Outdoor Fingerboard Filming Tips & Tricks From a Filmmaker

Charlie Hansen is a long time Teak Team member and has always been a fan of outdoor fingerboarding. Charlie recently collaborated with a filmmaker and photographer, Felipe Cea, to work on an outdoor fingerboarding project. 

Charlie and Felipe started filming together in Salem, Oregon, a city that is not well known for having fingerboarders. Felipe has a lot of experience with filming skateboarding, but he also loves filming fingerboard videos. With Charlie’s fingerboard skills and Felipe’s filmmaking skills, they worked together to make an epic outdoor fingerboarding edit!

One of the best things about fingerboarding outdoors is that you don’t need to bring any ramps or rails. While you can bring some along if you’d like, many outdoor spots and gaps can be ridden without ramps, rails, or accessories. We asked Felipe for a few tips, tricks, and pointers with filming outdoor fingerboarding, and here is what he shared with us:

What made you do this project? 

The motivation started when I saw on Instagram by chance a guy doing sick tricks in Salem, Oregon. This city is not known for having fingerboarders, so I did not hesitate to talk to him so that we could meet to film some tricks. From the first session, everything went quite well. Charlie is an excellent fingerboarder and person.I usually make skateboarding videos but I also love filming fingerboard videos as it is a very similar discipline. It was a very good experience.

What kinds of spots did you film at?

Basically, we filmed in the street. I knew some skateboard spots that also serve as fingerboard spots, in addition to some monuments and libraries.

Do you have any tips for filming fingerboarding?

I think that the most important thing is to enjoy what you do (do it for fun), if you have fun you don’t see it as a job but as an opportunity to share with friends.

I could also advise that if someone is really interested in fingerboard filming, they watch “professional” videos or videos that they really like and ask themselves how they do “this” or how they filmed this.Think about what style of video you like, it can be cinematic with blurred backgrounds and priority on tricks or maybe inspired by 2000s 4:3 skateboard videos with fisheye. Generally, the key and basic principle of photography is lighting, which is why filming outdoors is a pleasure, since sunlight is often a great contribution. And finally you don’t need the most expensive camera to make a good video, with creativity and imagination you can do incredible things even with your smartphone. 

If you’d like to see more fingerboarding from Charlie, you can check out this Instagram here !

If you’d like to see Felipe Cea’s work, you can check him out on Instagram here ! 

Fingerboarding outdoors is a fun way to find new and unique spots, ride different surfaces, and try something different. While every city is different, here are some places you can look for fingerboard spots:

• Local skateboard spots: some local skateboarding spots can also be shredded on a fingerboard.
• Downtown areas: Many downtown areas have benches, ledges, monuments, and more. 
• Parks: Many parks have benches, ledges, and playgrounds.
• Playgrounds: Playgrounds have slides to use as transition ramps, along with other smooth spots that you can fingerboard on. 
• Monuments and installations: While some monuments and statues cannot be ridden depending on the material, design, or rules, some public installations are strong enough to be skated. However, do not fingerboard on anything that may break, get damned, or is prohibited from touching. 
• Around your neighborhood: Sometimes you don’t need to travel to find a great outdoor spot! Take a walk around your property or neighborhood - you never know what spot you may find! 
• Word of mouth: Having trouble finding spots? Talk to other fingerboarders in your area and see if they know any good spots!