Go Skateboarding by Ryan Manning

More like Girl Skateboarding! In Skateboarding life, it's a bit hard, just like falling onto the concrete, for a female skater to get a positive perspective from its peers. Ryan Manning wants to explore the empowerment of female skateboarders by highlighting their style and fashion. If I were a skateboarder, I would say, "that's sick." Promoting females in any industry now is a trendy thing to do but is also a logical thing. This ideology is something that we would all love to take on board. A model like Alyssa, Jessie, and Meghan, who participate in this photoshoot, has shown us how many times they might fall. They always get back up. 

Ryan Manning was attracted to skateboarding when he was a teenager because it allows him to express his creativity. Now, he can do that through his photography Final Major Project. You can tell who is into skateboarding by looking at them. Just look at the way they're dress, act, and speak. We all notice that they aren't many female skaters out there.

Nonetheless, Ryan wants to promote it, as he suggests, "there is no wrong way to skate, just skate whatever it feels natural." Metaphorically, there is no wrong way of being you. Just be whoever you want as long it feels natural. Anybody can be a skateboarder, "from the university student and fellow photographer to tattoo artists and bartender."

Skate Kitchen inspired his craft to boost positivity for a female skateboarder. You can see that American portrait photographer Richard Renaldi inspired Ryan's artistic choice. There was a shared similarity to British social documentary photographer Laura Pannack too. Hopefully, he can go work for Vice like Aaron Wynia, who encouraged his creative direction. In the end, Ryan wants you to look deeper by looking through his lens, from his perspective.

Check out the image series 'Go Skateboarding' here.

Written by Krisana Polyotha

Edited and published by Chloe Webb

BA(Hons) Media Production

Solent Media