We recently had the pleasure of catching up with the star of our Fisheye Collection campaign, Zach Miller, to get his take on re-creating his dad’s iconic photo, being surprised by a skate legend at the session, Matt Price's photography, and what his new board brand, Portrait, is all about.
Sit back, relax, and enjoy our chat with one of Nixon's OG athletes.
Interview with Zach Miller on the Nixon Fisheye Collection
How’s it going Zach? Since we last spoke, you’ve been traveling a ton and even started your board brand, Portrait. Congrats on that. How’s that been going?
It’s been going well! yeah on the road a lot this year. I’ve been splitting my time between here (San Diego) and Hawaii, then I want to Switzerland for a super fun mini ramp bowl contest called “Team Trouble” up in LAXX. We just skated and snowboarded everyday. Super rad contest, good energy. It’s a team event so our team was myself, Shea, Jimmy and Rune. I think we got like 4th? Pretty good for the vert dudes trying to skate a mini ramp hahah.
Other than that, I launched my brand called Portrait. It’s something I have been working on for a while and was kinda just an art project that is now turning into a little company. I am doing skate and surfboards as well as apparel. It’s really something that has never been done before, or at least not since like G&S. I am stoked, hopefully people like it. But for now I am just doing what I think is cool and feels true to my roots.
So, we wanted to chat about the Fisheye campaign and how that whole shoot was centered around re-creating that iconic photo of your father, Chris Miller. What’s the response been like since? Did he like how it turned out?
Yea the fisheye shoot came out great! I think people like seeing that era of skateboarding redone or just like homages. My dad thought it was rad.
We heard through the grapevine that this may have not been the first time you’ve been asked to re-create this iconic photo. What was it about this project that made you consider it?
Haha not the first time I have been asked to re-create this. It’s one of the most famous skate shots ever, and since it’s my dad, yea I have done a few variations of it. This one for Nixon though was cool because, one it was at the Combi-Pool replica in Palm Springs so we had a real recreation opportunity. The Vans combi was indoors so we never actually tried it at the real one. And the opportunity to do it with Matt Price was super rad. He is one of my favorite photographers and I haven’t really shot with him. Maybe once in China at this contest a long time ago, but we haven’t ever gotten to do anything creatively.
What is it about Matt Price’s photography that grabs your attention?
Matt is a master of the fisheye, and I love his creative approach to different angles, and shooting with flashes and slow shutters for motion blur. I feel like he has created a perfect blend of nostalgic 90’s style skate photography and unique angles that just have created a whole style that is very much his own. It’s just very eye catching, and makes anything from a gnarly trick to a basic trick look really good and his photos have “Feeling” to them. A lot of skate photos just are kinda the same vibe. Matt's stand out.
You’ve skated many iterations of the combi pool. Was this your first time at the Palm Desert one? Was there anything tricky about this one you had to figure out?
Yep, a lot of attempts to “Recreate” the combi. To be honest, they are all pretty bad in my opinion. The one at the block at Vans is the ultimate creation, and every time a new one gets built they switch dimensions or whatever and it just doesn’t work anymore. (Dear builders, just copy the real one!? It is legendary for a reason!) hahaha HOWEVER, This one in Palm Springs came out pretty good. It is a lot smaller than the real one, but the dimensions are proportionate for the scale they built it at, so it skates well. You can’t skate it the same way, but the lines work in a similar way so it was pretty quick to figure out. We had to change the original wall for the frontside air in order to get the shadow in the shot, which was the whole reason for recreating the pole cam idea from Grants original. The sun in Palm Springs was setting in a different part of the sky so we shot the air in the round instead of the square section like the OG. That was a bit tricky, not cause the air but to learn out to get to the wall I needed to get to going FS.
You were aware that you were shooting with Matt Price and J. Grant Brittain, but none of us were prepared for Heath Kirchart to be on the session. How was that for you?
Yep I knew we were linking with Grant and Matt, then Heath showed up just to hang and help out. That was rad, I never met him before so it caught me so off guard that it took like 15 min to realize that it’s was the HEATH hahah. He had this big sun hat and shades on, just like one of those moments where something is just so unexpected that your brain doesn’t compute. That was fun, he’s a legend so it was rad to just meet him and just talk in like a normal way. I like hearing what guys like him have to say and think. It’s good to just try to listen and absorb the wisdom and stories.
Well, thank you again for being a part of the Fisheye Collection. What is next on the horizon for you?
Thank you for having me take part in it! As for what’s next… skate as much as possible, just keep working on Portrait, and surfing in Hawaii! Not a bad life haha. I want to film a video part this year, so I am going to try to be getting clips as much as possible. Juggling it all!
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