What a Life

What a Life Unplanned Stories of Sunrise People

09/17/2026

I first met Tedd a few months ago at sunrise while he was getting his plane ready for the day.
When we came back, he was working toward another goal, building hours in the helicopter for his commercial license.
So this time, we followed him up.

Featuring Tedd R.
Filmed & edited by Valentine

Full film now available on YouTube. Link in bio.

09/15/2026

“You can be the richest person in the world but you can’t buy more time.”

One of the things Tedd likes most about flying is what it gives him back: time.

He’ll use a plane to do things most of us would automatically think of as a long drive, like going to Mammoth for the day. That freedom is a big part of why flying became so hard to give up.

Full film soon on YouTube. Stay tuned.

Featuring Tedd R.
Filmed & edited by Valentine

09/07/2026

Jay can’t lock in on a nine-to-five the way he can on his art. When it matters to him, he gives it everything.

Full film coming soon on YouTube — WHAT A LIFE

Featuring Jay R.
Filmed & edited by Valentine

09/05/2026

Jay already knows he doesn’t want to perform forever. He’s already working toward what comes next.

Full film coming soon on YouTube.

Featuring Jay R.
Filmed & edited by Valentine

09/02/2026

Jay is 22 and has been performing on Santa Monica Pier since he was 18. I followed him through a morning of back-to-back shows to see what life around the performances actually looks like.

Full film coming soon.

Jay R.
Valentine

Featuring Jay
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco

08/26/2026

Nine years on the road, a lifetime around performance, and Jamelae still talks about creativity in a very practical way.

Hold onto the thing you love. Just make sure you can eat too.

Full film on YouTube. Link in bio.

Featuring Jamelae Bellizzi
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco

08/26/2026

From dance lessons in New Orleans at six years old to nine years on the road as a performer.

Jamelae’s life ended up going pretty far from the shy kid she once was.

Full film on YouTube. Link in bio.

Featuring Jamelae Bellizzi
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco

08/20/2026

There was a point when the skateboarding community got really small.

Spidey remembers watching talented skaters leave, people he thought could have become some of the next big names. The ones who stayed were left with a much smaller world around them. “We were all we had,” is how he remembers it.

Spidey stayed, and when skateboarding started growing again, he happened to be there, with the right people, at the right place, at the right time.

—

ARCHIVAL

1985 — Spidey skating the Hewlett-Packard loading bays in San Jose, California. Photo by Matt Etheridge.

2008 — Spidey at Santa Cruz Skateboards’ 35th Anniversary book signing during the ASR Tradeshow in San Diego, celebrating the artwork and iconography of Jim Phillips alongside generations of Santa Cruz riders.

Full film on YouTube. Link in bio.

Spidey De Montrond
Valentine
Santa Cruz Skateboards
THRASHER MAGAZINE
NHS INC
Independent Trucks
Converse
Quiksilver

Featuring Spidey De Montrond
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco

08/17/2026

These boards have been with Spidey for a long time.

His first Santa Cruz pro model came out in 1985. When it came time for his second board, Spidey brought his own idea for the graphic to Lance Mountain, who drew the original version. Santa Cruz artist Jim Phillips later redrew Lance’s graphic for the final board.

Today, the boards are still part of Spidey’s personal collection, alongside old photographs, ads, footage, and pieces of a skate career he’s held onto over the years.

And as much as he jokes about setting the price himself, these two already have a future home.

Full film on YouTube. Link in bio.

Spidey De Montrond
Valentine
Santa Cruz Skateboards
THRASHER MAGAZINE
NHS INC
Independent Trucks
Converse
Quiksilver

Featuring Spidey De Montrond
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco

08/13/2026

Spidey De Montrond started skateboarding in Southern California in the 1970s, before going on to ride professionally for Santa Cruz Skateboards and becoming part of a generation that helped shape skateboarding as we know it today.

But long before the boards, sponsors and career, skating was somewhere to go.

Growing up as a latchkey kid, Spidey found in skateboarding a world outside the house — independent, unsupervised and a little outlaw.

More than 50 years later, I met him at Doheny State Beach to talk about where it all started.

Full film on YouTube. Link in bio.

Spidey De Montrond
Valentine
Santa Cruz Skateboards
THRASHER MAGAZINE
NHS INC

Featuring Spidey De Montrond
Filmed & edited by Valentine Di Marco
Archival footage by Otis “O” Barthoulameu
Archival material: Thrasher Magazine ad from Spidey’s personal collection

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