Sojourn to Arcosanti with Tastes of Sedona Spirituality and Desert Hot Springs Relaxation

Recently took a trip with Megan to visit her friend Jona--welder/hostess extraordinaire--at Arcosanti in Arizona. It was a devilish trip in terms of temperature (with my car's AC compressor biting the dust as evidence, but shout outs to Dean's Auto Repair in Phoenix for a day-of fix) but boy was it nice to taste and feel the heat, a mere mortal humbled. We had a great time despite the car setback and the "arcology" of Arcosanti, Paolo Soleri's passion project, was truly inspiring: with domed ceilings and fluid block construction with elements of sci-fi spirituality providing lush backdrops for the pervasive golden light. Definitely worth a visit. Sedona was an hour-away day trip and the options for hiking, vortex cleansing, crystal shops and thrift boutiques were impressive. Highly recommend Chocolatree for lunch or vegan-sweet-treat delighties!

Stopping at The Spring in Desert Hot Springs for an afternoon soak in their myriad of pools and then Rooster and the Pig for dinner in Palm Springs capped off our trip on Sunday.

Some of my favorite photos below, shot on my FujiFilm X-T2 and Polaroid OneStep 2.

The Mosaics New Single: "High or Low"

#TBT to last week...

Had the pleasure of photographing good buds The Mosaics in the days preceding their big show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood on 8/19 and the release of their new music video for the hot summer single "High or Low." The video/song have been getting some cool press! 

http://ohestee.com/music/videos/the-mosaics-get-too-high-in-the-sun-glazed-high-or-low/

https://soundcloud.com/sirchillicious/sets/chillicious-discoveries-0817

https://www.stereofox.com/the-mosaics-high-or-low/

It premiered on the Huffington Post! Watch it here: http://bit.ly/2wBXOYc

Below are some of my favorite selects from the shoot...

Faces of: JITV @ Monterey Pop 50th Anniversary

Had a nice weekend in Monterey, California with happy families, nostalgic couples, buzzy colleagues and beautiful sunshine with a touch of heartbreak.

My grandmother--Pop Pop Jane--passed away on Friday and my mother called me mere minutes after Charles Bradley's set concluded, at which he proclaimed that his battles with cancer and chemo would never stop him from spreading love out into the world. I weeped silently against a wooden fence, as my recently purchased Lamb Curry cooled on the service counter. I could picture my mother and aunt at her bedside, as summery wafts from the lilac bush blew into her room through the open window. She went peacefully. A sporty red (PPJ's go-to car color) hearse came and it was deemed fitting. I saw a group of butterflies fluttering underneath a tree later on in the day and I couldn't help but think they carried her spirit with them. She was always partial to butterflies and birds and presumably, most winged creatures. She was a stand-up lady, quick to laugh and make others laugh too.

The loving community and quality musicianship at the festival, along with the support of my colleagues (thanks for the otter shirt from the aquarium, y'all!), helped me get through the weekend with a smile, of which I am more comfortable wearing than bearing an overarching sadness. I'll always cherish the memories I have with PPJ, and they flooded back ten fold this weekend as I processed this life change amidst smiling families, music-loving couples and friendly artists.

A "Museum" of Ice Cream and a Field of "Dreams"

Visited the Museum of Ice Cream in DTLA on Sunday and it was a short but sugar-filled trip through several rooms with modern sculptures built in the name of ice cream. More Instagram frenzy than a history lesson, but it was a technicolored treat (with actual ice cream treats on hand) enjoyed on a breezy Sunday. Yesterday, I helped Jay Diaz and Jack from JITV shoot a new music video for Honey County, one of the acts that Jam in the Van manages. We ended the day at Golden Hour in a nondescript but nonetheless beautiful field in Agoura Hills. Here are some pix: a mixture of iPhone Hipstamatics and FujiFilm X-T2 shots.

I'M STILL HERE

Dang, it's been a minute. 

I promise I will update more frequently. Honest engine, cross my heart, hope to live.

Been doing pretty good on my New Years resolutions...lowered my blood pressure, on book 7 and 8 this year, drinking a good amount of luke warm water with honey and lemon juice each morning AND I've even gotten to travel around a bit (Austin/SXSW, various desert locations for photo shoots, Lightning in a Bottle, Vail, Colorado, etc.).

