Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do.
My name is Ian Ostrowski, I’m a videographer, photographer and skateboarder. I lived in Seattle WA pretty much my whole life until I moved to LA in 2024. I’m a freelance videographer and editor, primarily working with Jenkem Mag. I also run a skateboard company called Genesis that started as a skate video series with my friends in Seattle. My primary focus is still skate videos, beyond skate tricks I try to capture intimate moments with friends.
Are there any influences that are core to what you do?
Cherry and Illegal Civilization 2 both came out in my junior year of high school and were a huge inspiration for me to make full length skate films. I remember having viewing parties with my friends watching both of them when someone finally got their hands on a DVD. I also remember one of the homies renting Pretty Sweet on iTunes, we went over to his house afterschool and made a big plate of nachos before watching it. It was awesome hahah
How were you introduced to filming?
I was introduced to filming making home videos with my friends on a flip cam when I was 10. We would film silly little skits and a lot of stop motion stuff as well. Skate filming started in middle school. One of my friends got a GoPro and we would pass it around and take turns filming each other. Over time I think I was the one who enjoyed filming the most so it became a more permanent role.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlhHwA7yY78&t=9s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcymAK7b9VU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuJdCldATEs
Is there a moment you look back on as being formative to your work?
When I was pretty young my dad rented a compilation of Michel Gondry short films from the library and I remember being so stoked on how wacky they were. The first real full length skate video I watched was called Beware of Sasquatch. My friend Raphi got me Sasquatch on DVD for my birthday the year I started skating. It was filmed primarily in the Pacific Northwest and it was so cool seeing spots from Seattle that I recognized. A lot of the footage was right before Cory Kennedy moved to LA and got really big, so that was really inspiring as well.
How did Genesis begin & what has the journey been like as it’s grown into a board company?
Genesis started as a small crew of friends that skated Jefferson Park in South Seattle. Me, Troy Gipson, Bao Nguyen, Xavier Holte, Jasper Levine, Pablo Otero-Royer, and Cooper Phillips were at the helm of it. It really just started with us fucking around at the skatepark and filming videos there, later venturing out and looking for more street spots. In 2017 we put out our first full length skate video and a few hand screen printed tees and it’s kinda snowballed from there. Our crew has doubled since we’ve started and we now have riders in Denver, New York and Tokyo.
Your videos often document the relationships between friends as much as the skating itself. Was this a conscious effort or did it arise naturally?
I think hanging out is one of the most important parts of skating! And there is no one I would rather do it with than my friends. I try and document these moments as much as possible because of how fleeting they are and how we often long for them when we can’t skate. Another important part of this is capturing moments before they go away, sometimes I think people put too much emphasis on polished broll and everything looking fancy and nice but I actually strive for the opposite. I end up using a lot of iPhone and handycam footage because if I were to take the time to set my real camera up I would’ve completely missed the moment as it’s happening.
Are there any memories from a skate trip that linger with you? Is there a favorite trip?
Man there was a trip to SF I did in the middle of 2020 with Dylan, Bao and Rafi and it was the most memorable trip I’ve ever had. It felt like everyone got a clip everyday, which is kinda rare sometimes on trips. I used to drive my aunts minivan everywhere and that was a super memorable trip in the van.
What role does the right song play when editing videos? How/where do you source music for videos? Is there something in particular that you look for in a song for a video?
Music is the most important part of my videos. Most videos are entirely built around an idea I had after listening to a song. I usually spend a couple hours every week sifting thru new music. A lot of digging on YouTube and Soundcloud, I also really like Nina Protocol for more obscure cuts.
When I hear a song I like I usually add it to a playlist and write it down in my notes app along with a description of the feeling and what it could be used for.
There’s nothing specific I look for with music, usually more of a ya know when ya know sort of thing.
Are there any filmers, photographers or editors that have been influential to your work?
Spike Jonze, Shane Auckland, Greg Girard, Logan Lara, Wes Anderson, Jerry Hsu, Documentary Forever, Noah Kentis, noahsocold, John Wilson, Johnny Wilson, Matt Johnson
How has it been working at Jenkem?
Working at Jenkem has been awesome and life changing in a lot of ways. In Seattle the skate community is very small and there’s not really a whole lot of opportunities to work in skating. I had been thinking about moving to LA for a few years and was talking to Ian Michna and he offered me work if I was willing to move down. At this time I had zero documentary experience and not much video experience outside of making my own skate videos. But Ian was super down to teach me and connect me with more people. Filming for Jenkem has taken me to Paris, Macao, Toronto, and Puerto Rico and other places across the world. Which has been super sick cuz I didn’t travel a whole lot when I was a kid. I think my favorite thing though has been choosing my own stories and having a creative voice. It allows me to explore the crevices in skateboarding and shed light on the underdogs who might never get a shot from mainstream skate media outlets. I really want to explore more stories outside skateboarding as well.
What’s it like living and working in LA? How does it compare to life in Seattle?
LA is cool!! Things are a lot more fast paced and overall it feels like everyone around you moves with a little more urgency. There’s also a lot more opportunity in the creative world. I’ve been able to find a decent amount of work out here as a PA helping on film sets. I also live ten minutes from the fashion district which makes it super easy to source garments for upcoming Genesis drops, something that’s a little harder to do in person in Seattle. The main reason we moved here though was for the weather! In Seattle it’s pretty impossible to skate outside half the year and there’s only one indoor skatepark.
I do have a deep appreciation for the Pacific Northwest and wish to return later in life when things slow down a bit.
How does your skate community now compare to the community you had when you were younger?
It definitely feels like it’s shrunk a bit! Growing up in Seattle there was a bustling skate scene and 14 different filmers who were all actively putting out videos. Now there’s only a handful. I ran into a kid at a local park while I was back in Seattle for the holidays and he told me most of his friends have quit skating because they don’t see it going anywhere which made me kinda sad.
In LA skating is still thriving but it doesn’t have the same novelty it did a decade ago. The golden era of schoolyards and big rails has been winding down. With ramped up surveillance, security and anti-skating architecture I think we’re all just trying to think outside the box and find new places to go.
When I was younger I really liked hanging out with my friends in a parking lot and skating a small curb or a two stair and it almost feels like I’ve made a full loop back to that.
What is something you want to see more of in your world or in your community?
I want to see more youth representation in skateboarding and especially skate media. I think this is also one of the biggest reasons the skateboard industry is struggling right now. When I was a kid I was most inspired watching young people skate and when there’s less of that available in the mainstream it makes sense why young kids aren’t as excited about skating.
How do you manage tending to the variety of responsibilities in the work you do?
I think delegating my time is the hardest part. I have a whiteboard in my room with a todo list for the week. It’s always a constant balance of genesis vs jenkem, skating vs real life, outside vs inside. When I’m outside I’m just trying to gather as much as possible, clips, photos, shazaming songs I hear, writing in my notes app things that catch my attention. When I’m inside I’m sorting thru footage, looking for music, editing, doing laundry, and responding to emails. I try to keep a good balance of both.
Do you have a dream project?
I really want to make a feature film one day, with minimal correlation to skateboarding. It would also be the dream to work on a movie where one of the characters has a digicam/handycam and be the guy who captures and compiles all the photos and videos that play at some point in the movie.
What do you collect?
I collect clips, sunglasses, CDs, hard drives, stickers, cameras, and those fake credit cards that companies send you with your name on them because you can cut out the name part and use it to label personal belongings
Interviewed by Luca Lotruglio.