Words by Aleksandra Gerasimets

My journey – the actual beginning of it - started with me one day realizing that I wasn’t happy. I felt emptiness. I knew that there was so much to discover about myself, but I had a feeling that I was gradually moving further away from whom I was. I was confused. Instead of listening to my own voice of intuition, I was paying attention to the noise around me – the noise of so called wisdom of what one should or shouldn’t do, of what is right and what is wrong.  But on that specific day, I felt the urge of change. Partly it was due to the coincidence of circumstances: I miraculously lost my job, a job which I hated. But mainly it was due to the deep-rooted feeling of unhappiness. On that day my teeth were sore - I got my braces put on – and I knew that the winds of change started to blow my way.

I decided to move towards my happiness and towards what I’d truly enjoy doing … art … visuals … philosophy … I have always loved observing my surroundings, noticing and connecting the details. I had no idea though how something of all that could become a real profession. I didn’t even know what exactly I wanted to do. But there was one thing I strongly believed in: we are here to be happy and to evolve. We are given a chance to fulfill our purpose. And I just had to find my purpose, my path! Easy! Right?! … Not really … But at least I had to try.  Besides, if everything goes terribly wrong, I could go and live in a cabin (inspired by Henry David Thoreau). I’d grow vegetables, having previously learned more about the subject, read, think and observe nature all day every day.

“That’s perfect, I’m a failure,” I thought to myself. “Let’s search for my place in the art world …“ So, with a great variety of insecurities and very little idea about art world, I started to walk towards my path.

First, I had to study some things about art and explore the possibilities. Information is, after all, now more available than ever. I was spending a lot of time in the libraries or at home (no complaint there, I enjoy that). During this ‘exploratory’ phase, which never ends, I came across some books on museums and exhibition-making. [First lesson I’ve learned and I’m still learning is that the right information - the necessary hints - comes to you when you are alert and when you follow your own path.]

The whole new world was opening up to me: the world of telling stories, developing concepts, discovering new artists, embracing different forms of art and letting them converse … the world of learning and mastering the visual language – universal, yet very subjective and personal. The world of Curating! The timid voice of my true passion started to awaken. I felt that curating was the way of creating spaces where each soul could flourish in its unique way. It was about going deeper and giving food for thought, without imposing one truth or giving the right answer. It was about freedom and philosophizing on multiple truths.

After discovering that there existed an exciting world of curating and finding out what my path might be, I had to think about the way of experimenting and learning. And Instagram

became my ongoing, everlasting exhibition, a space where I could ‘train’ my eye and vision as a curator. I was learning to connect artworks with poetry and philosophy, to tell stories and to create a harmonious visual experience of a ‘total artwork’, or ‘synthesis of the arts’.

While I was busy with Instagram and experimentation, a very interesting and unexpected surprise was waiting for me. An artist whose works I loved noticed my ‘Instagram exhibition’ and we started to talk. That was Weston. The incredible thing is that it turned out we had so much in common! We were on the same page and I felt that I wasn’t walking alone anymore.  [Another lesson I’ve learned is that in the right moment the right people come into your life … when you least expect it, but you are truly ready for changes.]

During one of our conversations, Weston told me something that marked the whole new chapter for me, a Journey with an uppercase J! “I’d like you to curate a book of my works,” he told me. “I’m open to ideas. I trust you and I want to give you total freedom as curator … “

At that moment my inner insecurities came to the surface once again. I have never done a book in my life. I had no experience as a curator. I looked up to Weston as an artist and I was afraid of not being good enough. But I had to decide whether to stop hiding and take this opportunity, or to continue in my cozy shell with no risk of failure.

These were the calculations during my decision-making process:

• books to curate     1
• guidelines     0
• clears ideas of what to do     0
• previous experience     0
• experience in page layout software     0
• people whom I don’t want to disappoint     1+∞
• fears     ∞
• excitement     ∞

Taking into consideration all of the above calculations – I was never really good in maths – the decision was obvious to me … I had to curate this book!

