Right 'Ere My Son! - Five Years In The UK With Ben Raemers
As you all know, Ben tragically took his life back in May. We recently shared with you news of The Ben Raemer's Foundation which "seeks to raise awareness around the tools, techniques and skills that can be used within the community to address issues surrounding mental health and suicide."
Towards the back end of last week Ryan Gray of Sidewalk and The National Skateboard Co fame, one of the leading lights in UK filming over the past decade, provided the foundation with a collection of UK based clips he'd filmed with Ben over the last five years and they've shared the edit with the world through their YouTube Channel in the hopes of promoting their cause.
Obviously, given Ben's immense talent, the skating in this is top notch but what makes it as equally as beautiful are the occasional glimpses and insight into the person Ben was off his board. Ryan explains the piece like this:
"Over the course of the last handful of years, myself and Ben never had anything like an agenda as far as filming skateboarding went. If we were going out skating, the camera would be in the bag most of the time, but neither of us were ever under much pressure to get the thing out. Each time we would happen to film a clip, Ben would be energised with some new idea - “lets film a fun skatepark edit”, “lets film a trick tips video”, “lets give all of my footage to enjoi/Converse/Volcom”. What we have here is a patchwork of those spontaneous sessions, the fruits of various agenda-less road trips, the foundation stones for projects that were often discussed but never quite got off the ground. Some of this footage has surfaced over the years, some of it may have slipped through the cracks and some of it may be new to you. Either way, I hope that by sharing these moments, it helps in some small way to keep Ben and his energy close to us."