Nash Keanu Jacquez - Sorry for Fingerboarding
Who doesn't like to go to fingerboard events? If you don’t, I am SORRY.
Today, we are presenting a new category of articles… Grind & Slide! Here, we invite content creators from the fingerboard community and talk about how they create their own unique style of videography, photography, and even in-person events. For the first episode of Grind & Slide, we invited someone special from California who creates all things mentioned above. His name is Nash Jacquez, and he is the Founder of Sorry for Fingerboarding.
Nash Keanu Jacquez / Founder of Sorry for Fingerboarding
(NY) Please introduce yourself to our readers!
(NKJ) Hey, Stoked to meet all of y'all. My Name is Nash, I am the Founder of Sorry for Fingerboarding. I have been fingerboarding since as early as I can remember. Stoked you are all here reading, let's go on a journey together.
(NY) Tell us what Sorry for Fingerboarding is all about.
(NKJ) Sorry for Fingerboarding was born as a passion project in December 2013 and Launched in May 2014. I already had experience inside the fingerboard world going back to 2007 and was happy to come back working alongside Blackriver Ramps, Andy Hick from the company at the time really was a huge push and help to grow our scene in California and handed Sorry the Keys to the ship. We initially started as just an event and introduced products just a few years later after our event was established! Thank you for the help BRR, we are so damn excited to see where Sorry is today, I feel at some point there were so many fb events it felt like you could go to one a week hosted by different companies and individuals for months at a time. Thank you fingerboarding for showing up!
Photo by: Martin Ehrenberger
(NY) Your brand is known for hosting events across the country, what is the story behind coordinating these large-scale events?
(NKJ) Yes, thank you! We have been very lucky to travel around and host different style events all over. It all started with the passion of growing up in a small town where there were no fingerboarding events for a long time and wanting to expand and leave the nook or desktop in your house and fingerboard and fellowship with others all around the world. Carrying that drive and feeling we are able to generate a larger scale event to help fulfill our dream and anyone else's.
Photo by: Yoon Sul
(NY) Back in 2019, you collaborated with The Berrics, one of the most influential skateboard medias that exist today (featuring several talented people such as Nico Frank, Cassius Hirst, and Felipe Gustavo). Can you tell us how you came across that opportunity to introduce fingerboarding to a broader scale of audience?
(NKJ) The Berrics project was always so crazy to me. I'm sure all of us that have skated or fingerboard remember watching the early days of the Berrics and just wondering if we were going to be able to go there someday. In 2018 I was able to go on a trip to Porto and visit "PATEO PRO FINGERBOARDING" the home of Oak Wheels. The session and vibe they provided was very high and it really felt exclusive. I had never felt that before and I had said something or thought that this must be what the Berrics of fingerboarding would feel like. Fast forward to early 2019 (6 weeks before the video came out) I had got a call from Tim at the Berrics that a new collaborator of the Berrics, Bo (Bo's Angles) He brought up fingerboarding and wanted to see if we could build the park. It was a no brainer, hell ya I was going to do it and find a way even if that meant driving 3.5hours every weekend to go use my Dads tools while I lived in a tiny studio apartment in long beach. We were going to make it happen! The video was great and all the B-side footy too! I loved the journey and we even got to collab with them and still even to this day.
(NY) You not only post great photos and video content on your Instagram (@sorryforfingerboarding) in terms of quality, but most importantly they portray the friendship and sense of community among people (some who have never met in person until the day of the event). Do you look for that humanitarian aspect when you create digital content? or is it a gift that naturally follows with the atmosphere in the room?
(NKJ) I really appreciate how you noticed that. So I'll keep this short cause this is how it is ingrained into my mind. My Dad growing up has always been documenting our life events and achievements. He says that when he or I is taking pictures that we should try to capture the feeling of the shot. Here in the fingerboard world a lot of our angles consist of self filmed really up close shots of our hand. If someone else is on the wheel and just snapping pictures we should capture the rider too. See what they were wearing, where we were, what year it may be. All that tells a story and will be awesome to look back on 20 years from now. Hell we turned ten this year and it is so crazy looking back at the photos from the first event.
Photo by: Nash Jacquez
(NY) Can you take us through the creative process of filming a fingerboard video (such as your camera setup, filming process, editing, what type of music you select, and why)?
(NKJ) Hahah, this one is going to make me laugh. I am probably the laziest creator. I have some really awesome filmers that help me, Cleigh Reid, Brad Parker, Joshua Dean, Martin Ehrenberger, Dad, Tim Olson, Matt Salinas, Ghramm, my left hand and so on... I really just like to get in and get out or plan one day and film about four edits and drop them over time. I use a Go Pro 9 and a Panasonic hmc150 with the occasional Sony a7ii. Editing like an old big brother skate video or 411 is my thing. Classic quick clips back to back, I do enjoy adding random snippits in between too. The music I select is divided into two ways. I have saved edits with songs I can't upload due to license restrictions on my socials, so I either use music from my homies or license free tracks that go with the same feel I originally wanted it to be.
(NY) What motivates you to keep creating content as well as hosting events?
(NKJ) Have you felt the joy of gripping a new board, or the joy of landing a nice frontside flip? It's simply just that...
Photo by: Nash Jacquez
(NY) What does Sorry for Fingerboarding and fingerboarding in general mean to you in life?
(NKJ) It is a great hobby and life choice I'd say. In this time of life a lot of us can get distracted by a shiny screen and with fingerboarding being a tangible item it still seems like a great opportunity to pull away for a bit and hone in on our craft and skill. You know the vibe :)
Photo by: Nash Jacquez
(NY) Aside from fingerboarding, who are you as a person?
(NKJ) A creative; I try to involve myself a lot. Photography, Skateboarding, Videos, Wood Working, Graphic Design, Brand Identities. Go out and do something. Dustin Klein always says "Everything's Been Done". It's a good saying, and it's probably true. But have you done the activity you are pondering on yet??? Go out and get stoked!
(NY) Lastly, is there anything else you would like to add for the readers?
(NKJ) Watch old skate videos, watch the old harrics and elias assmuth video parts. Go and read the Beastie Boys Book. Grab a bike and some friends and ride to the local river or coffee shop. Get out, it'll really help your creative mind and perhaps along the way you'll find a new fingerboard spot or think of that ending banger of a trick you were stuck on for your next video part. Love :)
Nash Keanu Jacquez
Instagram: @sorryforfingerboarding