I started by developing a concept based on how I perceived Weston’s journey as an artist. I was going through all of his journal entries thoroughly, through his works and thoughts, through the process of his exploration as an artist. Our long conversations helped me to understand his experience even better. It inspired and resonated with me so much! I didn’t want to miss any important detail. I had to draw the accurate landscape of Weston’s journey visually – his paintings and photographs being the brushstrokes. I was experimenting with layouts, arranging the images according to concept, at the same time struggling with the mysteries of the page layout software. When the curation part was finally complete – the images were selected and laid out on the pages visually narrating Weston’s journey and experience as an artist, based on what I’d read in his journal and heard from him personally - I could not wait to share it with Weston.  Yet another big challenge was waiting for me along my Journey …

“Something is missing here,” Weston told me. “I have an idea: I think it would be interesting if you tell my experience, if you adapt my journey into written guidelines, highlighting the main points which could inspire others in their exploration to be an artist and at the same time connecting the thoughts and observations with the visual part already presented. After all you are now in the beginning of your own journey as a curator, so let’s use this navigation system in practice … What do you think?” All that I could think was that he was crazy! There were a couple of inconveniences here: I am not a writer and English is not my mother tongue. Writing has always been torture for me. How do I find the right words? How do I write the book with no experience at all? How do I face my fears once again?

The calculations this time were the following:

• books to write     1
• ideas     0
• previous experience in writing a book     0
• anxiety     ∞

Now that you are already familiar with my scarce knowledge of maths, guess what my answer was… Yes, I agreed to write the book! The desire of freeing myself from my own prison was stronger than the fear of the unknown. This was the hardest part. I had to create a union of visuals and words, to mark the main points on the map of  Weston’s journey, to intertwine the images with philosophical observations, whilst leaving some space for thoughts. And most importantly, I had to make Weston’s voice - taken from our deep conversations and his journal - heard throughout the book.

First version of the written text wasn’t great at all. Weston wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t impressed either and I had a breakdown. The thoughts about running away to a cabin were more appealing than ever. All of a sudden I felt that everything was breaking into pieces and I wasn’t able to complete the project. I decided to distance myself from the process for a couple of weeks, to pick the pieces back up and glue them together. I came to the realization that I couldn’t live life avoiding pain or mistakes. Everything is a part of the learning experience and the path towards the true self. Thankfully, I could count on Weston’s support along the way. We were inspiring each other, back and forth, through the whole process. It took lots of trial and error, tears and hard work to finally write the book and connect all the pieces into the whole. This Journey hasn’t been an easy one for me, but I can say with confidence now, that it has been worth it.

Interestingly enough, this book has become a navigation system during my own Journey, guiding me through the hard times and helping me to exert myself. And the result is right before your eyes: my first project as a curator. Holding this book, you have proof in your hands that no matter how little experience or how many fears you have, anything is possible. Free yourself from fears and insecurities and commit to your dreams!

film

Circles. Lots of them…

digital

It takes a lot of small pieces to make big pieces.

“Birth”

Painted for the cover of Brandon Hopkins and his new “Three Short Pieces” record.

Take a listen below.

P.S. He is on to something.

Norman & Indra - Brandon Green

Apple 101 - Azmy Ramdhania

Naranja - Miguel Maldonado

Summer Fruit - Alison Hee

Fruit Video - Tamed Tigers

Juicy - Lisa Mwanzia

Edward - Kenia Ozoria

Pomme - Travis Rossi

Fruit - Erin Kim

Stay Inside - Hugo Hernandez

I am lured by faraway distances, the immense void I project upon the world. A feeling of emptiness grows in me it infiltrates my body like a light and impalpable fluid. In its progress, like a dilation into infinity, I perceive the mysterious presence of the most contradictory feelings ever to inhabit a human soul. I am simultaneously happy and unhappy, exalted and depressed, overcome by both pleasure and despair in the most contradictory harmonies. I am so cheerful and yet so sad that my tears reflect at once both heaven and earth. If only for the joy of my sadness, I wish there were no death on this earth.

