ROBERT AND THE ANIMALS
Photos / Video – Robert Christ
Text – Nico Uhler
Agilis venator viarius, commonly known as skateboarders, are complicated creatures, magnificent to some, with a goofy charm much like the long-lost dodo, yet fearsomely inconvenient to others. Skateboarders are very adaptive. They can be found on every continent, and some recent studies even suggest that they have become keystone species in many concrete jungles around the world, meaning that they are of significant importance to the health of the ecosystems they inhabit. Even though skateboarders are considered omnivores and can oftentimes be observed feeding on hops, malt and certain herbage, they obtain most of their energy and nutrients from various inanimate objects, so-called spots.
Predominantly working in packs or with a partner, skateboarders may hunt for spots from just after dawn until late at night, usually resting only during the peak heat of the day. They navigate the environment, from urban to rural areas, using landmarks and a map-like system resulting in accurate direct routes towards potential prey. Skateboarders capture spots by moving their feet and hands in opposite directions and usually stomp their prey to death. Their elusive nature makes them hard to study for the untrained eye, especially outside of captivity and entertainment centres, so-called skateparks. The photographic documentation of skateboarders in their natural habitat is widely regarded as one of the most challenging sub-genres of wildlife photography. Building on years of experience, Robert Christ followed a pack of skateboarders on a months-long spot hunt from the Dutch lowlands to the Belgian river valleys, from the metropolitan areas of Western Germany to the northern shores. The images that Robert managed to produce offer an unprecedented glimpse into the mutualistic interactions between skateboarders and other species at various spots.
André Gerlich – Backside Mutant Ninja Turtle
Patrick Wenz passes an orthopaedic stork test
Ryota Takehisa – Fishside Noseslide
Matthias Flentje – Frontside Nose-/Boardslide
Robert Christ – Switch Wildlife Photographer of the Year
Hey Robert, now that Robert and the Animals is finally out, could you give us a little insight into the timeline of the project?
Of course. The first photo was taken in December 2025, at the turtle where André did the backside no comply wallie. We also got the first clip for the video there. Some time ago, I had borrowed a camera from Martin [Schiffl] for a homie video, and he encouraged me to keep the camera a little longer and just keep filming with it. During our first sessions, we weren’t quite aware of the scope of this whole project. I actually thought we would just take a few photos, film a few clips, and that would be it. But after we had paid visits to the first few animals, a certain obsession developed. It even got to the point where, while reading books to my daughter that involved animals, I would think about how one could skate them (laughs). But eventually, we managed to draw a line under the project at the end of June 2025.
What does the workflow for such a project look like? How did you even find all those spots in the first place?
It definitely involved a lot of teamwork. We all knew a few good animal spots already, and some that may not have been skated before, but that might be skate-able. Apart from that, we found most of the spots online. Either by searching various websites or spending hours zooming around on Google Earth and Google Street View. We tried specific search terms like “lion sculpture” or “elephant monument.” Once we found something interesting, we tried to find out who the artist was, and then searched for more of that person’s work. In the six months that we worked on this project, I created an animal spot map with a total of 155 pins – and it doesn’t even include the spots we had already known before. Occasionally, on our way to a pin, we would even find another skate-able animal along the way – in small villages, in suburbs, in the middle of nowhere. Anyways, our search took us pretty much through all of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. We took trips to Belgium and the Netherlands, and then there was the week-long trip to Northern Germany.
Georg Anders – Piggyback
André Gerlich – Whallie
Ryota Takehisa – Nosedive
Ryota Takehisa – Fox on the Run
Which was pretty productive, right?
Yes. We were in Bremen, Bremerhaven, Hamburg, and spent a lot of time in the surrounding small towns. The trip was really productive. We had scouted out a lot of potential spots in advance and ultimately, we’ve had a 100% success rate. I may not have gotten a photo of each animal, but we got to film at least one clip at every single one. At some point, half way through the tour, I felt a little bad for the guys: “If you’d like to, we can also make some stops at normal spots and skate something different. What do you think?” But they were all like: “Nah, if there’s no animal, there’s no spot for us.” That’s the motivation everyone brought on that trip (laughs).
Wow, big up to them! I mean, a lot of those animal spots must not have been easy to skate or didn’t necessarily offer too many options, right?
True that. There weren’t always many options… but at least, most of the time, there was bad ground (laughs). I gotta say though, with the people involved in this project, we never had to worry about a lack of ideas – no matter the spot! Either someone had something right away, or we exchanged ideas, and came up with something together.
Jonas Immesberger – Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man
André Gerlich – Horseback 180° fakie 5-0
Yan Yenke – Kickflip onto some thick skin
Ryota Takehisa – Drop In the walrus, goo-goo g’joob
Giraffes get into neck fights, André gets into nose manuals
Noah Zander – Why the long face?
