A Return.

Sometimes you gotta step back to leap forward. And that is exactly what I did for the past cold, winter months. A lot of reflection, a lot of recollection, and a lot of realignment. As I looked at my calendar, the month of March had rolled around, and looking at the thermometer, temperatures in the 50s had too. I felt it was time to get back on the horse, or in this case, the slug, and resume this beautiful journey. This return would feature none other than the man I started this whole thing with many, many years ago, the first ever model of this Slug world, Gabriel Vasquez.

Poetry in Motion.

Gabe and I met in the poetry class of Dr. Decker, our senior year, when we were 17 years old. I really believe this time in life is when one becomes truly conscious. Maybe it’s that coming-of-age movie type shit, but when me and Gabe sat next to each other at 8:16 AM on first day of school, our lives would be changed forever. Through the love of music, creativity, vulnerability, and poetry, from that day forward, we became soul brothers. To make a long story short, from 2015 to the present day, we have made music, photos, clothing, videos, parties, trips and conversations together that have greatly impacted the way I see the world. We knew that this was going to be the first time in a long time we had worked together, but with Gabe, there’s never any worry or expectations. Flow, realness, and a mutual understanding of what is right effortlessly arises.

Finding the Spot.

We decided that for this go around, we wanted to feature the practicality of the slug a bit more. In our previous work together, we had shot with a mixture of BS original garments and vintage garments but finally, we had a product that we made from scratch, and was available to the public. It felt like all the work we had done in the past finally came to fruition. To showcase our new product, we looked at photography and our shared love for cameras, a passion really sparked by my grandfather, Larry. We met at my house, hopped in Gabe‘s car, loaded up the equipment, and traversed to a park of which Gabe would often visit, and that I had never been. I know I said the temperature was in the 50s this time of March, but with the windchill one this day, it felt like 30 (bipolar NY weather for you), but we slugged on.

As we walked along the long road of the park, Gabe looked out for deer antlers. Gabe, among being my best friend, takes on the role of Mr. Do It All. He can do about anything and everything including carpentry, audio engineering, photography, directing, plant fathering, dog fathering, and much more. This guy just gets things done. So although he didn’t find any deer antlers, he did find our spot.

The Spot.

The spot was gorgeous. A smooth, quaint wooden lookout deck surrounded by water and trees. We had styled Gabe in a beige and white outfit: beige pants, beige carpenters jacket, beige button up, white dirty Stan Smiths (of course), and a turtleneck. We took some initial photos to get the framing right. I stood way behind him, trying to capture the entire setting, but realized that the story and video would be best with Gabe front and center. I stood perpendicular to him and placed the camera on the railing of the deck. I realized then, this shot was not only a good shot, but the shot. In this frame, I captured Gabe, the water, the sun, the camera, the deck, and the slug. There was not much more for me to do other than click record.

What happened next, is something I would describe as serenity. This wasn’t acting. This was an act. An act of freedom. An act of presence. And an act of problem solving.

Thank you Gabe for putting the soul back in slug.

Gabe

The Soul in Slug.