had to do
some research on Dre and was impressed with
what I saw. Here’s a little sit-down I had with him,
so the rest of you can see what he’s about.
“Keep It Simple Stupid
is my approach for the
most part.”
How long have you been playing
Session?
I started playing as soon as it was
released on Xbox. I think July 2020?
I’ve been following it since 2018
though.
Okay okay. So are you still on
Xbox?
Nah, I’ve been on PC going on a
year now, probably since late July
2021.
That’s what I thought. How was

Switch Heel / DTLA
it, when you first switched over?
Any big takeaways from switching
platforms?
Yeah. My favorite part of PC is the
mods. Just making the character
dress like me, look like me with the
Interact app, having more maps, etc.
The modding community is definitely
appreciated.
Yeah big shout out to all the
modders. They’re doing God’s
work.
Indeed!
How long have you been with
CD? I know they also have roots
in the Xbox community.
I’ve been with CD going on a year
now. I was approached in early
2021. I believe Bilbo, Simulated and
Dewski had their eye on me for a little
while before that. Then one day,
Simulated hit me up for a “collab”
video but it turned out to be my welcome
video. I was hyped.
That’s pretty dope. I’ve always
noticed the CD guys seem to
be more “friends” than a fake
skate brand.
Yea it’s certainly a family. We don’t
just talk about or play Session. We
encourage each other for IRL stuff,
have debates here and there. Everyone
is different but everyone respects
each other.
So do you skate IRL as well? I
know a lot of the guys do.
Yeah, I do. I’ve been skating for like
20 years on and off. I still love it.

Crooked / Chatham
Should be better than I am but
it’s the freedom, insanity trying
tricks over and over, and the satisfaction
from landing tricks that
keeps me skating.
I can respect anyone who
skates just based off of that
alone. We all share something
that can connect us
with a complete stranger.
It’s pretty wild.
Yeah it is. Who would have
thought a wood on wheels can
change lives [laughs].
So when I’m watching your
videos the first thing that really
stands out is your trick
selection. Who do you draw
inspiration from? I guess
that’s just a better way of
asking who’s your favorite
skater?
Uhm.. honestly, I play Session
and do tricks or lines I’d want to
do if I was pro [laughs]. But if
I had to choose, it would probably
be Ishod. Just simple pro
tricks that look good. Not over
complicating lines. KISS if you
will; Keep It Simple Stupid is my
approach for the most part. My
favorite skater changes a lot… as
of now it’s Robert Neal.
That’s a very underrated
approach. But something I
think we could all do a little
more of. So I guess the
big question is, what do you
have going on? Any projects
you’d like to tease?
Yea I’m working on a project
called ‘Bingo.’ Should be premiering
some time this month.
Also, a CD project coming out
soon as well. I posted a trailer
to the project on my Instagram.
That’s about it so far… I’m not
sure what’s after that, most likely
another project [laughs].
Well, I’ll definitely be keeping
an eye out. I appreciate
the little sit down my man.
I think you’re on all of our
radars now!

Anatomy
of APicture
Everyone loves photography, and everyone thinks they take great pictures. The truth is,
most of the time you aren’t.
Skate photography is very complex and has tons of rules to make your pictures great,
legit, and gnarly.
Here are a few rules, using Apolaustic’s frontside noseblunt on the metro ledge in Philly
as reference.
RULE OF THIRDS
I don’t know where the idea of having your subject centered in the picture makes it a
good picture comes from. Well, it’s actually the opposite when you are shooting a long
lens in a 35mm format. Good thing, the “rule of thirds’’ is here to help you out. It is a
very old technique that gives you perfect composition 99% of the time by keeping the
action of the picture on one of the crossing lines. It’s pretty easy and very effective.
FACE TO FACE
Having the face of the skater facing the camera will work 99% of the time.
The backlight will help to separate him from the background: With a light above the
head you can get a nice lightened silhouette.
Another trick is to use a low DOF range to keep the background blurry. It will help
a lot when you have too many colors in the picture. Here having only 3 main colors,
red, green, and grey, helps the brain read what is going on faster and easier.
run up
One of the most important things in skate photography is to always have where the
skater is coming from in the frame. It will help the viewer read the trick with a single
frame, and also give a better sense of scale.
key light
The main light here, also called “Key Light,” lights up the whole spot and the skater
at the same time. Placed on the left side, crossing the back light will do a perfect
decoupage from the skater’s silhouette.
Try to avoid having your light in front of the camera, it will always give a better
dramatic look to your shots to have it offset.
landing
Just like having the run up in shot, it’s also very important to have your landing visible.
Here having the 3 stairs in the shot help to show the massive pop out from the ledge.
Words by: MTL Ghost