E. M. Cioran

Works featured at stay.ssssociety.com

They are really kind people. I love them.

3 Prints from my "Land and Sea" Series

2 Paintings from my "Circling, Yet Never Ending" Series

For more information please inquire here ssssociety.com/contact

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In collaboration with:

Model: Rachel Nguyen (thatschic.net)
Directed & Edited by: Weston James Palmer
Filmed by: Dylan Knight (dylanknight.com)
Lighting by: Paul Delmount (pauldelmontphotography.com)
Make Up: Hitomi Sasaki
Set Design: Paul Delmount, Alex Torres, Sara Decou (saradecou.com)
Music: Sharon Van Etten "Magic Chords" (sharonvanetten.com)
Switch Remix ft. Rye Rye & Missy Elliot (last.fm/music/Rye+Rye)
Dress by Kaarem (kaarem.com/home)

Sharon Van Etten inspired this piece back in 2012 when she sang at the Greek Theatre as an opener for Andrew Bird. Now if you know me well enough, I am Andrew Birds biggest fan. Anxiously waiting for him to come on stage, I was sitting there thinking to myself, I hope this opener band hurries up (get off the stage) Sidenote: And to all the opener bands, I learned my lesson very quick...Sharon Van Etten took me out of the Greek and straight into mental bliss. Love, loss and new beginnings were taking over my mind uncontrollably. I was into it....I mean really into it. Even the girl to the right of me (those types who won a ticket or have no idea why they are even there, desperately hoping the guy or girl they are with makes a move on them....or not) gave me the look of "how many drugs did you just do?" And with my mental powers I gave her the look back, "You should go to the snack bar, eat about 12 pretzels and never come back".... Then I continued to be present in Sharon's haunting lyrics about how "You're the reason why I'll move to the city...... you're why I'll need to leave"....... I couldn't get over those lines. And she sang it directed at her guitarist/base player (can't remember) like she was either going to marry him or crush him. She was killer and gave a whole new meaning to "band openers." Thanks Sharon. One day I would love to see you headline...

So the next day, trying to recover from an Andrew Bird (Put on an incredible show) hang over, I downloaded everything I could find of Sharon Van Etten. I was even more hooked. Like if someone stuck their finger inside your mouth, grabbed your cheek and drug you down the sidewalk...That hooked. Since then, I have listened to her music constantly, used her music for some photo sets and the short film you watched above.

"Magic Chords" is the name of the song and I remember the first time I listened to it in the car. I thought I heard all of her songs before, but then all of a sudden my car plays this song (yes, the car magically played it)....and the next thing you know I am taken right off the 405 (freeway in Los Angeles) dead stop traffic and into a dark place. I immediately painted a picture of a girl in the distance, in an open field of darkness. I was there, acting as a fly on the wall.....pacing back and forth, but in slow motion, watching her emotions unravel (Still driving my car). But what was beautiful about where the song was going, was that there was no answers or maybe ones you don't want to hear. "You got to lose. You got to lose. You got to lose sometime" ....At this time (Honk) I almost went off the road connecting with the song so strongly (Having lost about 14.1 million times over the last six months) This is when my mind epiphanies and realized Yes, Yes,....you do lose sometimes and you have to be ok with it! Let it out, don't hold it in.....Let it completely out........ And thats when in my day dream the tears of the girl started to come out. Uncontrollably.....to the point of getting rained on (like the rain is actually tears) To me she let out the sadness so much that her tears bathed and washed all the negativity away....Bringing her back to normality (Is that even a word....a "normal" state)

I went on to play that song over and over again, eventually painting a picture into the film you see above. I love when feelings like this come over you. I am very thankful that Andrew Bird picked Sharon Van Etten to open that night and even more thankful her words and melodies were so strong, they actually became a short film.

Behind The Scences

It all started with an Idea from the Sharon Van Etten song “Magic Chords”…..Go watch “Universe Speak to Me” in the gallery and read an explanation where the idea came from.

