‘I speak my mind, and that can sometimes get you into trouble, so I thought it best to stay away from interviews.’
Bruce Rodela
August 2026
When I DM you about this interview, you mentioned that you do not normally do stuff like this. Why not?
I’ve always just been a behind-the-scenes type of guy. I’ve been in the industry for about 25 years at this point and done just about every job you can think of, but unless you’re sponsored, a pro skateboarder, or even a high-end filmer or photographer (who’s doing it for a living), who wants to hear your opinion on life? Let’s save that for the guys who are really doing it. For the past 25 years, photography has always been my side hustle, and that was intentional. I fucking love photography and never wanted it to be my sole source of income; I felt full-time could ruin my passion for it. Here I am, all these years later, and not only has my passion never waned, but at this point, I love it more, so maybe I made the right choice? Don’t get me wrong; traveling the world as a skateboard photographer would have been amazing, and that opportunity came very close to happening, but when it fell through, I decided to be an industry kook and go for the guaranteed paycheck. I resigned myself at that point to staying behind the curtain. That, and I speak my mind, and that can sometimes get you in trouble, so I thought it best to stay away from interviews.
So why do this now?
Well, I am leaning more into filming and photography these days because I just can’t skate like I used to, so I am ready to do some more creative projects, and I think it’s time to come out of my shell and hype myself up like all the kids do on TikTok’s and Instagram’s. That, and I’m too old to be canceled, so who cares what I say at this point?
I am glad you made an exception but only because you broke your femur, and you are bored. What happened?
If you don’t mind, I’ll back a few years to give you the complete picture of my recent issues. It’s been particularly bad stretch as far as injuries go, and a lesser person probably wouldn’t have been able to make it through all this shit. After COVID, I left a skateboard factory where I worked for 17 years. I helped build it almost from scratch – we produced 500 boards a month when I joined the team and ended up hitting a million dollars a month at the end. I mean, those were fake COVID numbers, but we were killing it before COVID too. The same story you hear on the streets happened to us that happened to a lot of brands after the COVID spike; the knucklehead owner thought we were on easy street and figured those million-dollar months were going to happen forever, and he spent all the money on tractors and crystals instead of bracing for the downfall. Well, sure enough, those numbers dropped faster than they went up, and we ended up in deep shit. No one needed custom boards, and the overstock in the industry was insane. There just weren’t enough sales at the old skateboard factory to support a full staff, so I took a severance package and bounced. To say it was tough for those next two years is an understatement.
Have you considered working for a different industry?
Well, there weren’t any jobs in the industry worth taking and going outside of the industry was frightening to say the least, but I did consider it. But I did my best to stay in the industry. I had a great business plan I drew up for a new type of skateboard distribution, I found a backer, and managed to get it off the ground, but the industry wasn’t recovering anytime soon, and sales just weren’t going to happen to support my project. In any other time, my distribution plan would have been a resounding success, but my backer was losing patience, my mental health was in real danger, and I found myself in a deep depression for the first time in my life. I unfortunately was going to have closed doors and move on.
How did you handle your depression when your project did not take off as expected?
I did the only thing I knew how to do to help me cope, and that was ride my skateboard, and as always it sure did help! I found myself skating longer than I had in years and at a level I haven’t experienced in probably 15 years. Fuck all the personal problems, I was having the time of my life, and skateboarding helped clear my head and get my thinking straight again. I so hyped figured I should take advantage of the moment and film myself. I’ve only helped with other skaters’ parts; I never filmed a part myself, and I thought maybe I could help other OG skaters get back on board and get the physical and mental benefits I was getting. So, film I did! Every Sunday, three to four hours, I pulled out the GoPro’s, the tripod, the drone, learned how to film myself, and it was going great until it was time to start doing the difficult tricks I had mapped out.
What happened?