OUT OF
BOUNDS
PHOTO by Cono and Stitched
Street skateboarding is attached to that feeling of doing something that may
look wrong to non skaters. Some may say illegal. But it is that feeling that
makes it even more appealing to some of us. If skateboarding is still seen as a
crime, compare it to street art or graffiti. Could you imagine a dude tagging
and when the cops show up he asks them to at least finish the piece? That
would be epic (it might have even happened)!
I think we can label skateboarding on the streets as a “soft crime” since it is
kinda popular nowadays. Most people have heard about Tony Hawk, watched
a movie or an ad involving a skateboard, or maybe even played a video game
or skated IRL. That being said, the act of trying to snake people in a
downtown plaza for a line or sneak into a private property in search of that
perfect untouched spot still feels edgy.
You are doing something you are not supposed to.
Text by Cono

Stitched - Frontside Five-O

What we tried to do in this article is go to places
that we are not supposed to, search the forbidden
zones of the maps. It is that drive to explore that
got us into tricking the game and jumping over
the invisible walls that limit the maps.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not something that
hasn’t been done before.
S1ghtUnseen won picture of the year with a
360 flip on the metal fullpipe sculpture outside the
pyramid ledges map. But that was just the spark
that Stitched and I needed to go “outside the
box” and snap some shots of never before seen
spots.
Top: Stitched - Wallie on the tree to Wallride
Right: Cono - Gap to Frontside Lipslide

In some cases the spots were right there just waiting
to be skated. We discovered some future possibilities
that the game could offer and that got us
even more hyped about the project.
Session is the kind of game that can always
move forward. Add new spots, expand the maps,
or even blend them into one big world. Also the
possibility to just venture out and see what’s to
come and get the chance to skate it is just amazing.
No limitations!
On other occasions though, the spots were missing
colliders or textures. In those cases we had to
bring the DIY skills and a lot of patience just to
make the place skateable. A few wooden planks,
spill some cement, or place a metal angle were
some of the techniques we applied to make it
work. It was a bit tricky to make it look good and
make it skateable at the same time, but we managed
to get the tricks we wanted.
We are happy that ideas like this can take place in
a virtual world and at the same time create an IRL
bond between people in the community.
If the NPCs are too annoying for you, just hop
that invisible wall and search for a spot to have a
session on or explore where you are not supposed
to, out of bounds.

Click here to watch the video
Top: Cono - Crooked Gap out
Next page
Left: Cono - Switch Treflip
Top Right: Stitched - No-Comply the water gap
Bottom Right: Cono - Nollie Frontside Flip

Stitched - Kickflip into Grass

Stitched - Frontside Bluntslide into the Hill

SPOT
BIBLE
We
all
know that
Session has a lot
of spots to skate. With
two full cities (soon to be
three) as well as several miscellaneous
maps, it can be hard to keep
track of everything that’s out there. We’re
here to help by compiling some of our picks for
the best or most underrated spots throughout all
of Session’s default maps. Of course, this doesn’t even
scratch the surface of everything Session has to offer, but
take it as a jumping off point to start exploring and building your
spot repertoire. Next time you need an ender for your new video part or a
nice place to play a game of S.K.A.T.E, crack open the Spot Bible and check out
some areas you may have never thought to look at.

Cono - Five-O to Fakie / Bridge Highline

The Pole to Curb Dance
Chatham
A spot straight out of a Tom Karangelov wet dream, a bent
traffic pylon that happens to be one of the best working
pole jams in the game leading straight into some nice parking
blocks. The combo possibilities are endless, and with some
creativity there are several alternate ways to hit it.
THE BUNKER
Philadelphia
This military green tent type structure is actually there in
Philly in real life. The devs decided to make it a bit more
accessible to skate in the game, but it is still hard to get to
it so no one even tries. Right?

