Craig Snyder (writer)

Craig Snyder is an American writer, poet and photographer as well as a prominent historian of skateboard culture. Born and raised in Florida he became an active witness to the skateboard revolution that took place in the 70's. The Florida scene paralleled that of California and Snyder was one of the few who photographed and documented it during these years. Florida and its skateboarders would later become a major influence to skateboarders and skateboarding worldwide. Snyder, a skateboarder himself, became interested in photography during high school in Hollywood, Florida. After graduation he worked his way through college as a freelance photographer and later a photo-journalist for Wave Rider and Skate Rider magazines. Snyder became the first to photograph and get published in magazines images of a then unknown skateboarder named Alan Gelfand. Snyder met Gelfand at the opening of a new park called Skateboard USA in 1977 and he became witness to the invention of what became one of the most influential tricks inside and outside of skateboarding today—the ollie. Snyder was one of persons who gave Gelfand his nickname and subsequently applied the name to Gelfand’s unique maneuver. Snyder’s other subjects from this period included Rodney Mullen, Tim Scroggs, Mark Lake, Frank Nasworthy, Mike McGill, Kent Senatore, Jimmy Plumer and Dogtown's Z-boys' Shogo Kubo and Tony Alva.

Bibliography

New Mexico Poems (Black Salt Press, 2001)
A Secret History of the Ollie: The Trick That Changed the World, (Concrete Wave Editions, 2007)
When East Became West: Photography, 1975-1979, & Historical Memoir (Black Salt Press, 2007)

Discography

Signal Automatique: Craig B. Snyder (1993) Black Salt Press, (Spoken Word)
Digging for Happiness: Bruno Green (1993) Polygram (Rock), appearance; contributor
Papaya Fantasy: Craig B. Snyder (1996) Black Salt Press (Spoken Word)
Inside Your Head: Daisuke Fujiwara (1997) independent (Jazz), appearance; contributor
Siki: Phat (2002) Blue Note (Jazz), appearance; contributor
Welcome to the Red Barn: Santa Cruz (2003) Hasta Luego (Rock), appearance; contributor