John LaCroix
If It Can Be Done, I’m Gonna Do It

John in his studios with equipment
Last Minute? No Problem.
He likes being able to incorporate new material at the last minute, which, in a business that depends on the latest whiz-bang trick, is the key to keeping the video magazine fresh and hot. “If we have an issue that’s done — we’re going to make the master tomorrow — and someone comes in with film of the greatest trick, DVD Studio Pro lets us add it to the video magazine and still come out tomorrow.”

That’s the attitude that appeals to risk-taking skateboarders. As LaCroix puts it, “We try something hard, find a way to get it done, then it’s time to do it better.”

Take a normal street scene: the skateboarder sees a challenge that to passers-by is mere architecture. “Say you have two buildings with an alley between them,” he suggests. “A skateboarder looks at that and says, ‘If I go fast enough, I could jump from the top of one to the top of the other.’ The philosophy is: ‘If it can be done, I’m gonna do it.’” It’s exactly the derring-do LaCroix has long practiced on his Mac. His passions for the board and the machine, now a single mania, grew up side by side.

“When I got my first Mac,” he says, “I decided I was going to work it to the bone.” At 15 he created a rough, photocopied punk fan zine that, by his freshman year in college, had a print run of 7,000 — in full colour, with a CD. “The zine blew up way beyond what I ever expected. I needed the Mac to keep doing it, and that’s what put me through college.”

“Say you have two buildings with an alley between them. A skateboarder says, ‘If I go fast enough, I could jump from the top of one to the top of the other.” A Career of Dropping Hammers
He earned a BFA in photography and graphic design from Massachusetts College of Art, doing freelance projects while still a student. Playing lead guitar and touring with his band, he applied his growing computer skills to his love for music. “People would come to me and ask for stuff — CD covers, logos, websites — and I had the Mac, so I started doing it all.” It was an easy leap to his first real job, putting his design expertise to work at Polaroid…and he’s been dropping hammers ever since.

Now, LaCroix couldn’t be better poised. He’s on the next level, creating skateboarding DVDs he’s feeling. (See glossary as needed.) “It’s not worth it to me to put out something mediocre,” he says. “Everybody can make good toast — but we’ve got the butter.”
Pro/Video

John LaCroix
1. With Buttery Steez, He Drops DVDs Like Hammers
2. The Suits Call It “Edgy”
3. The Fastest Way To Do It Right
4. If It Can Be Done, I’m Gonna Do It


A Risk-Taker’s Role Models
“I was inspired by so many people,” says La Croix. “I learned little bits here and there, from someone I met once.” Still, he names several whose work he especially admires.

There’s Robert Rauschenberg, the photographer, printmaker, performance artist and musician who LaCroix says “should have gotten some of the glory Warhol got.”

And Spike Jonze, the filmmaker who started out making skateboarding movies.

There’s David Carson, “one of the most famous designers in our industry,” who created the first skateboarding and surfing magazines.

And Natas Kaupas, the Lithuanian skateboarder LaCroix calls “one of the most innovative ever.”

Currently, LaCroix is savoring the opportunity to work with Shepherd Fairey, “the first superstar graphic designer”; next, he’s set his sights on meeting the designer Rudy Vanderlans.