What if I told you there’s a hidden
spot in the Pyramid Ledges map?
Seriously, right behind the ledges
there’s a snakelike path with curvy
benches and potential. I got some
footy here for the trash Contrast
video and I think I’ve seen one more
person get a line here.
SNAKE PATH
Pyramid Ledge
Evel Knievel
Blubbas
A fatty to flatty like this will
always be popular with scooters
and rollerbladers. That launch
ramp has seen it all; the bad & the
even worse. Thankfully, in the
Session universe, those fuckers
don’t exist.

The alleyway behind the skateshop
has barely changed since we got the
game and there’s nothing wrong
with that. I always do a line
involving the rail and jumping over
the ledge then hitting the bank. I
never record clips here and that
needs to change. Super underrated
spot.
DIAGON ALLEY
Chatham
bodhi’S wave
Highline Bridge
To ride the ultimate, you have to
pay the ultimate price; Too bad that
price is having to load into the highline
map. I think everyone who plays
session has tried at least one trick
here so it’s not hidden by any means,
but boy is it fun. In a long curved
road of mediocre Tony Hawk level
style spots, this one stands out as
something genuinely fun and exciting

dear
one year
artery la vie refugee
Fade shoes
PRIMO SKATESHOP/OPEN 24h/7D
N.Y.C. / Philly

ransom c.d. palm.
drug the house
ame footwear
molotov wheels
ays
bit.ly/PrimoSM

Who’s hot
ForeignEye
You’ve just entered into the punk attitude, throwing a stone in the
puddle and not caring who it splashes. The Eye is watching but will
never comply. ForeignEye footy is always on the top of the list; he
ticks all the boxes of what would make someone great. But can we
take a minute to talk about his trick and spot selection?
Honestly, no disrespect to anyone, but ForeignEye’s tricks are some
of the most insanely thought out and well done. My guess is that his
U.K. roots make him see things differently, where a regular guy would
see a set of stairs to jump off, ForeignEye would go the opposite way,
by jumping on, grinding or power sliding the stairs. And THAT is the
thing that I love the most with him.
Every new clip is a suprise, punctuated by some “WTF” or “How the
fuck did he do that?”
To produce that level of quality, you have to be a skateboarder IRL,
and be obsessed with seeing spots and tricks to do everywhere. Of
course, Foreigneye is also a very good skater IRL, if you’ve seen any
of his real footy you will notice that there is a thin line between his
Session and IRL edits.
His talents do not stop at skating, he’s also a great artist. His drawings
are a must see, with a very dark sense of humor and a sense of tasteful
simplicity.
Foreigneye is a free electron: you can’t make him what you want, you
have to do what he wants. He is what the Session community needs
the most, people that are not afraid to go full frontal in the game.
Stall Grab / Philly
Words by: MTL ghost / Artwork by foreigneye

Who’s next
BH_Session
BH is a bit of a mystery. He popped up on Instagram
a couple days before the February update with a full two
minute part that immediately caught my eye with some
extremely clean filming and editing. It wasn’t just a “good
for a first post” type of deal, by any standard it was a great
edit. Since then, he’s kept things pretty lowkey, only
occasionally posting on Instagram and teasing his full
part, “Snuff.” Although his catalog of footage is small,
he’s consistent with what he presents and always comes
through with clean tricks and filming. His “Snuff ” part
cemented him as someone to look out for, putting some
standout filming on display, including some of the best
Strobeck style filming I’ve seen in the game. His editing
style is very distinct and very enjoyable to watch, mixing
in clips from old movies between the footage and b-roll.
While BH is still pretty underground, he’s managed to
pick up some pretty big cosigns already, getting on Fade
Shoes earlier in the year and dropping his first part
through Conomedia Video Magazine. There’s not
really too much more I can say about someone so new, but
make sure to keep an eye on him.
Words by: joshlav

