Photography, Skateboarding & Getting Robbed at Gunpoint—SnipezArt

Listen above, on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Transcript:

Alexa Ashley: I'm Alexa Ashley, and this is Eyes Wide. In this episode, we get to hear from master lightworker, nature chaser and photographer, SnipezArt. He gives us an intimate look at what it was like being introduced to photography through skateboarding and how being robbed at gunpoint changed his life.

SnipezArt: I feel like the coast (Oregon Coast) is always a place that you can go to any time of the year— it’s like an escape for me. I feel like when I go to the coast, like whatever stuff I was dealing with back in the city, I can just come to the coast and just like wash it all the way and kind of have a refresh on life.

The coast always puts me in this state of mind of peace and happiness and like, everything is going to be okay. The coast is just amazing. It's water, you know, I just enjoy all the elements but the coast for sure is the best vibe for me. And plus I'm from Florida, you know?

So I'm used to going to the beach. And seeing the sunset and seeing the water. Another reason why I like to come out here to the coast is because there's a skate park out here at Cannon Beach. Sometimes I'll just hop out, park, skate over to the coffee shop or something and then roll around the skate park. And then it's just right here on the coast.

My homie, Isaiah, amazing, amazing skateboarder. An amazing photographer and I kinda always skated with him and he had a Facebook and I was like, “Yo, what's up with these shots?” I was like, “Are you like a photographer or something?” And he was like, “Yeah, man I like to shoot, you know, on my free time as a hobby.” And I was like, “Wow.” I was like, “Damn, that's dope. Like you making those photos look dope.” And I was like, “How do you do that?” And at the time he was a big fan of shooting the light trail photos with the dragging lights and stuff like that, you know?

And I was like, “Man, it just looks so dope. I want to actually learn how to do that.” And I didn't get into it right away. I just kinda kept looking at his stuff. And then I kind of saw a couple of friends that he had that were other photographers. And I was like, “Wow so there's a community of like photographers out here, just shooting.”

And then I moved to Spokane Washington for like five months. My homie lives in Spokane and he's like a rapper. He's a good guy. And he's like, “Yo, you should come out to Spokane and just visit man.” And he was like, “Yo (it was about to be Halloween) we can go to the theme park out here in Idaho.”

And I was like, “Okay.” So I drove to Spokane to hang out with him. And then that's when I started fucking taking photos. I worked at this tire shop and every morning it was super cold and there would be snow on the ground. So on the way to work, I would just take random photos of snow and like maybe the sunrise. I would leave at like 6:30 and the sunrise would be coming up.

So the sunrise was dope with the snow and the trees and I didn't know how to accept nature at the time and shit just looked tight. And then I fucking left, drove to Florida and then when I got back from Florida, after a month, I went to the pawn shop and bought a camera. And then I just had this whole, like eye-opener of what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something different.

My mind works crazy but it's like I know what I'm doing. It's like, I don't know. I've always been 10 steps ahead in life. So I've always just been like, “You know, if you do this and do that, then you can manage to do this. And if that don't work out, you'll still have this to fall back on and do this and do that. So just fucking try it.”

I go through worst case scenarios first...that's what helps you figure out your 10 steps ahead process. Cause it's not gonna work out like every time or how you want it...I got robbed at gunpoint, you know, set up on a photo shoot. I trusted a friend and they introduced me to someone and the girl that wanted to shoot with me ended up just kind of just being a front and it was all a set up and it was impulsive because I wanted to shoot photos and I wanted to shoot photos of a cute girl and she was down to hang out with me.

So I was like, “Cool, well, I'm down to hang out and like, shoot some photos, like whatever she's hot,” you know, but not thinking that what's about to happen is totally not what I had in plan and I didn't even have nothing in plan. I just wanted to hang out with her and shoot photos, you know? And I wasn't trying to hook up with her or nothing like that, because she was already kind of talking to my friend, but my friend was like, “Yo, she's not my girl. She's from LA, just shoot photos, like, she's cool.” And I was like, “Yeah, I'm down.” And then, when she robbed me with the guy that showed up, they both just left. And they left me at the beach, took my car, took my camera, took my phone, took my debit cards and they just left me there.

I walked the strip for like two minutes and I saw this guy walking his dog and it was at like nine at night. It had just got dark. And I was like, “Someone really just robbed me right here in a parking lot of Alki Beach, like okay.” But what's crazy is that my first thought told me in my head, I was like, “I hope she's not trying to rob me or something.”

And it was just super sketchy and she was acting super sketchy. She was texting on the phone, like the whole time we were driving to the beach and none of that shit added up until after I got robbed. And then I saw everything and I was like, dude, you were so blinded by her beauty. You didn't even know that she was setting up a robbery the whole time she was in your passenger seat. Just texting some guy. Because when we pulled up to the parking lot, I noticed there was a weird car parked across. And like, it was the only car there. So I was like, whatever, like it's Alki, I'm always here.