Were there any big surprises for you in terms of the tricks that ultimately happened? Any highlights?
André had asked me about highlights already, but I don’t think I can really answer that question. I like the project as a whole too much to pick out individual tricks or photos or animals, and consider them as highlights. But of course there were surprises. Yan’s kickflip wallride on the elephant, for example. On the second day of our tour in Northern Germany, he arrived sometime in the afternoon, after a long train ride, and he hadn’t even eaten anything yet. It was his first spot of the day, and I definitely didn’t expect a kickflip wallride, nor did I expect the light to fall exactly on the spot where he would do the trick. Another example would be the Chameleon. After I had discovered it online, I really wanted to get a photo there. In the end, it was much smaller than I thought, though. But André and I still managed to make something out of it.
Were there any spots where you thought you could definitely get a clip or photo, but in the end nothing happened?
Not really. I have to say that everywhere I really wanted to take a photo or film something, it eventually worked out. No, wait, we really wanted to skate a rhino – for Gotti (laughs). We even found one and took a day trip to Arnhem – or rather a night trip. Since the spot was right in front of a zoo, we wanted to try our luck late at night. We wanted to check out the rhino first, but even then the security guards were already watching us closely, and well… unfortunately we didn’t get to skate the rhino. Sorry, Gotti! But otherwise, everything worked out really well, even spots like the whale sculpture made of various bronze parts, right in front of a natural history museum, or the spot where I did the switch wildlife photographer, right in front of a restaurant and hotel. I actually thought we would be kicked out immediately, but somehow our timing was right – as so often with this project –, and we had more than enough time to skate. Of course, there were a few passers-by here and there, who didn’t like what they saw. In Bremen, for example, the police was called to a herd of pigs, “because people were hitting the pigs with skateboards.” Three police vans arrived. Luckily, the police officers were nice. They checked the pigs, found some traces on one of the sculptures, and just handed us some cleaning wipes from one of the police vans. We removed the marks, and that was that.
What was it like to be both a photographer and a filmmaker at the same time? That’s the final boss level on the media side of things.
In terms of the effort and my inner stress level, it wasn’t always easy. After all, it was the first time I worked on a project as a photographer and filmmaker at the same time – and this very project meant so much to me! Filming was something I hadn’t really done all too intensively before. I definitely had my doubts here and there as to whether a “real” filmmaker would be more suitable for the job. But looking back, I’m really happy that I went through with it, and I really enjoyed the process.
Jonas Immesberger – No Comply Paw Jam
Jonas Immesberger – Sealside Rock’n’Roll
Patrick Wenz – Fish 0
Ryota Takehisa – Bull&Bear
Yan Yenke – Hippocampus Pop Out
Patrick Wenz – Frontside Chicken Wing
Jonas Immesberger – Donkey Jump
Big up, Robert! Could you tell us a little bit about the editing process and those amazing interludes?
Well, it was my first time editing a full video, first time I’ve ever used Premiere in my life (laughs). I somehow managed to get to a grip of it, tough. But at first, the edit seemed a bit too serious to me. Something was missing. So, on a random Saturday session with Matthias, I just asked him if he’d be down to film some potential side footage for the video. He was down, of course. We went to a park nearby and I started jumping around with a camera in my hands. That’s basically how the first interlude came about, and over the next few days – and something new to obsess about –, one thing just led to another, until I found myself, fully clothed, diving in my bathtub. For each interlude I tried to integrate some personal things. The cartwheel I do in the first interlude is inspired by my daughter. Plus, I am wearing a Lenzos hoodie, from Martin’s old skateshop. The bicycle helmet I’m wearing in the second interlude is my girlfriend’s. In the third interlude, I am wearing a Parallel t-shirt [Robert’s own old print magazine], and the toy sea lion from this interlude actually accompanied us for almost the full project. André had found it at a spot and I had kept it in my car until we were done with filming and shooting photos. Then, the toy sea lion moved up to my flat and eventually made it into my bathtub. But I don’t know, I don’t wanna blow things out of proportion here. At the end of the day, I’m just a silly guy, who wanted the video to be a bit funnier, a bit trashier.
It definitely gives the video a lot of character!
Thanks. I hope people don’t take it too seriously (laughs).
Let’s see. Before we wrap things up, do you have any shoutouts?
Thanks to each and everyone who’s in the video and article. Thank you guys for all your motivation! Thanks to Martin Schiffl for the camera and for being Martin! Thanks to André for helping me with the edit! Thanks to Irregular Skate Mag, and thanks to Sarah for her understanding and support!
Matthias Flentje – Frontside Snakeslide to fakie
Daniel Vakulin hisses a Nosegrind
André Gerlich – Sea Lion Leap
Patrick Wenz – Water strider
