You may remember back in 2021, Kyota Umeki dropped a video filmed entirely on a gen 4 iPod Touch, the first such device to have video-recording capabilities — and one that has been antiquated to the point where it’s not even recognized by the new MacBook models.
📝 Intro + Interview by Adam Abada
📷 Photography by Ryu Kamata
We’ve all had the notion to print a funny phrase or doodle on a t-shirt and sell it to our friends. Some of us have even followed through with it. But how many of us have figured out how to get our own branded headphones manufactured before even reaching 21? Kyota Umeki has one such distinction. He’s also got a bunch of skate parts and a brand that’s about to open a store in the neighborhood he grew up in.
We first caught Tanner Diamond‘s atmospheric videos with “OTIS” back in early 2021, when the city’s streets were still gutted out for skateboarders to do whatever they wanted. Last winter’s “TREAD” built on that momentum, and today, we’re honored to present “PIECED,” Tanner’s latest.
Every approach to skateboarding in New York and documenting it is obviously beautiful, but Tanner’s videos tap into the timelessness of hacking the algorithm of the city’s plazas — whether its a nondescript slab of marble just barely out of view from security, or the eight set in front of the Met that’s been skated for as long as people have been able to huck down eights. There’s no gravitation to summer hot spots, just a see-what-works approach that often feels more effective at night with a camera light. They do make it out to Paris and San Juan this time though ✈️
Whether you’re the same age as these dudes or swamped with life shit and only able to skate once a week, it’s not hard to recognize a glimmer of your own skate crew’s best days watching these videos.
