Pioneer Profile - Dave Crawford

 

Growing up in a skateboard culture can make a lot of interesting, wonderful things out of a person. I’m sure some skate rats grow up to be normal, well-adjusted, productive members of society in a Glengarry Glen Rosskind of way, but...a lot of us don’t.

Dave Crawford grew up skateboarding in the suburbs outside Atlanta. There comes a point in the lives of a lot of young skateboarders when you discover that your skillset will probably not land you on the cover of Thrasher any time soon, and you have to decide what to do with that information. Dave decided that positioning himself behind the camera would keep him in the game, so he started shooting. For the next several years, you could find him wherever the action was. He shot skateboarding, wakeboarding, punk rock shows, whatever he could find. If it involved high energy and a healthy distrust for authority, Dave was about it.

A few years in community college cemented in Dave the idea that he did not want to go to community college. He left to pursue his passion for pictures. For the next three years, he did what most of us do in pursuit of a dream: odd jobs. His time spent as a bread delivery man, golf caddy, waiter, bar-back, and bartender sustained him financially for a while but mostly served to strengthen the level of passion he had for photography. He decided to take the leap.

Dave took the Pioneer Spirit that had kept his dreams in his sights and doubled down on making it happen. He shot weddings for money and took other projects as they came. Including, as it was, some of the earliest In God We Must promotional images.

Dave was instrumental in helping us craft a visual identity that we still adhere to today. Some of you are reading this note because an image crafted by Dave looked cool to you, and we couldn’t be more thankful for that. To him and to you.

These days, Dave shoots inspiring images for brands and commercial clients as well as capturing images he finds inspiring. If you want to see some of them, click this.

If you need a good dude to shoot your photographs, call Dave.

 

Until next time,

John - Founder of IGWM

 

Pioneer Selects: Dave Crawford

Currently Reading: “Most of what I look at is visual stuff - photo campaigns and stuff like that. I like to see what’s going on in the photo world.”

Currently Listening: “I always have The Cranberries going,Young Dolph - definitely on that record, and I always have various hardcore bands in the mix.”

Current Inspiration: “These days I’m trying to work on myself, and a lot of my work is therapeutic. My wife is a huge inspiration in that way. She keeps me in check.”

Favorite IGWM product: The “Your Mentality is Your Reality” shirt. It’s so true - positivity is always the right road.”