8/12/10

Keegan Callahan


Above: 5050 transfer. He ground all the way from the bottom before transfering to the downhill landing.
A couple of years ago, me and Keegan decided to try and shoot enough photos for an interview. Instead of doing a traditional interview, Keegan's brother Luke wrote down a bunch of embarrassingly funny stories about Keegan and then illustrated them. We did eventually get Keegan a short interview in SBC, but the stories and drawings were never used. Below is Keegan's lost interview, as told by his brother.

Above: Luke Callahan sketches Keegan's bank ollie.
Most interviews and write-ups are composed in a way to let the reader get to know a bit about the individual. Usually a little something positive or favorable. What can I say about Keegan? As his older brother, probably a lot of stuff he doesn’t want me to. Growing up as close and for as long as I have with Keeg, I’ve got all the dirt. So with out further ado, I present to you, some stories about Keeg that he wishes weren’t true.

17-year-old Keegan at Millennium Park tries to confirm his gender among confused locals. Dental braced and baby faced, with long curly locks; he is skating far beyond the capability of the 12-year girl he looks like. A manly top removal is performed without consideration of his ‘butter nipples’. All that was confirmed… “Dude, that chick is crazy!”

Gap kickflip into bank. He almost died on the warm up ollie, but made the kickflip look easy.

Keegan, age 15, visits the West Edmonton Mall’s wave pool. Forgetting his shorts and having to borrow his dad’s, he floats with the oversized trunks unknowingly around his ankles. This went on for three minutes as the lifeguard tried to communicate to Keegan whos ears were submerged under water.

Polejam over the chain.

Keegan turns 20 and receives a minor knee surgery. It was his first time without skating for as long as he could remember. Trying to find a new balance, he takes up crafting clay toys and filming himself playing with them, all through the night. At this point, it is decided by family and friends that it’s time Keegan found a girlfriend.

Crooked grind down the middle. This photo also happens to be from the first day I met Keegan.
The always non-confrontational Keegan endures an entire date with dog shit on his hand. After accidentally leaning in some crap, he was unsure of a good point in the conversation to bring it up. Things became further awkward on many different levels, when she asked him to put his arm around her. It is believed that she never knew.

Switch blunt to fakie.

Middle child Keegan becomes shortest sibling, as his younger sister, Leah, grows taller than him. Assuring all he had no issue with his size, he proves otherwise during a boxing match Leah challenges him to. Once having witnessed the wrath and anger Keegan unleashed on his taller, baby sister, we all prayed that he would grow before having to read about him in an ‘Edmonton Strangler’ article. He is now very friendly at 6’5.

At the time, Keegan was living in the Alpha Psi sorority house near the University of Alberta. So when it came time to shoot a portrait for the interview, we thought it would be funny if it included the sorority girls. So, we shot a photo of Keegan standing outside the house in his underwear and a bathrobe. We only had few minutes to shoot the photo, but looking back, I obviously should have had the girls hanging all over him in the photo. I just didn't have the heart to ask them to be all sleazy. Stupid. Oh, and how did Keegan find himself in this National Lampoon style living arrangement? He answered a roomate wanted classified ad. The man is a positive karma machine.
Keegan is currently back in town filming a movie he co-wrote.

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