Normally this blog post would be a summary of the free skate and cake session at Transition that we’ve done in the first 2 years. But obviously that’s not been able to happen - so we’ll plan one for later in the year or maybe just wait until our 5th Birthday and go all out!
So instead I just wanted to say a huge thanks to all that have supported me over the years.
To coincide with this we worked with local creative Katy Shewan on a product photoshoot. This also landed at a time when we were launching some new colours to the Plenty of PoP range.!
I’ve written about photoshoots previously. You can read it here. In that post i was exploring what a photo shoot means to me, to Doric and very broadly how different approaches are perceived.
Katy’s approach worked great for me - we chatted about what I liked and what I didn’t, looked at a mood board, talked about models and then I just left them to it.!
A few days later i had photographs for everything i currently have and one or two others for later. ; )
I think my hesitance to do something like this is just my pure self consciousness - I don’t want people to think i am taking myself seriously, getting beyond my station, etc. What I have discovered about myself is that whilst i don’t take myself seriously - I take what I do very seriously.
So I wrestle with the prospect of treating Doric Skateboards like a legitimate business. But I shouldn’t worry - its ok to take this seriously and want it to be a success. It really doesn’t make me some capitalistic twat. This was never set up as some kind of altruistic endeavour. I think in the early days I was almost apologetic about what I was doing. Embarrassed. But now I feel more legit. And that’s got nothing to do with popularity, takings, profit, exterior validation. Its just something in me.
4+ years ago we wrote a mission statement. Some of it has changed over the years but one bit has remained:
“create a skateboard brand that we can be proud of.”
This used to say the North East. But it really starts with me. If anyone else wants to be part of that “we” then that’s absolutely amazing! : )
And so photoshoots like this one help give me a wee sense of pride and make sure I keep on track with the hows and whys of starting this in the first place.
Happy Birthday to Us. : )
