Surfing, Skateboarding, Music, Photography, Travel, Culture and general antics of the youth on the run.

Dear Youth Nate Lawrence on photography

Nate Lawrence photography surf waves what youth

Editor’s Note: There just aren’t enough things in life like Nate Lawrence. Which is unfortunate, because he fucking rules..at everything. Especially photography. It’s a big reason he was our first choice when deciding who we were bringing into this mess of indie creation. He knew what was in store. And we needed his enthusiasm. There also isn’t anyone else we’d have a better time enjoying life on the road with. This series will be a little window into his world and photography.

Nate Lawrence: “I’ve recently gone through every single one of my hard drives in an attempt to clean up the mess I’ve created since high school. I’m now 31. It was quite a mess. That means for about 15 years the only constant thing in my life has been photography. Well, and surfing. But that feels different.

But what I also realized is that I used to take really shit photos. I still do now, but in 2006 I got really psyched on golden reflector photography. I brought it to Morocco and shot some portraits using it. The results were hideous. But no one ever told me. And I guess that’s the great thing about photography: you can do your own thing, it’s on you. And as long as you don’t go too far off the deep end with your experiments or piss too many people off, you’ll always be allowed back in.

This here photo is the one image that really jumped at me while choosing my first photo for “Photo Credit.” And the only reason for that is because I know I’ll never get tired of looking at this image. And that’s a hard thing to find, something that stands the test of time. And I’ll prove that to you next week by choosing an image from the golden reflector months!”

Taylor Steele, Joe Curren, Tim Curran

I’ll never surf the wave pool Even if Kelly Slater invites me, no strings attached, I will very politely decline. Here’s why:

I have the worst taste in music because of surfing. And yeah, I suppose music is entirely subjective, but I spent my formative years listening to a melodic and generic emo version of punk rock that is now married to my obsession with surfing. And I don’t blame Taylor Steele. I thank him. It has been…

what youth kelly slater wave pool caddyshack

Country Club Surf Culture Why I want nothing to do with the WSL and Kelly Slater Wave Co.

All day today there’s been a lot of hype, speculation and excitement around the WSL’s specialty event at Kelly Slater’s wave pool. I’ve spoken to people at the wave and people who rode the wave and people who attended the event — some invited and some not invited. We’ve texted with Kelly (who I must say has…

what youth dear youth discontent travis ferre

Fan the flames of Discontent The Dream Tour is changing and it’s starting at a wave pool

I’ve made it more than apparent that I hate the word content. I hate all of it’s definitions. Content. Content. And content. Fuck ’em all. It’s a bad word. It’s a vanilla plain oatmeal crappy word that encourages status quo and general well being and I’ve never gotten along with it no matter how you’re…

what youth florida hurricane irma

When you’re in the radar of Irma I’ve learned a lot about hurricane culture today

In Florida, everywhere you look there is a television screen bigger than the previous “biggest TV screen you’ve ever seen” and they are all shouting and displaying a massive radar depiction of Hurricane Irma — who deserves to be capitalized and probably deserves an even bigger TV. And I’d be lying if I said I…

what youth thomas campbell movie craig anderson surfing

Thomas Campbell’s Fever Dreams In a world of gimmicks, it’s nice to know there’s a new Thomas Campbell film in the works

“This isn’t going to be like any of my other films.” That was the first thing Thomas Campbell told me about this new project. He then went on to describe his vision a bit — which is always a fascinating journey, listening to an artist describe what they see in their mind over the phone….

what youth julian k

Who is Julian Klincewicz? Well, he’s an underground and prolific part of many things and the subject of an upcoming WY Artist Series

Julian Klincewicz has the kind of name you hope you don’t have to type out too often. There are letters in it that don’t spend a lot of time next to each other and sounding it out just aint gonna work. But it’s one I nail every time now. Without looking. Written and spoken. And…

Leo Romero, Brostyle

Brostyle Pacific Northwest trip We went to Seattle and back with Leo Romero, Dakota Servold, Corey Glick, Dylan Witkin and Aaron Homoki

Well over the past few years we’ve been lucky enough to get to know Leo Romero pretty well. He owns a griptape company called “Brostyle.” And the thing that makes a grip company special and different from a board company or shoe company is the fact that you aren’t necessarily in it to make money…

The guys still going in the US Open Stories behind Kanoa Igarashi, Tanner Gudauskas and Soli Bailey

The early days of the US Open are interesting. It’s a mixed plate of up and comers, some familiar faces and a bunch of dudes you probably just straight up haven’t heard of. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with who’s who in those early days, but now that things have thinned out, we looked at who’s still surfing…

what youth happy hour mitch coleborn us open of surfing summer

When Mitch and Yago stop by “Don’t you wanna fly above the water like a pelican?”

Hi there. Yep, back. Nothing like a nice couple of “Happy Hours” with Mitch Coleborn and Yago Dora to ignite the spirit. Yesterday, both popped in for the afternoon to kick off the completely unofficial and totally unregulated or sponsored “What Youth Happy Hours.” If you don’t know, we have a little store front at…

what youth recommends rip chester bennington

RIP Chester Bennington The Linkin Park frontman apparently had a bigger impact on all of us than we thought

Editor’s note: This a weird one. Linkin Park might not be a band you’d anticipate seeing us report on after learning about lead singer Chester Bennington taking his own life today. But Linkin Park is interesting.  They are probably the first band that somehow has had a weird impact on every single person and age demographic…

what youth issue 18 lauch party

Come Spread the Gospel with us “Join, or die” with us, Former, Need Essentials and Vans at the Ace Hotel in LA

In 1754 Benjamin Franklin made the political cartoon you see on our flyer and he published it in the Pennsylvania Gazette, an editorial piece about a “disunited state” that existed between the founding colonies of America. And before I get too deep on that — because the fact of the matter is we’re all just gonna check…

what youth ryan burch issue 18

New issue is at the printer, now what? Well, hit the road. And have a party of course.

“Do you know how many times I clicked my fucking mouse to make this thing?” We’ll chalk this up to “shit art director’s say,” but it’s true, ours, Scott Chenoweth, did probably click his mouse a lot of times. And it was all for you, because we made another issue. Number 18! Hot damn. While…

Sign up for letters from What Youth


By enabling this page, you are acknowledging and accepting our privacy terms and conditions.