Work with Jam in the Van has gotten steadier/crazier/more involved and I'm tackling it all the best I can.

Gotta work on the other resolutions (like WRITING MORE).

OH YEAH! My friend Jesse and I had our first photo show (ever/together) back in February. It was truly a blast and my love for photography grew exponentially (usually grows incrementally when I have time to actually focus on it).

Recently, I got to see some of my photos published on various websites as my friends Robot Teammate & The Accidental Party have received wide acclaim for their 2016 Fringe Festival play "Thug Tunnel". I like shooting promotional things with friends who are beautiful and game (per chance to shoot more stylized, conceptual portrait sessions in the future...)

Welp, I'm going to my favorite pool in the world right now so I can eat a lot of food. Happy 4th, chuckleheads!

-Slip

NYE x NYC (not broke, why fix)

Ever since my dear friend Claire started attending Hunter College in NYC many years ago, I’ve made my way down to The Big City (solo and with cohorts) to experience the delirious energy that is unique to New York as two years bleed together. Since this tradition started, even more friends have made New York City their home. My memories from these trips have always been happy. 

Unfortunately, I am only able to see some of these friends maybe once a year, and I find that time flies by faster (not cool) when it is measured by milestones ("oh wow, I've been at this shit job for a year already?!”) and the aforementioned reunions. I get nostalgic insomuch that I don’t want to lose my grasp of the Past and its components that have shaped me into who I am today. Why forget something or someone when you can still use that knowledge, those emotions, to navigate the world?

I do not like to proclaim my New Years Resolutions because I believe actions are stronger than words and the world is filled with enough pseudo-science, emotionally-driven op-eds as it is. BUT! I was inspired the other day by my good friend Jake—who I am immensely proud of—and the piece he published on Medium entitled I Stayed In On The Last Night of 2015 to Plan For The Start of 2016. The piece provided a nice (nice=neat+concise in this case, which has become an increasingly rare occurrence online…) breakdown of what it takes to set goals and to see them through.

Alas, considering one of my goals is to write more (blog posts, screenplays, scenes, letters, postcards, napkin scribbles, phone notes) I’ve decided to share some of my New Years Resolutions/Goals (attempting to utilize Jake’s points) as they occurred to me on the six-hour bus ride back from Brooklyn last night:

1. Write More (as in: don’t be afraid to/not allowed to quantify)
2. Use Social Media Less (not pulling the holier-than-thou card, just use it in smarter, more bull-shit filtering ways)
3. Drink More Water (because it’s never a bad thing, unless you drown yourself)
4. Lower my high blood pressure/high cholesterol to below 120/80 and 200mg/dL respectively by cutting back on sodium, meat and dairy/condiments (so I don’t die and my doctor gets off my case already)
5. Read 13 books (read 12 books last year, so it’s only onwards and upwards from here…follow me on Goodreads)
6. Collaborate with Others in Art (make a film, shoot photography and create other works that I am proud of)
7. Ask more questions (in the field and on the job, with friends or coworkers, so that I may learn more and not regret being timid)
8. Learn 3 software programs beneficial to my professional development (it’s a cyber world baby) 
9. Balance Fitness Better (cardio, yoga, strength, meditation, nutrition, hoopin')
10. Skateboard more, snowboard more…hell, even surf more (all 3 in one day, very doable)
11. Call friends and family more/send more letters and notes (communication requires due-diligence)

PS - Some phone pix from NYE in NYC, coming full circle, as this is primarily a photography website :))) http://bit.ly/1O3OMkH

"The Artist at Work" (a snippet) - Albert Camus

"...But Jonas's new friends almost all belonged to the species of artists and critics. Some had painted, others were about to paint, and the remainder were painted. All, to be sure, held the labors of art in high esteem and complained of the organization of the modern world that makes so difficult the pursuit of those labors, as well as the exercise of meditation, indispensable to the artist. They complained of this for whole afternoons, begging Jonas to go on working, to behave as if they weren't philistines and knew the value of an artist's time. Jonas, pleased to have friends capable of allowing one to go on working in their presence, would go back to his picture without ceasing to answer the questions asked him or laughed as the anecdotes told him.

Such simplicity put his friends more and more at ease. Their good spirits were so genuine that they forgot the meal hour. But the children had a better memory."