I’ll cut to the first tragedy because I feel I’m being long-winded. I was doing a 50/50 to fakie, setting myself up for a harder trick on the next wall, and I slipped out and broke my hip at the socket. Bad break, to say the least, and when I tell you it was the worst pain of my life, it doesn’t begin to describe the hell I went through. Straight to the emergency room, straight to surgery to put in a titanium new hip. Luckily, a top-notch doctor was available, and everything went smoothly. I worked hard in rehab and was back in shape in record time. As a matter of fact, I rode my bike to Yosemite six months after the surgery… I was feeling myself to say the least! Don’t get me wrong It was a big setback for sure, but I was determined not to sink into the depths of depression again. The industry was still in shambles at this point, but I was moving forward, my bike was now taking my skateboard’s place, and I vowed to fight through this challenging time even harder.
‘We produced 500 boards a month when I joined the team and ended up hitting a million dollars a month at the end.’
What about the next tragedy?
Family was in town from Montana around Thanksgiving, and the boys wanted to go skate. I figured I’d take everyone to the park and watch them skate. Well, shit, why not just roll around and see how the hip feels? I hit a wet spot, slipped out, and broke my other hip… same exact injury, same exact doctor, and same exact emergency room for a new titanium hip on the left side. Something strange happened, though; this affected me even less mentally. Sure, I had some bad days, but it made me more determined to get my shit together, no matter how bad the industry and the economy were. It made me laugh when I would think about it, to be honest with you. I mean, who has such shit luck during the most trying time in their life and career? Well, I guess I do, that’s who.
What happened after you recovered from the second injury?
Things did get better the very next year. I took a job at HLC Distribution that matched my skills and experience but don’t get me wrong, 2024 was absolute shit for sales still, but at least I was headed in the right direction. I mean, we were going to succeed at HLC’s new US factory, or the whole industry was shutting down, and at some points, it looked like it was… But again, at least I was on the right track for now.
Bruce was the first person I ever shot a photo with so they were always be a place in my heart for him. He also taught me that shooting skate photos is a pain in the butt. He had me jump off stuff for two rolls of film just to make sure he got the shot he wanted and he never know if he actually came out of the photos would be lost. But to have my first photo and Thrasher and knowing that he shot it and is from the Bay Area, makes me happy. Bruce is a legend. Has been skating longer than most people have been alive.Truly an east Bay legend.There are many people that love skateboarding as much as him, and who have sacrificed their bodies as hard as he has yet he’s still out getting it constantly whether it’s with his kid or others. Dude is an inspiration.’ Corey Duffel
At what point did you discover photography?
I was always interested in photography, being a little skate rat and admiring all the killer photos in Skateboarder Magazine as a kid, then Thrasher Mag as a teenager. I always loved the craft, and it was always in the back of my mind that I would pick up a camera someday. I’m from a broken home in the hood, and my parents had no interest in my development as a future adult, so to say I was on my own to figure out life is an understatement. I had no idea what I was going to do and no one to help me carve out a path. Then I met a hot girl from the other side of the tracks from a household that not only had two parents but whose parents were invested in their kids’ futures. One of the first things they asked me when I met them was what I was going to do with my life. Shit, I had to think quick, and I blurted out “photographer,” and little did I know it was just about the best thing I could’ve said. This girl’s father was a part-time wedding photographer, and her grandfather was a famous photo developer and printer in Hollywood. Not wanting to let anyone down and finally having a mission in front of me, I immediately signed up for school and dove deep into mastering the darkroom and landscape photography. I was obsessed, to say the least. Turns out that quick answer changed my life forever.
Any skate photographers you looked up to?
First and foremost, Bryce Kanights. We met as kids at a local empty pool in my hometown of San Leandro. All the rippers from San Francisco would take BART over to shred the spot (Tommy Guerrero, Joe Fong, Kevin Thatcher, etc.), and ironically, the place was called Thrasher Park. I don’t want to be too long-winded, so you can check the rundown of that pool on my blog -> https:// bit.ly/thrasherrocknroll. It’s a rad and little-known story about Thrasher and what went down there. Back to Bryce, though – he and I both went to Catholic school, so we would have the same days off that the public-school kids didn’t, and sure enough, he would come solo out to the pool ’cause he was a straight skate rat like me, and on some days, it would just be him and me shredding. Fast forward a bit, the pool eventually got torn down, so I didn’t see him for a few years. Then, all of a sudden, he was photo editor of Thrasher Magazine. It was one of those “Hey, I know that guy” moments, and I followed his career from there on out. His photos ruled, and I was so impressed by the photographer he became and the job he did at Thrasher. He was a big influence on me as far as shooting skateboarding, and the funny thing is, he was directly responsible for my first photo in Thrasher, and get this, it was at Thrasher Park when they built a temporary skatepark at the location of the old pool….. and he chose one of my shots for the write-up. Fucking full circle, right? Also, Daniel Sturt, Tobin Yelland, Ted Terrebonne, Joe Brook, French Fred, Brian Gaberman, and Atiba Jefferson in the skate game. Ansel Adams and the entire Group f/64 and Geir Jordahl in the landscape world.
