I started painting graffiti and as everyone does, I discovered the book Subway Art at my local library. It was a pretty important moment, because outside of what kids at school had told me about graffiti, I really had no access to the internet. 
It was just what you learn at school. And obviously that book was made possible through two photographers, Henry Chalfant and Martha Cooper, Martha being one that documented more of the lifestyle and the action, Henry being more documenting the final artwork. So of course, the first thing you do when you start painting graffiti is to document your work. So, you buy a film camera and you take photos of your pieces. Then as I started to travel, my first overseas trip was with LINZ,  when we were 21. He was one of the first graffiti people that I met outside of my high school. For reference, that was the year the World Trade Centre came down two months after we did this trip. We went to a couple stops in Asia, three stops in Europe and then we did North America as well. That was strictly a graffiti trip and it was all about going to New York. I had a camera to take photos of my graffiti and other people's graffiti, but LINZ was like “man, we've got to document this shit.” So we became obsessed with our film cameras. He was never a photographer, but he wanted to make sure he documented his life, so he drummed that into me. 
It wasn't till I actually got my first job at Billabong and I met Claudio Kirac that I took photography seriously. I was working as a graphic designer, but Claudio was this real jack of all trades. He was a really big influence on me - that made me want to pick up an actual DSLR and start taking photographs. So from that point, I just carried a camera everywhere. If I was on a trip, I had my camera around my shoulder, if I was partying, I had my camera, if I was at a gig, I had my camera. 
Just anywhere I went, I always had a camera and I was always taking photos.

I met Ricky Powell. I met him in Melbourne, I interviewed him and I took these sick portraits…
I lost the portraits. 
He had his little radio. He's such a fucking character. These photos had the Melbourne skyline in the background, and shot him on film with a flash so that you can really see the fucking blue. 
Because that trip was so hectic and I was drinking, I didn't follow my normal download process and the files corrupted. He said "you're going to go far, kid.” I just tell that story to get to this point. When he spoke at the conference that he was there for, he said, "Do you!" And I think those two words are so fucking true because there is only one you. 
Don't try to be anyone else. Everyone talks about authenticity and they think, "oh, I've got to be this guru who swears a lot.” Kind of what I said before, fuck what anyone else thinks about it, just follow your path. Don't be scared to try shit. It doesn't matter if it's no good because you will find yourself along the way. I think as artists sometimes we feel like we need to go get drunk and take drugs, and that's how we find our creativity. It's okay to be in organised confusion - I love to live in fucking chaos, it's just a natural state. 
But if you can, have good guardrails and good systems, then you can just create completely in a free place.