The first thing that came to mind from the idea was rain. Lots and lots of rain….That should be easy right? We just go buy a rain machine or something…..Well next thing you know we are talking big money and big money is not what we wanted to spend on a purely artistic project. (Budget came from our pockets not a brand)…..So Paul Delmont stepped up out of nowhere and said….I’ll just build one. I started laughing and was like sure you will…..and he was like I am serious. Thats when it started to feel real. Ok cool…Paul is going to build the rain machine thats going to create lots and lots of rain for the shoot. Check.

Paul welding the rain machine

At the time I was talking to Rachel Nguyen about doing a short artistic piece so she seem to fit what was in my head. I really wanted a blonde asian (basically a unicorn) with a beautiful face that looked killer with her hair slicked back from all of that tons and tons of Rain that Paul was going to create ;) She said she was in, Check.

Next was camera. I love canon and all the Dslr’s now a days (changing the game for sure) ( But it’s still not film, not even close) ( Alexa your close, please just make it affordable) I can’t fucking believe Canon hasn’t got their shit together on this, I needed a camera that could shoot super slow motion that was accessible to someone like me who doesn’t have a money tree in my backyard. So, I went with Sony’s FS700. It can shoot up to 980 frames per second and for all you non filmers (sorry, cinematographers..director of photography what ever you like to be called), that means really really slow motion. So we rented one. Fuck I was excited when I had that thing in my hand....then I called the one and the only babe magnet Dylan Knight. He jumped on board right away and was pretty excited about trying out the Sony FS700 as well.

The big day comes, a lot of us have spent a few days planning all the boring shit you don’t want to hear and we all head over to Paul’s. Now this was a trip….Paul lives in Altadena up in the hills and he has all these chickens running around with two pit bulls that look like they are going to rip your head off. They are nice pups. We all show up heavily anticipating this rain machine that Paul has made. I don’t know what to think. Im just praying to God it comes out good.

Getting eaten by two Pitbulls

Rachel chillin in the backyard

We pull up to his house and all I see is this contraption taking up the whole driveway…What a fucking cluster I’m thinking in my mind. He has two hoses hooked up and proceeds to turn them on with out even saying hi. He was a little more than excited about it. What can I say….he stoked me out. It worked…It fucking worked…..Pvc duck taped….holes, washer, screws….I don’t even know…it was perfect.

Next best thing…..Ok, how the hell are we going to get this thing in the air? I am freaked out because now I am like Paul it looks cool and all, but where the fuck are we going to put it. He rambles off like five words basically showing he doesn’t even know. Im panicking at this point. He sees I’m panicking and proceeds to pick up his phone. He goes relax……I’m calling Alex….Alex is the shit and can do anything….I am like great. Please!!!

So we end up going into Paul’s Chicken infested back yard to setup and come to realize this location is not big enough….Fuck fuck fuck. We are fucked. (Readers, always plan your location first, rookie mistake……Too much going on and I blew it…..but got really lucky) I pear off in the bushes and notice the neighbors back yard. It’s wide open and perfect for what we want to do…..Only problem is…The neighbor is gone for the day….Shit….We can’t get ahold of her Paul??? Nah I don’t think so he responds. Were fucked is all I am thinking. But Paul goes we are setting up there anyways….I just start laughing uncontrollably because all I am thinking is the neighbor coming home and seeing her whole back yard looking like a movie set with Rain spraying everywhere (BTW this is before we had a drought)…..Perfect….where's the handcuffs.

So, don’t forget we still have a rain machine the size of car to get up in the air. Location is a check…I’m calm, until I think about the rain machine. Now remember Paul said he would take care of it….He knew a guy….Well this guy by the name of Alex Torres shows up. SPEECHLESS!!!! This guy shows up with his shirt off, baggy long cargo shorts, tattoos, and a vapor pen all wrapped up in climbing gear.…it was fucking priceless. That friend that knows a really weird friend that can get anything done (Alex, you are the fucking man and appreciate all your help)….This guy takes his climbing gear and ends up in four different trees before I even knew what happen. This mother fucker was on it. Ropes were coming out of his ass by the time he was done. We all helped him lift it and before you knew it (2 hours later, it was no joke ) This rain machine the size of a car was hanging in the middle of this lot by 4 different trees. It was awesome ……And you know I needed it perfect so we had to adjust 33 times before it was game on….so it’s up……Rachel is in Makeup with the young and talented makeup artist Hitomi Sasaki getting ready….all while listening to music that makes her want to cry her guts out…I’m serious…(Elliot Smith eat your heart out)