‘It was going great until it was time to start doing the difficult tricks I had mapped out.’
How did you transition into producing ads for companies and writing articles for skatemags?
I was skating with some heavy rippers here in the Bay Area, not the least of which was Phil Shao. For those who don’t know, Phil was one of the best skateboarders to ever roll. To give you a comparison, I would say he was the original Grant Taylor. With him and others like Wade Speyer, the entire Think team, and all the other killers in the Bay, you start to realize what it means to be pro. I wasn’t at that level, and I wasn’t going to get there. Sure, I could have been one of those pros that didn’t deserve it, but those dudes are whack. So, what to do? Well, document the rippers and stay in the industry and culture that I love so much. Now, keep in mind, this was about two years after starting school; I had no interest in shooting skating at first because I was still shredding hard, and landscape photography was my passion at the time. I just didn’t want to mix skating and photography, but again, I wanted to be in the industry in some capacity, so I decided to give it a go. The ads happened naturally; as a matter of fact, the second time I shot skate photos, I scored an ad! It was a sweeper of Joe Lopes at the Kennedy Warehouse in San Jose for an upstart brand called Confusion Skateboards. Don’t get me wrong, ’cause, man, did I suck at shooting skate photos when I started; I was no prodigy or anything like that… it was just dumb luck. I kept at it, though, and got good enough photos to use as ads for companies my friends rode for or a single shot in one of the many mags that were around then.
Did you do other jobs in the industry apart from shooting photos?
When it came time for Phil to start his own company out of the Think camp, he wanted me to shoot all the photos and take the role of team manager. He was putting together a sick team, and we were going to travel the world and document anything and everything we could shred. To get me in with the crew at Think he secured me a job as a sales rep while he finished the business plan and launch of the brand, but he tragically died before it became a reality. To say it was devastating to our community can’t begin to describe the hurt. I honestly didn’t care much about photography anymore; I mean, he was my main guy, and shooting others just wasn’t as fun. I pretty much just concentrated on my role as sale guy from there on out.
‘The race for Jesse to be the first to hit the rail from the top was a huge piece of skate history that no one knows yet.’
Did you stop shooting altogether?
Not entirely, I did shoot a bit; we had Thrasher Mag and Slap Mag right across the street from Think, so I tried to keep it going. I shot and wrote an article in Thrasher about Duffleland and had some single shots here and there in the mag. Did quite a few projects for Slap as well, but I wasn’t proud of anything, my heart just wasn’t in the game. Then I was promoted to sales manager at Think, so I was too damn busy to really shoot for quite a while. But we always needed ads for Think or Venture Trucks, so if Dawes, Ogden, Bryce, or any of the other photographers couldn’t get us photos, the bosses at Think started asking me to shoot last minute projects, and I would go out and get ’er done. Then the powers that be realized it was cheaper for me to shoot as much as I could, so they gave me a monthly photo budget, and I started shooting our guys for various projects. So, I ended up eventually being back into photography but as a work role not for art’s sake. That’s when I made the decision that my photography would always be to help market whoever I was working for, so we didn’t have to spend money on photographers, freeing up our cash for other projects. Hard to believe it’s been 25 years now!
Proudest moment?
