Phoenix's Phixations

002

Reading:

• Allan Salas’ The Rooted Heart Began to Change -“Faced with mortality, the imagery of land and death develops into a poem. Between the body and the self, nature and nothingness, eternity and the ephemeral, The Rooted Heart Began to Change functions as an open diary. It illustrates an inward exploration of the spirit seeking to understand human anguish in the face of the unknown".” All I can say is wow.. I’ve flipped through this book obsessively over the past few weeks and it feels like a soft, warm dream. Allan manages to capture light in such an ethereal, poetic way.

favorites from The Rooted Heart Began to Change

• A friend of mine is letting me borrow Robert Frank’s good days Quiet. This is a body of work I did not know the same photographer who created The Americans was capable of making! But then again, maybe I haven’t dug into his archive as deeply as I should. Everything in this book feels so personal, so “imperfect” & quite experimental at times. The landscapes really intrigue me & most of them feel like nothing more than snapshots of his daily life at that time.. which is beautiful in its own way. Plus the texture & overall design of the book, book sleeve & binding just feels right for this particular body of work; a body of work that feels like a personal journal.

favorites from good days Quiet

• Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, a book about the murders of four family members (the Clutters) in Holcomb, Kansas that happened in 1959. From what I’ve read —about the book itself—is that it essentially started what we know today as the “True Crime” genre. With having a background in journalism, Capote’s eerily detailed account of the two men who committed these thoughtless crimes was so intriguing to me. It was one of those books that felt like a motion picture while I was reading it.

  

Listening:

The lyrics, the originality..everything that I feel when I listen to these two albums; they’ve just been striking a chord within me. Elliott Smith’s self-titled album is a perfect tune to start my days to while Violent Femmes’ 1983 album is the ideal album to get me pumped up & stoked.

Watching:

• It’s funny how simply listening to another person’s perspective can change yours dramatically. My buddy, Matthew sent me this video & at first (judging by the title) I wasn’t very interested but only after a few minutes, I began to realize that my own definition of what makes “street photography” street photography was very hindering to my creative growth over the years. With living in a smaller city than most Metropolitans, I always had trouble capturing street scenes with people in the frame & that only grew more difficult after the lockdowns of Covid-19 which caused a lot of office workers in Sacramento to transition into a work-from-home lifestyle (like a majority of the world). But after listening to Faizal Westcott’s wise words and great imagery throughout the video below, I began to realize that I was partaking in street photography all along, just in my own unique way.

• Wes Anderson’s directorial debut Bottle Rocket. I forgot how great this movie is!! Do yourself a favor & watch/rewatch it! Storyline: “Upon his release from a mental hospital following a nervous breakdown, the directionless Anthony (Luke Wilson) joins his friend Dignan (Owen Wilson), who seems far less sane than the former. Dignan has hatched a hare-brained scheme for an as-yet-unspecified crime spree that somehow involves his former boss, the (supposedly) legendary Mr. Henry. With the help of their pathetic neighbor and pal Bob, Anthony and Dignan pull a job and hit the road, where Anthony finds love with motel maid Inez. When our boys finally hook up with Mr. Henry, the ensuing escapade turns out to be far from what anyone expected.” —Marty Cassady

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What have you been fixating on? Feel free to share below in the comments!