Courtesy of Jungle TongueMcCrank (at center) breaking the rules and putting a picture of himself on his photo blog. Unless he put the camera on a tripod ... maybe he put the camera on a tripod.

We like to think that skaters are creative bunch by nature but it always surprises me how most can't even take a halfway decent photo to save their lives. Whenever Skateboarder magazine gives someone a platform to show off their pictures from around the world in their "Viewfinder" section they tend to be crappy disposable camera or point and shoot shots. For all the opportunities skateboarders are afforded to travel the globe I can't believe that more don't have a rudimentary understanding on how to take a picture. A picture might be worth a thousand words but when it's blown out and out focus (unintentionally) most of those words are negative.

Rick McCrank on the other hand can take one hell of a photo. I remember seeing him and Zered Bassett creeping off to get their photo-nerd on when we were down in Cuba with a half dozen different cameras in their pocket and around their neck. I was really excited to learn that Rick has taken to updating his Jungle Tongue Photo blog every few days now, giving us a chance to live through his eyes a little more often. I decided to ask Crankers how he got into picture taking and the most surprising thing I learned was ... McCrank reads GQ.

When did you get serious about taking photos?
Maybe about 10 years ago. I was reading one of those men's magazines, like GQ, and they had an article on those little Lomo cameras and I thought that was cool. My best friend was [Color magazine Photo Editor] Dylan Doubt so I'd always hang out with him, see his gear and we'd just play around with it. So I got one of those Lomo cameras and really liked it but I wanted to get more into full-on manual cameras with different lens so I got a Nikon FM2 about 10 years ago. I've had a dark room for a really long time but I don't use it anymore. I never got to the point where I made the prints I wanted.

Rick McCrankA photo McCrank shot of Eric Koston while they were visiting New York City.

Are you a purist where you're shooting everything on film?
Yeah, I have a little point and shoot camera but I have no wishes to have a digital SLR. I just like film a lot better. It's just a hobby that I've been doing. I never do anything with it. That's what happened with the blog; I have stacks of contact prints that I never ever even made prints out of a lot of the photos so I just scan the contact prints really crappy and put them on there. I'm updating every two to four days now.

What are your favorite photos on the blog?
I took some photos when I was in Australia with Girl skateboards last year and I like some of those a lot. A lot of my favorite photos are of my daughter but I don't put those on the blog. Also some of the photos I took when we went to Cuba, I really liked those. There's a photo on the blog of this little kid holding a skateboard; I really like that photo. I like his eyes. I really like eyes.

Doesn't it surprise you that most skaters can't take better photos? I always laugh at some of the snapshots that guys submit to that "Viewfinder" page in Skateboarder.
I think they're funny because a lot of the times it's a picture of the person who is supposed to be taking the photo like, "Here's me in Texas." Yeah, a lot of the time I'm not very impressed with those, they're usually just disposable cameras. But sometimes they're really good like Zered does some cool stuff. But sometimes they're very disappointing.

You have a photo of an anorexic horse eating on your site. What's the story there?
That's at a place called ghost ranch in New Mexico. That horse is 40-something years old which is really old for a horse.

Rick McCrankDid McCrank shoot this horse photo because it was beautiful or because its back looks like a miniramp?

Another one I wanted to know about was the photo of the girl sleeping with the dog picture behind her.
That's my friend Macey who owns Budgies Burrito in Vancouver. Another friend of mine, Nahani, was making a short film and she was acting like she was taking a nap.

Here's what I got from it: Rick McCrank was staying at some weird hostel somewhere in South America on a skate trip, walking down the hallway he opens the wrong door and sees this cleaning lady taking a nap.
That's what happened. It was in Peru. Then I took a photo of her sleeping.

You're creepy. There's a Chocolate video being made, how's that coming along?
Slow for me because I got ankle surgery. I got full ligament rebuild and arthroscopic surgery on the joint. It's been a little over a year since that happened and I'm just about better now, it's been a long road. I was on crutches for a month or two then a cane for a while; it feels like it's been 10 years. I have a couple tricks but now my plan is to spend a lot of time in California and film with those guys.

What are your goals for that video?
I really want to have a good part. I would love to have a full part but I think the deadline might affect that because I have been hurt for so long. Some people are already done basically. What I really want is to have is more lines. I never have lines and it would be fun to do more lines. I want lines and I want to be the first person to grind a 60-stair railing.

Do you think Marc Johnson went sober just to bite your steez?
No, I think he took it as far as he could take it and then he had to take it as far as he could take it the other way. He just takes things very far.

There are so many dudes on the team but whose part are you looking forward to the most?
It's hard to say but I'd have to go with Vincent Alvarez. I love the way Vincent skates. It seems really pure. If you ever skated with him you'd see he doesn't stop pushing. And he's like that, camera or not, so it's pretty rad. It seems really real. A lot of people seem like they're filming for the skateboard industry and not for who they are as a person. Like there's a rule they have to stick to instead of being like, "This is what I do." And that's what I like about Vincent.