Well, meeting my wife and having our son are my proudest moment(s) ever. But if we are talking about photography, I would say the Roller Coaster project in Berkeley during COVID. The photo of Jesse Boudreau’s feeble is my favorite skate photo I ever shot, not just because I love the way it turned out visually but because of the backstory. That was a year I’ll never forget, and I look back on it with extreme fondness. It was such a crazy time in the world, and the race for Jesse to be the first to hit the rail from the top was a huge piece of skate history that no one knows yet. Doing it with a great crew of friends, filming it with my son and a crew of other badass filmmakers was amazing, to say the least. I have so much footage and photos from that year that my son and I are trying to finish a documentary on Jesse and the rail and what it took to finally get the trick done. The setback has been my injuries, work issues, and my son finishing school and going off to university. The reality is, we are 90% done with shooting; we just need to wrap it up and edit. We are trying to have it done on the 5-year anniversary of the make in 2026. I’m going to do something for you guys, though, as the ultimate tease I’m giving you the money shot of Jesse on the roller coaster for this interview as the ultimate teaser. I’m tired of it not being seen and I’m sure it will get the hype train rolling for the video.
‘Turns out that quick answer changed my life forever..’
Your website is much more than just about photography. You also publish articles on it. Ever thought of having another go in creating a skatemag?
Too much work for an old-timer like me. If someone approached me to consult and contribute, I would hear them out. I would be open to shooting and writing a few more articles, but I’m not pursuing it at the moment. Too busy at HLC, to be honest with you, and too busy getting my YouTube up and running. My skills are best served getting us through this challenging time in the skateboard industry and doing my own thing creatively. It would take a lot to get me out there, and there just isn’t a lot of funding going around in our industry right now, so I don’t foresee it happening, but who knows? I’ve been wrong before. Like I mentioned, I am going full steam ahead on a YouTube channel and publishing more on my site. Before this latest injury, I was all set to launch, so this situation has sidelined me just a bit, but I have quite a bit of content, future photo and filming projects outlined, and will eventually start producing product to sell on my site that isn’t your normal skate brand path. Jesse Boudreau and I have been talking about making some cool product for a few years now that is based on art and other visual content, and it’s time to get that going. So even though it’s easier to publish your own stuff these days I just don’t have the time to squeeze that in.
What is your role HLC Distribution?
I was hired as sales manager but that has shifted over this first year. I’m needed more in a rep position right now and I’m glad to fulfill that role. I’m the west coast connection so good old fashion phone calls, store visits and a multitude of emails to spread the word that HLC is in Texas now and we are the premier factory in skateboarding. Like I mentioned 2024 was a wash but as soon as we turned the corner into 2025 everything changed, and we are blowing up. That’s saying a lot in this current economic environment too. I’ll be honest I’m used to running the show so being in the role of a rep is humbling and was tough to get used to again. I would straight drive the bosses crazy especially my boss Ruben Garcia…. but like I said I’ve fully embraced my role, and I am loving it. My current role at HLC reminds of when I started at Think Skateboards in the 90’s so it’s another one of those full circle things.
‘Our culture is dependent on shops, not Olympic medals.’
You have lived through many cycles of skateboarding. In which are we in at the moment?
Skateboarding is at a level skill wise I never thought I would see. It’s nothing short of amazing. Did you see that latest Tom Schaar video? My goodness that was insane! What about the output from Jame Foy? Skater of the year last year and puts out aftermath this year. Legend! And not just the gnar cuz there are more people having low impact fun out there as well and that creative way of skating is just as fun to watch. It’s the era of everything! God, I love skateboarding!!! As far as skateboarding in general though, we are in a deep dip interest wise – kids aren’t picking up skateboarding like they used to, that’s not good and it really worries me. Shops are in trouble and if shops are gone, we are all in big trouble. Our culture is dependent on shops not Olympic medals. We are also in the era of individuals over teams. The Instagram and YouTube skaters are fine, but we need teams on tours visiting shops, flying off jump ramps and signing autographs. I keep hearing from brands that they can’t afford the travel budget but I’m telling you that you can’t afford not to find the budget. Get creative, get out there and get some (new) loyal customers.
Last question. If you could interview one person, who would it be?
I’m not much of a religious man, but it would have to be Jesus Christ. I need some answers.