The "mystery" man Alex Torres

Alex and his ropes

On Set

Paul throwing ropes/ Alex in the trees

Rain Machine going up

The neighbors yard we took over

Hitomi in the art of makeup and hair

The sun starts to go down and the neighbors back yard who I am waiting to come home any second and kick us out looks insane….Its perfect, exactly what I wanted. As it goes on we start to shoot all the establishing shots…..Those were easy…. Rachel just needed to look pretty and think to herself she’s about to lose it at any moment. So with that being said, Dylan, Paul and I were getting the stock shots pretty quickly…..It went smooth….

Dylan talking light with Paul

On set

Dylan checking focus with Rachel

Now it was the fun part…..We only have one camera hahahahaah…..this means how do we get different angles of Rachel getting wet so the edit wouldn’t look boring. Because once she’s wet, done, it’s over, her make up, clothing hair everything fucking done. Or was it. There was only one way to do it…..and that was to film a couple different takes from different angles with her dry and then wet…….Now you probably already know what that means…..She has to get wet more than once…..And 3 times it was…..It was horrible!!!!! The water was freezing and so was that day because we shot in the winter……Just because I was a good sport, I stepped in twice to test the rain for the shots first fully clothed….Even I was chattering….Lets just say Rachel participated in the ALS challenge three times in a row. So, that means you can nominate 9 people!!! By the time we did it three times, Hitomi, wanted to kill us….new make up, hair and dry clothes every take and all she had was one hair dryer….Thank you Hitomi!!!

No more makeup and hair

Now lets talk a little bit more about Rachel…..This was really difficult…….Hey, Rachel stand under that freezing cold rain water and as the water comes down, cry uncontrollably while we get all different angels of it with our 1 FUCKING Camera (Sony, Canon, Red, Alexia, please sponsor us, we won’t let you down) She was miserably cold…..I mean shaking cold…ice cold. Her lips were chattering so fast it was making my heart beat faster. Even watch one of the close up shots in the short…Remember that camera was shooting 980 fps (Super Slow Motion) and you can still see her lips moving fast. She was a trooper. As you can see she cried not only out of misery she created in her head, but just hating every second of what we put her through…..Sorry Raych it was worth it though! Maybe…Hope so… :)

One more time

Let’s talk about Paul….AKA the technician. I asked for a shot in the air looking down on Rachel…..We all started laughing….Yeah lets take the $20,000 camera that we rented from Sammy’s and put it up in the air in the rain…….And then we said why not? So we did it… Only problem was we didn’t have a Gosh damn ladder to put the camera up in the air and we were running out of time…..Now the anxiety was coming on strong. It’s like 2:00AM, Neighbor is still not home (thinking she is coming at any second with the cops), All the other neighbors are probably calling the cops because the lights we were using were so bright….and every time we adjusted the rain we had to yell to 2 people running the hoses so that the water would flow evenly to try to mimic rain ( Another cluster fuck that took 1 hr to solve) So I start freaking….How are we going to get up in the air…Home depot is closed and it was too far anyways and we have nothing to climb up because this thing is suspend 20 feet in the air in the middle of this lot. So Paul goes 'give me twenty'….I’m like for what…He goes 'come with me'…..lol the mother fucker builds a ladder out of wood in like 15 minutes and we were up and running. It was another priceless moment…Even the girls were getting a little flustered ;)

Dylan watching Paul drill the tripod onto the rain machine | Paul double checking to make sure the camera is secure

