Glen E. Friedman in
New York City, 2009.

Glen E. Friedman

Born in 1962. He's an American photographer and artist. His first photograph was published when he was only 14 years old. He is considered one of the most significant photographers of his generation. He is especially known for his images of skateboarders and musicians, including Ice-T, Beastie Boys, Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy. His photography has been on album covers, art galleries and museums all over the world and can be found in several books, including Keep Your Eyes Open, F*** You Heroes, F*** You Too, The Idealist and Recognize.

He included 100 never before seen skate images in the book DogTown: The Legend of the Z-Boys, many of which also appeared in the award winning movie DogTown and Z-Boys for which he was an executive producer and advisor.

He considers himself a progressive political activist, straight edge (which includes no alcohol, tobacco or other recreational drugs) and vegan. You can check out his website at this link.

Quotes by Glen E. Friedman:

When asked what influenced him to become vegan, he answered:

"Specifically, it was some friends of mine that gave me some literature to read many, many years ago. … I read John Robbins’ Diet for a New America as well as Diet for a Small Planet —that had a lot to do with it as well. Both of those are very inspirational, and they kind of break it up the same way. They talk about the environment, they talk about the animals, and they talk about your own health."

"I never became a vegan for the animals, I did it for the environment, and over the years I have become way more sympathetic to the animal rights groups and cause in general, it's just a consciousness that develops I guess over time."

"Now when I see people eating certain things, I definitely think of the animal before I think of anything else."

"It is a matter of education and open minds and thinking clearly, and caring about being sympathetic to animals and the environment. Anyone who is halfway intelligent would see that being vegan is the way you gotta go."

"Don’t wait for other people to educate you. Educate yourself, because if you don’t educate yourself, you are just going to be brainwashed into what they want you to think."

"When I first started [1987], which was over 15 years ago, I think I probably decided to cut out all meat products except fish, and then I still was eating fish and dairy products for about six months, and then after that I cut out all the fish and any animal products. From the day I started to the day I was completely vegan was less than a year. I think people should be able to make the transition a lot quicker nowadays because there are so many options. We have so many soy, seitan, fake meats, so it is really not that hard—Soy Delicious ice cream and Tofutti Cuties, soy yogurt, and there are just so many vegan alternatives now, I don’t think it should take that long at all."

"I eat a lot of Asian foods, I eat vegetable sushi, rice-based stuff. I also eat a lot of soy-based stuff and seitan products. More often than that, I try to stay as organic as I can, with beans and seaweed and steamed vegetables. Fruit is a very big part of my diet."

In an interview in 2011, he was asked whether he is still straight edge. He answered:

"That’s not even a question, I mean I don’t think there’s any other way to be, am I still straight edge, absolutely, who wouldn’t be? ...  I wear vegan shirts, I wear straight edge shirts, some people think I’m crazy cause I’m 48 years old and wearing these shirts but it’s silly to be controlled by other people."

"On my Web pages and in my books, my veganism and straight edge philosophies are always mentioned, and in every interview I always make it very clear so people understand that I am vegan and I am straight edge. It’s a good thing to represent."

Quotes are from his 2003 interview with PETA2, his blog and his 2011 interview with Impose.