Observation, Timing, and Documentation

Photography By Kayla Guilfoy

Photographer Kayla Guilfoy opens up about trying to covey a trick, how each skater has their own unique style, and her passion for documenting the roller skate culture.

Long Beach, USA

How did you begin your journey as a photographer?

I’ve been playing around with cameras for most of my life, but my journey really began during the beginning of the pandemic. I was given a few months off work, so I bought a camera and taught myself as much as possible. I started going out into the desert and taking self portraits since I couldn’t take photos of anyone else at the time due to social distancing.

What have you learned since?

I’ve learned so much about proper composition and lighting, but that’s not really the interesting part for me. The biggest thing I’ve learned is how to observe and determine which moment I should capture. I am always looking for the moments that I feel tell the story in the most genuine way. For skating, the timing is so important and a fraction of a second is the difference between an insane shot and an okay one.

How would you describe your photography style in 3 words?

Documentary, nostalgic, genuine

Your work focuses on roller blading and roller skating photography. How did you get into this world?

For my time off during COVID, I saw so many people on Instagram rollerskating, which influenced me to get a pair myself. I started taking my camera out to the skatepark with me, and quickly fell in love with capturing the culture of the sport. There were a few local zines going around in Vegas at the time (shoutout to Malcriada Media!), and I made it my goal to shoot something good enough to be featured in one of them. That really motivated me to continue to progress with my photography.

Why is photographing this sport important to you?

Aggressive roller skating has been around since vert skateboarding took over in the 1970’s, but there’s very few photos of rollerskaters from that time period. Photographing this sport is so important to me because I want there to be documentation of this culture as time goes on and as the sport progresses. Rollerskating really blew up in 2020 and it’s so awesome how many skaters and businesses are out there changing the sport and building something. I just want to be there with a camera to capture it all for us to look back on when we’re all old and busted up.

Tell the story behind one of your photographs.

We were at a rollerskating class called Drop In Clinic where Jammalynn and Duke Rennie were teaching. Duke is a legend in the vert skating community for his side stance, which was super popular in the 70’s & 80’s. Since then, side stance has lost popularity so it’s pretty rare to see someone skating that way, especially at Duke’s level. He was skating around one of the bowls off to the side of the class, when I hear one of the other ladies say “what if you skated over us?” Duke comes over and asks if I can get a shot of this so I run over and get set up. We got the shot on the first try and it came out perfect! From Jammalynn’s genuine reaction to Lilo the dog chasing Duke in the background.

What is the most difficult thing about skate photography?

Trying to convey the trick and the skater’s style through a single frame

Who are some of your favorite skaters to shoot and why?

Kay (@hairlesstomato) and Jammalynn (@jammalynnflower) Kay is one of the first skaters that I ever shot with and we’ve been able to create a lot of fun work. We’re always bouncing ideas off of each other and trying to make something that’s a little outside the box. I’ve gotten to shoot with Jammalynn a few times out in the wild and it’s always a great time. She’s down to try just about anything and she’ll be laughing and bringing such positive energy the entire time. Plus it doesn’t hurt that she’s got the sweetest dog, Lilo, who comes everywhere with her.

What do you love about the skate community? What do you think needs to change?

I love that everything about skating is creative, everyone has their own unique style. I would say one of the main things that needs to change is there is still a lot of misogynistic behavior going on in skateparks. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve been snaked or straight up crashed into by men because they don’t think I deserve to be there.

If you could photograph a skate scene anywhere else in the world, where would you photograph and why?

Without a doubt, Colombia! I recently had a few friends visit from Bogotá and I was so inspired by all the stories they told me about the community there. There’s some really creative skaters coming out of that area and I can’t wait to see what they do next. I’m definitely booking a trip out there within the next year.

What is next for you?

I would really love to start incorporating my newfound love for film photography into the work I do with skating. I’m hoping to work on some projects in the near future that bring those 2 worlds together!