Now we are back…trying to take Sammy’s $20,000 camera and drilling it into the rain machine. I was just closing my eyes putting major trust in the team…..Because thats what it is about…trusting your team!!. Paul finally got it secure and we tested it a few times…..the rain kinda got the camera wet, but it's the best bet we got…….But heres the new problem as if there was already enough problems…..the damn Sony remote couldn’t reach that far with the signal to get the camera to record (ladder can't be in the shot)…..everyones crying at this point because we are so tired. We are running on empty. And even worse I forgot to mention is that we could only run the water and record one shot!!!!! Why???? because We couldn’t afford to allow Rachel to get wet one more time and expect to dry her off again…..So we had to nail this shot….What happened next was pier faith…luck…..I don’t even know. Paul was up on the rain machine….the thing was about to break….he still couldn’t see if the camera was recording or not…because the recording light was on the opposite end facing up into the sky…..Complete cluster….And better yet…you ready for the kicker…The Sony FS700 only shoots slow motion for 7 seconds!!!!!!! (Really Sony) Come on!!!! Everything was not on our side. So here I am standing under the rain machine next to Rachel pointing the remote up at the camera hoping that the signal picks up so that we can record for only 7 seconds and hope that the two hoses turn on evenly to create the perfect rain….It was fucking crazy!!! We all crossed are fingers yelled to turn on the water and I hit that button at least 15 times before it finally started recording at the perfect time right before the water hit Rachel and everyones deep breathes were let out as the camera ran out of the 7 seconds. We secured the shot and Rachel just sat there getting soaked while we let the rain keep going because we were too exhausted to turn it off…. OK Rachel you can stop freezing your ass off now. Heres a towel.

Ender

It came together. It can always be better, but we are happy and proud we all put the effort in to make something special and hopefully deliver a solid message to everyone that sometime you just have to lose and you got to be ok with it….But this time we won…What a great feeling.

Time for the next.

P.S. I would love to hear your comments and any recommendations on how to make the behind the scenes stories better :)

P.S.S A link to Universe Speak to Me if you have not seen it already.

Model: Trang Pham

Photographed by: Weston James Palmer

Location: Bát Tràng, Vietnam

Model: Christina Masterson
Directed, Filmed, Edited: Weston James Palmer
Music: Beach House "Turtle Island"

Model: Christina Masterson
Photographed by: Weston James Palmer

Model: Christina Masterson
Photographed by: Weston James Palmer

Style….Thats what I’m titling this piece. Style is an extension of oneself. And if you don’t have style….I probably don’t care about you, again. Being unique on this planet is important….yes you could disagree and shoot this down 17 ways till Sunday, but again I don’t care. Why Why Why? Because style is everything…It's your swag, the way you carry yourself, how you talk, the way you get girls or guys. Without it, your just another number….Who wants to be that?

Why is the Supreme Cherry trailer above….Good question. I wanted to use this as an example. A lot of in the know people have come up from skateboarding (Spike Jonze, Harmony Korine, Thomas Campbell, Jason Lee, Mike Mills, Pharell, Chloe Sevigny, Babyghost_nyc…just to name a few) Skateboarding is creative…..It is an art. It forces you to think differently and use the worlds landscape as a canvas. It’s also just you and the board, no coaches or team bringing you down or getting in the way of what your doing (I like team sports too) The fact that you have to be creative when skateboarding actually starts to give you a persona or a style. Its how you interpret the way you skate something. From grinding a bench to front lipping a hand rail. So many people do it differently. And thats whats fucking cool…watching 3 different people do the same trick completely different. (So what the fuck are you getting at!?)

The Supreme Cherry video directed by Willam Strobeck is a perfect example of a curated group of ill mother fuckers skateboarding with Style. And when I describe style, its not only the way they all do tricks differently, but its the way they dress, say, and do. They don’t give a fuck and to me thats what skateboarding is. Unique people not giving a fuck and living the way they want to live.

Sidenote and very important to me: Everyone is good at everything now. Youtube teaches kids how to do a kick flip at the age of 3. It’s mind boggling, I learned my first kick flip at age 13 through trial and error…30,000 trys later with no guidance online. Now heres what it comes down to. I would 100% rather watch a kid kick flip down a five star with smooth clean style than watching a kid kick flip down a 15 stair with flailing arms and no style at all….It just doesn’t look good. And it will probably get you nowhere. So please, don’t go on trying things if you can’t do the basics with style, in this day of age….it will get you nowhere.

