Watch: Ishod Wair in ‘Pack Heavy, Chase Light,’ by D_b_
Ishod Wair, where to begin?
A SOTY, a skater, a thinker, a traveler, a photographer. Lot’s of ‘-er’. He’s a difficult guy to sum up, try as we may have in his episode of our podcast. He has been one of my favorite skaters since I was fourteen years old watching his clips on Real’s YouTube channel, thinking to myself, ‘wow, I can’t wait to be that good when I’m like twenty three or twenty four, all a matter of time.’ It was not a matter of time. I suck. Also, and most importantly, when I was fourteen watching Ishod thinking there were years and years separating us, Ishod was sixteen. We are two years apart. Do you know how embarrassing that is? You couldn’t possibly.
Anyway, this might be a lofty statement, but it is agreed upon in every single conversation I’ve ever had with a serious skateboarder or skate industry insider whenever his name is raised: Ishod is one of the greatest skateboarders to ever live. He is simply incredible. Even more annoying, he’s a talented photographer, a medium that he once did avidly and has recently re-adopted.
The man’s talent is ever-expanding like the universe, or a sponge in water, soaking in as much information and with as much detail as a brain possibly can soak. As he’s said, ‘There’s always going to be something to work on. There’s always going to be something to sharpen.’ Commitment, tenacity. Those are the words.
Now, with the return of D_b_’s acclaimed series, Pack Heavy, Chase Light, we get to indulge even further in our (and again, admittedly, humiliatingly, my own personal) admiration of the multi-hyphenate. The episode explores Ishod’s re-advance (get it? film advance? no? alright…) into film and photography, his foyer into the world of fashion, his ever-expanding career in skateboarding, and how they all seem to crossover each other while traveling the world. Available at the top of this page. Give it a watch. Learn something new. Meet your new hero.
