Hello Jerry, what's been going on in jerryland lately?
I'm hungover, but other than that, I've been skateboarding and taking pictures. Today I'm in Vancouver, which isn't very interesting, I went to Paris with my girlfriend recently, that was fun, she had never been there, so we saw the Eiffel Tower. We did all that typical stuff, it was girlfriend time, parole officer time.

So, tell us about growing up on a skateboard. Has this influenced the way you see the world AND shoot pictures?
Growing up skating was perfect for the kind of pictures I liked. Always with people and always moving around outside or in the streets. I was really fortunate to get to travel and support myself skating, so I was always meeting new people and seeing interesting stuff. It was also rad to meet other skaters like me who were into the things I liked and could teach me about what they were doing.
I don't really know how to see my life without having grown up like this. All we do is go around and fuck up people's property and annoy the general public. But I like the way it seperates me from the toil. I'm there, but I don't have to participate if I don't want to. It helps my pictures that way.

So, if a security guard comes up to you and tells you to leave, you just completely ignore him and keep skating?
Yeah or try to negotiate.

Money negotiations?
That happens, I mostly just try to be cool, but they usually aren't too cool.

When did you start calling yourself a photographer? If you do.
I don't really, I am a photographer, I just never say it, I don't know, maybe because everyone is a photographer. I think most kids want to record themselves skating. It probably came from that, they want to make little videos and take pictures of themselves. Lots of skaters I met were already into photography, so it seemed natural to try it out.

Did any of them influence you directly? Or do you think you took your own path?
When I first started taking pictures it was just trying to learn how to use cameras. I didn't even know what I liked. I a got medium format, some toy cameras etc.

Did you ever think it might lead onto some kind of career in the future? Or was it totally just a hobby?
Never. I was just messing around and taking pictures of my friends, later I started learning about artists and photographers and that's when I started developing a style.

Patrick's photos are really nice. I like them a lot. They capture youth and fun well. Is this something you try to capture? Do you have any specific themes to your work?
Yeah I think so. I think themes come while you're shooting and after, I try not to be too deliberate when I'm shooting, my only criteria is that I think something looks cool.
I figure out the themes later, it's cool to have an intention, but I guess all the other stuff comes later, having too much intention could ruin your work. I like pictures with personality. I like subtle action, humour and sadness.

The pictures you have been making with your girlfriend lately, are these more in line with some of your influences? The others seem quite detached from the subject. These are quite personal.
Yeah I try to do more than one thing all the time. I have always been interested in personal and intimate pictures.

How do you feel about people looking at your life like that?
Yeah I like it, I like the intimacy, the voyeuristic aspect, to see what you’re not supposed to see.

How do you feel about the interaction between the subject and the camera? Do you prefer them being conscious of the camera or just ignoring it?
I mostly enjoy them ignoring me, but sometimes I want them to know I'm there and work with me.

How do you direct people? Do you ask them to look a certain way or do a particular thing, or is it based mostly around what they're actually doing at that moment in time?
It's mostly based on what they are doing, and I will tell them to do something again or in a certain way. I've been thinking more about creating situations. It kind of puts it into a different level. It's like symbolism rather than realism. I am totally fine with creating a situation - a situation like a photo I've already taken, not set it up again, but set up something I want to see, make it look like something I would hope to see.

Is this kind of thing mostly with your girlfriend?
No those are just to pass the time really, not much planning.

When was your first photo show?
I haven't really been in that many shows. I think the first one was just at a skate shop. The nicest place I ever had a show was at this gallery in New York that VICE did for their Photo Issue they did a few years ago. I don't really know how they managed to get into this place but it was really fancy pants. They had Robert Frank and Walker Evans prints in the the storage room. I think the gallery just wanted to be hip and Vicey for a day or something.

What are your future plans? Books, shows, assignments etc?
I'm working on a book but it's slow, I'm slow. The thought of doing 'my book' kind of freaks me out so I have just been chiseling away at it for a long time. I've been working on smaller stuff in the meantime because I feel less stressed about it. I'm sponsored by Emerica, and they're starting a small publishing thing so I'm working on something with them.

What are you working on with skateboarding at the moment, a video in the making?
Yeah I just got back into skating after two surgeries. I'm trying to film as much as I can because I'm totally behind everyone else. I endured almost two years of physical therapy just to destroy my body all over again.

What do you have on the walls of your house? describe your environment?
It's clutter. Piles on the ground, stuff all over the walls. It's a nightmare for some and a curiosity for others. People give me books on how to rid your life of clutter and obsessive collecting, but I like it. I like my possessions.

Finally, what will you do when you are too old to skateboard professionally? Have you ever thought about it? Roll around in your ironic Benz?
People always ask this question. I don't know at all. Hopefully find a way to keep taking pictures for a living. I'll probably have to sell the Benz so I can buy some film.