Back to “Cherry” …… Its funny to me because a lot of people hate on almost every kid in this video because they are doing their own thing. Take Dylan Rieder for example…..Lookin all fashiony. Thats rad. That has opened so many more doors for him. He can dress and not only do girls love him, its takes him out of skateboarding into many different experiences. Why wouldn’t you want that to happen to you? You want to be stuck in your boring little home town with your boring ass life. No No No…..Now, lets be honest Dylan was blessed with the looks and so was Sean Pablo and Alex Olson (Girls, look them up if you don’t know who they are, you will thank me later) But that shouldn’t hinder you from being unique and develop a style. Take Spike Jonze and Harmony Korine….Both are not models (Sorry guys), but they have managed to develop a style whether it be the way they dress or shoot films. Fuck, Spike dated Karen O for a long time and was married to Sofia Coppola and Harmony dated Chloe Sevigny for a super long time. They in the last few sentences have done pretty remarkable things.

So to tie it back into the Supreme Cherry video. Watch it…….These are the new kids coming up. They have style and maybe dress wack in your opinion, but you better “recognize” because these are the fuckers who are going to be stealing your girlfriend from your boring life and doing big things as time moves on. Think about it, develop a style….work on it….It will pay off. And remember Style is not just for skateboarding, its how you do everything in your life….from painting, shooting photos, playing music, to speaking in public and telling stories…Stand out and develop your way of doing things and be consistent. Consistency is everything….if you can’t be consistent with your style and you keep changing, then no one is going to remember because your confusing them. Do it as much as you can until people can watch or look at something and immediately know its you or your work. Then your getting somewhere, I promise.

Sidenote 1: You dont need money to have style. Stopping thinking like that...style comes from the streets and the streets aint got money....Hence young creative mother fuckers. Go be one.

Sidenote 2: Currently wrote this on a Virgin America flight to New York Fashion week and I guarantee I see most of the Cherry dudes at the in the know shows and parties rubbing elbows with todays greats…planning their next collaboration together….. it’s just how it works….Style……Style goes a long way.

Update!!! since I wrote this....William Strobeck at it again with "Joyride"

Update!!!! Below, The even later piece  "The Red Devil" by William Strobeck

2008

2008

2008

2008

2008

2008

Model: Raneth
Photographed by: Weston James Palmer

Steve Jobs. A person who had and still does have an impact on my life, mainly the reason why I decided to do a piece on him titled Obama and Steve. If you did not see it, here is a link to the website Obama and Steve. The piece was talked about on many different sites: The Blaze, Huffington Post, Chicago Business, and Macgasm just to name a few. On top of the articles, a significant amount of participation happened through Facebook, Twitter, and third party sites. All together, a remarkable showing and a great deal of appreciation I have for those who had the courage to join the discussion, negative or positive.

When you grow up you, tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world, try not to bash into the walls too much, try to have a nice family, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use. Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

-Steve Jobs

Thank you Steve.

Raneth from Raneth.com is wearing her thumb printed Steve Jobs shirt that you can find here.

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This is it...what's the point of being here if your just going to follow in the footsteps of everyone else. Rules were made up from people just like you and there is no reason in the world why you can't make up your own. Just because someone told you something is right doesn't mean you need to believe them. Question everything. And Stop being so damn scared of failing! I have failed just as many times as I have succeeded and you know what...I'm still here. There is always a way, just keep going.

Now it's time to take my own advice. This is my perspective. My life. This is what I want to do and sharing it with you starts now:

I was told I had 3rd grade reading and writing skills since high school....Yeah probably true (Thats why I all I did was skateboard). So why should you care? I am asking myself the same damn thing. YOU don't....Get lost...Go to the next site and waste more of your time or if you want stay. Stay.

