Magdalena Wosinska grew up in the states after immigrating from Poland with her parents at a young age. Not speaking a word of English and overwhelmed by the American culture of the 90’s, she found herself at home in the misfit culture of skateboarding. Magda picked up a camera at the age of 14 and quickly started shooting the people and skaters in her surroundings. The dream of having a career in skateboarding photography never really panned out, but after pursuing a music career and ultimately making a name for herself in editorial and commercial photography it seems to be coming full circle. Her archive is filled with early images of skateboarding’s who’s who and full on industry legends from when they first appeared on the scene, all shot from her intimate viewpoint as one of the only women close enough . “Fulfill the Dream” will be the title of her upcoming book project, showcasing the scene back then as well as her own development as an artist.

In the world of skateboarding, there have always been those who changed the direction of their skating one way or another. For example, you saw people like Eli Reed, Chris Cole, or recently, Ville Wester creating a new version of themselves – mostly in terms of style. Everyone has different reasons to take a different path. Whether it be influences from music, hobbies, or just growing up. None of the above, however, describes the process of Ludvig Håkansson’s (re)discovery of vert skating adequately. It was just more of a “feeling” he had and then he went for it. And, besides skating without a suit jacket, his unique style remains the same in the vert environment: basically, changing directions without changing it up too much.

No doubt skateboarding goes into your skin. Over the years, you’ll collect numerous recurring wounds that feel like tattoos at some point. And since skateboarders are already used to pain (or maybe started skateboarding because of their masochistic nature, who knows) and interested in art, there is already a close connection to tattooing. Although even the administrator of your health insurance company might be tattooed nowadays, it’s still a good look for a rebellious subculture if there are tattoos around. And skateboarding has a lot of them: a board, a broken board shaped like a heart, Skate and Destroy, the Indy logo, all kinds of other company logos or weird crew tattoos, tramp stamps and own name tattoos, black sleeves, fake Monster back tattoos, lip tattoos, (bat) face tattoos, Die Trying and colts looking like they’re holstered in your pants, religious awakening tattoos, tattooed autographs, Tony Hawk’s face, covered mum tattoos, mandalas on butt cheeks, or just tattoos all over like Antwuan. The list is endless. And since there is such a close connection, there are also a lot of skaters that got into tattooing themselves. We would like to introduce you to the work of some of them.

We first became aware of Alice Smith not too long ago in a Lovenskate video from a trip to Switzerland that we presented. She only had a short appearance in it, but you could feel her energy and that she won’t take no for an answer, when she’s trying a trick. In general, she doesn’t simply accept the circumstances, doesn’t walk down familiar paths just because it’s easier, and doesn’t like to be put into boxes (although she might accept emo). The box in which you could put her would probably still have to be invented anyway. For example, she’s also the first person we’ve ever talked to whose interview ended with her getting a nosebleed. Could have been simply coincidence or maybe she has something similar going on like Eleven in Stranger Things. She definitely has some kind of superpower.

Scandinavian winters are tough and not necessarily ideal to keep skating all year round. Many guys turn to snowboarding as a welcome alternative during the colder days of the year, but for some, that in itself doesn’t quite seem to scratch the itch. Over the past few years, Ambition Snowskates has been popping up in our feed under the feet of some of our favorites like Karsten Kleppan, John Shanahan, and Jan Henrik Kongstein. Fueled especially by Janno’s enthusiasm to really get the most out of the boards with foam and plastic spikes for griptape and encouraged by the good times at Torshov Open’s winter event, we hit spots around Oslo for a mission and asked some fundamental questions to prepare you for your first snowskate session.

South African Yann Horowitz is an experienced traveler who has visited Europe several times. On his visit last summer he collected some photos, which we'll share here along with some travel tips he has collected over the years.

Skateboard tours can be boring. A bunch of dudes going somewhere in a van to just huck down their go-to tricks cause they have to get a maximum amount of footage in a short amount of time. Still, you can’t deny that traveling is a big part of skateboarding and it can still be fun. Last summer, Austyn Gillette visited Europe with Sammy Montano to film some stuff for his new pro shoe (that is now released). It was a mission that, some would say, was not a complete success for different reasons. But fuck it, in the end, it looks like a trip we would prefer any time over sitting in a van all day long getting thrown at spots by a TM that is giving you the whip to film your bangers – and some stuff for Insta on the side. This trip looks way more relaxed, fun, and enjoyable: living la dolce vita. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Having a good time with good people instead of following the capitalist narrative of being “productive.” You know the saying, “Sometimes skateboarding involves not skating,” and sometimes skateboard trips involve having a Negroni at a nice restaurant with your homies.