I always come over here and I shit you not, dude walks up and is like, “Hey man, you got a cigarette?” And I was like, “No, I don't smoke cigarettes, man.” And he walks away and then I like turn around and there's this fucking shadow that just comes right back and I'm like “The fuck?” And I'm just seeing this shadow and he just walks in front of me.

He just pulled out two guns and I was like, “Okay, not only does he got one, he's got two.” So I was like “The fuck?” And then he pointed the gun at me and then pointed it at her. And he was like, “Get on the fucking ground.” And she was like, “Oh my God.” And she threw her phone down, acting like she was getting robbed with me.

And then he made me take my hoodie off and lay face first in the grass and like put the gun in the back of my head. And then all of a sudden I heard footsteps run and she ran off, but it wasn't like a scary runoff. Cause I mean, someone that's going to run from you, the dude's either going to try to shoot you or he's going to try to run after you and then leave me there.

It was weird. The next thing you know he grabbed my keys, my camera. And he was like, “Just don't move, lay there, keep your face in the ground.” I heard my door close and then I saw my car back up. And then when I saw my car back up and take off out the lot, I saw the same red Ford Taurus pull right behind my car.

And they both just jetted out. And I was like, “That was a fucking setup because the girl that was with me is gone. Like it ain't like she ran and got scared and like, Oh my God and ran down to like a coffee shop or something. She left me and went with him.” So he jumped in my car and she took his car and they both just left.

It's really true when they say you see the light, you see this weird movie flashback for about 10 seconds and it runs across your face. It's like this thing that you see before you die. And only people that are about to die are going to see it. And if you don't die, then you're back to normal, but right before you're about to die, you get this weird fucking flashback that comes across your face like a screen. I swear to God, like it was…it was crazy.

So from ‘86 when I was born to like my dad pushing me in a Power Wheel, to me being in middle school, dating one of the hottest girls at Workman middle school for like a weekend, me getting laid for the first time, me skating, me dating chicks. It was a weird flashback that all happened within 10 seconds. From start to finish from ‘86 ‘till now. And it was scary. And I was just like, I had my eyes closed and I was just like, “This dude is about to kill me.” I was like, “He's about to shoot me in the back.”

I was like, “He's probably going to take everything I own (and I've already seen his face cause he's not wearing a mask) and he's probably going to shoot me.” So I was like, “I'm dead...my mom doesn't even know I'm laying here face first in the grass about to die.” And the only thing I could think of was if I died, like that'd be fucked up. That's the last thing my mom would want is a phone call of me getting robbed for photography and blah, blah, blah. You know? So after that I was just like damn dude, that shit was crazy. After that, my dad was like, “Yeah, don't try to retaliate. Don't go looking for the girl,” blah, blah, blah. “You know, you gotta just leave it in God's hands and just keep doing what you're doing.”

Cause he just was like, “Dude, there's no point, you didn't lose your life. It's a car and a camera. Like you didn't lose your life. So you got a chance to walk home.” So after they took my shit, I called the cops or whatever, and they went looking for the car and they found the car like a couple miles up.

They just went through my shit and just threw the keys somewhere and left the car on the side of the road. Cops said the car was running when they showed up and there was no keys. No, no, no. I'm sorry. The car wasn't running. I'm sorry. They said the trunk was open and it was just sitting there, but there was no keys.

So they had to tow it and I was like, “Why did you guys tow it?” I was like, “You guys should have called me first so I could come see the car. I got my own key, now you just towed it.” But he was like, “Dude, if you really got robbed, like you say you did. Then you're going to get the car out of the tow yard for free cause they're not going to charge you...are you sure it wasn't like a drug deal gone wrong or something?” And I was like, “What? A drug deal?” I was like, “Are you serious? You think I pulled up to Alki to do a drug deal? And I got robbed.”

I was like, “Bruh, look up my Instagram...I just made an Instagram not too long ago...“I got like 3000 followers, I really do photography. Go look at my stuff...here's the girl that robbed me right here...that's what she looks like. This is her Twitter. This is her Instagram, this girl right here. I'm a photographer. I am the victim here,” you know? And they were just like, “All right, well, blah, blah, blah.”

And then they kept my car for like a month and a half dude. And I was like, “So what's up with my Beamer?” And they were just like, “Yeah, we're still trying to, you know, blah, blah, blah.”

And I was like, “You know what? Give me my car. And I was like, release my car right now.” And they were like, “Well, if we release your car now, then the case is over. Then that's going to look suspicious on your end.” And I was like, “No, give me my car...there's no drugs in my car. There's no weed in my car. There's no liquor in my car...there's no residue of anything,” because at the time I didn't smoke weed. I didn't start smoking weed until after I got robbed. So I was like, “Dude, there's nothing drug related in that car. The car's in my name.”

And it definitely made me look at people way different. I'm way more alert on who was around me. I'm way more alert on what's going on. I'm way more alert on who's walking behind me and all of that. It's crazy.

Eyes Wide is supported by members all over the world. Find out more.

Photography by Alexa Ashley & SnipezArt

Theme music by Kymani Thomas

Hosted by Alexa Ashley

Audio Editing by Mo Isu