GoingOTE - New Orleans

New Orleans was the second stop on the USA tour and where we experience true southern hospitality provided by the Hebert family. They took us in, made us breakfast, cooked us dinner, even designed a cake with our own personal images cut out on it! Louisiana is such a flavorful place as you can see everyone enjoyed themselves. Austin Raye and Julian Daigre came out to support and inspired us on their lives in health and fitness and educated us on making a living through social media.  It was interesting to see a beautiful cross fit gym incorporate parkour and freerunning into their class schedule. I spent some time talking to parents and hearing their stories of how their young children found freerunning and connect with it so deeply and want their parents to understand. I believe the jam and documentary answered many questions for these supportive parents. It gave them to the opportunity to see what the faces of professional athletes look like in this sport and admire them from not only an athletic perspective but as well spoken, inspirational creators, entrepreneurs, and dedicated world travels. 

GoingOTE - Boston

I left Boston with a great feeling because we were able to go to a location and create multiple images that varied in texture and style due to the amazing architecture.  It was fun to play with the different lines, angles and clean backgrounds that tend to excite me when shooting freerunning. While jamming at MIT we didn't have to move too far to find new locations, which is always a bonus when you have already traveled across the country. Space, smells, and showering were beginning to be an issue in the RV and the weather was getting much colder than we anticipated. We realized that after seeing the documentary about ten times that Cory & Jesse said the word "stoked' repeatedly. We watched a youtube video from The Onion (which I have linked at the bottom of the blog) that grew the inside joke even further. Anytime we were excited about something we announced that we were "stoked" as Pasha does in this episode. I love watching these videos of the tour because it shows how much fun we were having and how closely you get to know a group of people when you travel with them. 

Nude Yoga →

My last day in San Francisco I had the honor of shooting two amazing teachers at Moxie Yoga Studio; Leia Layus and Mark Rausa. The human body will never cease to amaze me. Elegance, strength, flexibility combined with discipline, patience and passion. This isn't what I normally shoot, but I feel the more I shoot the human body moving in different scenarios the more I learn 

-edi

http://moxieyogafitness.com/

Behind the Scenes with Team Farang

It's a treat to have your team together when it consists of a world traveling German, Latvian born Russian, and a thai native who invited his Australian friend to visit him and never really left. Team Farang have been around since 2010, traveling the world doing Parkour and Freerunning while filming each other to prove it to the rest of the world. Imagine a long distance relationship times four. In the year that I have known them I have seen them together three times in different locations; Los Angeles, Frankfurt, and Bangkok. I got to follow them around for one day in Thailand as they filmed each other for another video and captured what they look like behind the scenes as they take turns supporting each other, filming each other and getting kicked off of roof tops. 

On top of physical talents that entertain the masses and and impress the top athletes in the sport Farang, actually shoot, direct, and edit all of their own material. They also have their own clothing line and blog.  

-edi

Lion City Gathering: Singapore Parkour & Freerunning Jam

I just returned from a parkour and freerunning jam in Singapore which is a short two hour flight over from Bangkok. The Lion City Gathering had over 200 parkour athletes and freerunners from Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Denmark, England, France, the Philippines, of course Singapore and believe it or not I wasn't the only American there. Singapore is a beautiful and clean city with some amazing spots for freerunning. The concept of parkour jams and roof culture is a little more challenging for them to grasp. I lost count of how many athletes were arrested for climbing roof tops. Luckily, I wasn't one of them. Traveling with Team Farang, we were able to spend four nights at Wellington Wu's Gym from Kraken. Even though every night was like a giant slumber party with my little brothers entire school, I am eternally grateful. I typically went to bed around 4am each night once the tutorials, wall flip sessions, wrestling, and body slamming died down. Then I was typically woken up around 6am for various reasons; Muslim prayers, Team Alpha Movement returning from jail, Jordan Hile returning from the hospital (with bruised but not broken ribs) And then there was the wild animals that surrounded us in Jason Paul's dream that we had to get up and move away from. 

There were photos, videos, selfies, autographs, hugs, love, a few stitches and bruises, free tee shirts being passed out by the bundles and even tears when it was time to say good bye. The hardest part of having friends all over the world is you never know when you'll see them next. After a successful event like this I am sure Lion City will be gathering next year. 

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“Not for blondes”

— Pasha the boss

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Abandoned Pool

While exploring some roof tops in Bangkok we spotted an abandoned pool on top of a six story building. Luckily, part of the building was still being used as various offices so we didn't appear to suspicious walking into the elevator to the top floor. We easily found our way to the empty pool and started and impromptu photoshoot. Not a typical place for parkour or freerunning, humor, strength and ability still shine through when shooting Jason Paul, Pasha Petkuns and Vlad Erovikov. 

Shooting in a place where you are most likely asking for forgiveness rather than permission if you were to get caught is an exciting element. Shooting in a space that was once filled with water, where access at one point was not physically possible in the same way really got me inspired to shoot. Each athlete took it in their own personal way and it was fun to watch them use the unique space.

Eqyptianesque

Samantha Haeberli's Egyptianesque Collection shot on the roof tops of Bangkok with model Jamilly Alves Lima. 

Wonderfruit Festival - Pattaya, Thailand

 

We got invited to partake in the celebration for the first annual Wonderfruit Festival in Pattaya, Thailand. Although it looks empty there were a lot of people attending, the space was just wonderfully spread out. There was amazing food and performances, but mainly I was enjoying instead of photographing them. I did make time, of course, to shoot some shenanigans and smiles. 

-edi

Exploring Roof Tops in Bangkok with Jason Paul