Gap out through the Scaffold / Chatham

Last time you went skating?
Like 2 weeks ago. My job and shitty
weather have prevented me from getting
out much.
Last trick you learned?
That’s probably 180 no comply or BS
noseslide, learned them right around
the same time.
Last skate part you watched?
Last IRL skate part I watched was either
Stitched’s part or some random
montage from Thrasher’s IG. I haven’t
watched an actual skate video in quite
some time and it’s not something I’m
proud of.
Last clip you got?
Looking at my Google Drive, the last
clip I got was a b-roll clip for my solo
edit “Garbage Man” (subtle plug).. it’s
of me crashing into a bunch of garbage
and landing on a dumpster. My last actual
skate clip is of me front truck bonking
a cardboard box which can be seen
in my solo edit “Garbage Man” on IG
(subtle plug again).
Last thing you ate?
Rose flavored ice cream from an Indian
buffet. It was a very strange flavor but
somehow worked perfectly, like 10 out
of 10 good.
Last time you walked into a room
and forgot why?
Ummm.. I forgot, but it happens so
frequently that I might as well just say
everyday.
Last song you listened to?
Rotten Garden by Grima.. never heard
of them before but it’s some insane
black metal shit. I needed something to
keep me awake for the 6 hour drive I
had to do today [laughs].
Last movie you saw?
Everything Everywhere All At Once. I
cried several times.
Last thing on your mind?
Last thing on my mind is how the hell
I’m going to pull off what I need to do
for my job tomorrow.
Last thing you lost?
My credit card. It’s still out there somewhere
and there have been no shady
charges on it,so I’m like fuck it, all my
info is stored online for paying bills and
I have it saved on my Apple Pay so ima
just let it slide. Changing your bill pay
info is so annoying I’m just gonna risk
it.
Last time you got a full night’s
rest?
It’s been awhile...Yeah I’m not a great
sleeper.
Last time a bail kept you off the
board?
A few years ago I had a bad spell of
rolling my ankle on the dumbest shit..
awkward landing on a front board and
a BS 5050.. nothing gnarly at all but I
was down for the count a few times that
summer. The entire left side of my body
is trashed thanks to skating.
Last time you were hit with the existential
dread?
Oh man..5 seconds ago [laughs]? Actually..
on my flight home yesterday the
pilot came on the speaker saying we’re
about hit some “moderate chop”…I’ve
flown my fair share of times and I never
ever heard them that say that before
and I’ve never seen the flight attendants
scramble to get to their seats so quick..
There were a few bumps in the air that
had me pretty scared.. (laugh) when you
realize you’re in a metal tube 5 miles in
the air with no escape.. that’s about as
existential as it gets.
Last time you helped an old lady
cross the street?
Shit.. not sure if I ever have helped an
old lady across the street [laughs]. Maybe
my grandma or something. That
shit’s made up man ain’t nobody doing
that. Or maybe I’m just a piece of shit
[laughs].
Last time an old lady helped YOU
cross the street?
And I guess in a way, my grandma was
the last old lady to help me cross the
street. If it wasn’t for her support growing
up I would have had a much different
and worse life. Grandmas are the
best, make sure you cherish them while
you got em.
Last full album you heard?
Amaneses by Macabre Omen. They’re
this wild Black Metal band from
Greece. This album is crazy. It’s all over
the place, there will be super beautiful
piano pieces then super intense black
metal. The singer has one of the most
unique styles of screaming, it’s like a
howl, then it will go into weird chanting.
It’s not for everyone, I’ve been a fan for
a while and their sound has gotten more
and more obscure over the years. It’s
like progressive black metal with classical
influence, but also like avant-garde.
Last birthday wish that came
true?
Hmm... I don’t think I’ve ever had a
birthday wish come true, that’s why I
turned out the way I have [laughs]. Although
I couldn’t tell you what any of
my birthday wishes were, I was never
really a superstitious person.
Last of the Mohicans, Last Samurai,
or Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade?
I gotta go with Indiana Jones, Harrison
Ford and Sean Connery are just too
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a birthday
wish come true..That’s why I turned
out the way I have”
powerful a duo for the their films to
compete, plus who doesn’t want to see
Nazis getting what they deserve.
Last time you took a vacation?
My wife and I went to LA last Christmas,
then went to Las Vegas for New
Years, it absolutely pissed rain in LA
two of the days we were there which
was a huge bummer. It rains literally every
time I’m there.
Lastly, any shoutouts?
Shout out to the Session devs for bringing
this all to life and starting this community,
shout out to the Primo boys for
keeping the community engaged with
fun spots to skate and community building,
shout to my sponsors and team
riders who keep pumping out the gnarly
content, shout to my boys, SlotBros777
on Twitch, if you like watching 3 brothers
get drunk and play slots and endless
banter go check them out, I’ve been a
guest many times… and shout out to
you Mr. E for doing this interview, it
was a lot of fun!

!!!
50-50 Kickflip Gap into the bank
With Dewski / By Mr.E
LAST

Apolaustic, Kickflip