My name is Weston James Palmer....A curious and always learning artist, director, skater, photographer, creative director...(I don't even know anymore) who makes things. I can't write worth shit and "it" (No idea what it is) has held me back from expressing myself.......Well guess what. I am over it. I am going to write like a 3 year old. If thats what I got to do to share my experiences, feelings, stories with you, then your going to have to deal with my 3rd grade writing skills....thinking to oneself....What an asshole great person. Look, I have what you call severe "Hyper Focus, a.d.d, o.c.d" and the list goes on.....My mind has a million things going on a second (Jason Schwartzman, Scene 1 - I Heart Huckabees) and what I am going to do is WRITE and never look back....Never look back you might ask....Meaning, as soon as I start typing, I am not going back and editing at all, I mean it....at ALL. (Well fuck, that means I have to be politically correct and abide by all the grammatical rules.....schools and teachers won't approve) You know what I think (fuck them) I don't care. "Word Vomit"...thats what Im going to call it. No editing....Pure thoughts from my head...Yeah,,, most all of it "might" suck, but there will be some gems. Like how Cat Power liked a bunch of my Instagram photos and reposted one photo without giving me credit (Photo of Supreme Harmony Korine deck)...haha I love you Chan no worries.

What will I be sharing??? I Love Film, Fashion, Photography, Art, Skateboarding etc....Fuck, I'm not the best, but I have some things in my head I need to get out....beautiful people standing in front of a camera...jk...no but seriously guys and girls love to stare at beautiful people .... so lets be real. Maybe you will like it then. Also, feelings, thoughts, emotions, love (thats a tricky one), how ever I can get them out. Through quotes, stories and yes your new favorite word (Word Vomit) Damn it, I probably just lost all my instagram followers. Oh and Music. I really like music. My problem is I like all genres. So heres a tip, if I post a song you hate, take a deep breathe get over it and hit the next button. There's going to be something you like...and if there isn't fucking unfollow me....and then let me know when you are DJ-ing at the SLS in Vegas and I'll come watch you.....maybe kiss you and take notes. Btw, listening to rolling stones "indian girl" right now. and btw how is that mother fucker still alive??? Sidenote: I want to write (document) stories on talented people who are inspiring or you can learn from...simple as that. And if you like them tell me and if you hate them tell me (Comment!!!). I'll make sure to shoot and work with Freja, Moss, and Xiao Wen (I♡@babyghost_nyc) at some point. Just be patient. We are growing together.

Ok, back to reality... in all seriousness I want to build a relationship with you....talk to you...discuss with you (same meaning) It's about connecting. Collaborating...learning and making. Thats what we are on this earth for... So lets do it. Together. And at the same time...lets shake some shit up. Because this world gets boring sometimes and if your not unique or at least making an effort to do something (please share if you are), then I probably don't give a shit about you. But I should because all people are mean, boring, negative, having nothing good to sayI mean "Nice" and you got to be nice back...Laughing uncontrollably...Do you think Miley had sex with Terry Richardson??? Yes or no? My twitter is @westonjamesp .....and if you actually care to tweet the answer, then I know you actually got this far and that means I fucking love you.

Oh, my Instagram is my name @westonjamespalmer check out my "ok" photos I take....But I'm getting better because @aguynamedpatrick (he's brilliant) is teaching me some tricks. And by tricks I mean you have to download 4 different apps to get a picture to look cool. Fuck so much effort goes into it....But you know what, his feed looks really damn good (Follow him and me too).

Alright, thats it. It has started. I will now become the worlds worst writer because its my only way I will be able to get my thoughts out to you (other then visuals and sounds)..... Hope you can get past it and become my friend....because I don't have that many :( But I don't want another friend on Facebook. Because I hate Facebook....Fucking hate it.

The End to the Beginning. BTW, Seth Godin...Thank you for the inspiration.

P.S. Start what ever it is you want to start. Fuck waiting and lets do it together.

P.S.S. I started the label "sex" www.sexlosangeles.com ( skateboarding, fashion, photography, film & art) keep an eye out and follow us on Instagram for the latest www.instagram.com/sexlosangeles