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My name is Reed Krafft. I am originally from Denver, Colorado but recently moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. My passions are snowboarding, skateboarding, and filming. I moved because my mom found a job at the University of Michigan, and she seems to love it. At first I was upset that we moved because in Colorado I was able to snowboard and skateboard a lot, as where in Ann Arbor it is nearly impossible to do so. I slowly have learned to love Ann Arbor and all the people who live there, but I think that the overall experience of moving really made me think about all of the things that I have and how fortunate I am to have them. For me I think that if I didn’t move, I wouldn’t have thought about all of the things I have and how grateful I am to have them. When I moved I also met a lot of new friends who taught me knew things and made me experience things I really never thought I would. I feel like networking through people and not the internet makes my life better, not necessarily because I meet new people but because I learn something from each of them. I am the type of person who won’t be afraid to ask you something completely out of the blue, even if it has nothing to do with where or what we are doing. I think that advocating for myself is important as well as asking questions.

I started to love skateboarding and snowboarding because of my brother. I always looked up to him when I was younger, and I still do. He would always be outside riding around on his skateboard and one day I decided to give it a try. I instantly started to love it and that love became a passion. I used to skateboard with my neighbor who was really good. He taught me a lot about it and that helped me get started. I started to love snowboarding because of my brother too. I started skiing at the age of 2 and went up to the mountains every weekend and holiday break. Once my brother turned 13 my mom let him try snowboarding.

I was only ten at the time but when I saw my brother snowboard it instantly made me want to do it too. I had already loved skateboarding and snowboarding was the next step to getting the adrenaline rush that I had been searching for. I obviously had to wait until I was 13 to snowboard but as soon as I turned 13 I went and bought a snowboard. My mom had me doing a ski/snowboard program that would take you up to the mountains every Saturday and you had to do lessons for the whole day. Once I started to snowboard I decided not to go to the lessons and just go off riding with my friend. I instantly fell in love with it and I was a natural. One of my friends that I went riding with had been riding for almost 10 years and was amazing. He started to tell me to try things that I usually wouldn’t even begin to try, but it was because of him that I got better. I pushed myself to the limits and that’s what made me good. The feeling I got from snowboarding was like nothing else. When I was riding I felt like I was the only one who ever existed and it was just me and the snow. It’s really hard to express the exact feeling without actually experiencing it, but I can tell you that it is the best thing in the world.

My passions for skateboarding and snowboarding led me into another passion, filming. When I was 12 or 13 I was digging through a pile of junk that was in the basement and I found my parents Sony Handicam. It had to of been at least 5 or 10 years old since it recorded directly to VCR. Once I learned to use the camera it was the only thing I did other than skateboarding and snowboarding. I started to tape everything and it wasn’t until the Christmas of 2009 that I got my own camera. It was just a Flip camera that recorded directly to a SD Card. Once I had that I took it everywhere with me and my passion for filming grew and grew.