402 - Slab City
We did the dirty today, folks. Slab Fucking City.
Where do I even begin? To be honest, I wasn't expecting to do this. The original plan was to go to Salvation Mountain and get out... But curiosity got the best of me.
I'd always heard growing up that Slab City was dangerous, so I was a little nervous to go IN it. If you haven't heard of Slab City, think of a permanent Burning Man-esque town in a desert with no rules. Then mix in a healthy dose of meth heads. At least that's what I'd HEARD this place was like.
Luckily, Salvation Mountain was right outside of Slab City, so that's what we did first.
We showed up a little after 9AM, and the place was basically empty. As if on cue, right when we pulled up, some old dude hopped out of his trailer and yelled "Welcome to Salvation Mountain!" Then he stared at us for about 30 seconds then went back in his trailer.
I don't even know how to describe this place. It's basically a giant religious monument on a mountain covered in 100,000+ gallons of fading paint. Give it a Goog. We went during mid day lighting, and the place is MASSIVE, so I didn't get a photo of it that looked solid enough to post.
One thing that DID catch my eye, however, was this solar panel billboard right on the other side of the road. It had this strange drawing and an antenna on it, and looked like some kind of gadget straight out of Back to the Future. The hipster in me said "THIS is what we're gonna shoot, instead of the famous thing you came here for."
So that's what I did.
Makes for a nice Instagram-esque shot. The trick to shooting in mid-day lighting is to completely avoid the sky if you can, unless you're gonna own it, like in this pic. I especially enjoyed balancing the poles on either side perfectly, and the huge-ass bug that made an appearance in the middle of the frame.
That wasn't intentional all, and I was about to remove it in the edit, but I decided fuck it. If there's any place I'm gonna have a BUG fly into frame enough to be visible, it's Slab City. The chances of that are just so small. We'll call it a sign from whatever God was helping me shoot that day.
I think that's my lesson of the day... If there's something extremely random (but fitting) that happens in a shot, it can be better to keep it in the shot than to have a perfect composition. Good photography should favor emotion over technicalities.
We finished up our session at Salvation Mountain, and decided to take a chance and head into the city. I figured were about to go into Mexico in a week anyway, we better get ready for anything.
And how bad can it be, honestly? As long as you're respectful of the people inside, I can't see them having a problem with you.
The moment we drove in, I knew we were fine. We waved at a few people to pick up on the vibe, and everyone was smiling and waving back. Lots of interesting housing setups... Picture a poverty-stricken RV park on acid.
We saw some signs for a Library, and a place called East Jesus, so we decided to check them out. Unfortunately the Library was closed, so we drove down the road to East Jesus, which turned out to be a massive art gallery open to the public.
I'm not lying when I say this place was on par with Meow Wolf. Some seriously talented individuals crafting metal works, tree houses, and all sorts of scenes. It blows my mind that this place has like 4,000 Instagram followers, is running on donations, and is completely empty. Meanwhile, there's places like Meow Wolf that are on par with this literally are running thousands of people a week through their exhibits.
I think that's a perfect example of how marketing can play a role in art. There's millions of talented artists out there. But only a few that are talented AND good at marketing. Which is a shame, because fame is what our society seems to define as a "successful artist." I'd argue these guys are just as successful.
However, like I said, the place was completely empty when we walked through it, and I was checking my back every time a piece of metal screeched in the wind because it was a bit creepy. There were trailers all around it so I know people are AROUND, but none are here right now...
This was one of my favorite shots I got of some TVs they stacked up and wrote things on:
“Channel Surfin”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 100 ~ 24mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/640s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I figured it would go well with the antenna/billboard shot I got earlier. That's another thing I'm learning... In a place like Slab City, there's so much random shit everywhere. By finding two random pieces of art that connected, I can begin to form a photography story. So if you're unsure of what to take photos of because a location is so busy, look for a connection to create an album.
Now I got to look for another thing that involves a TV. Annnnnd I found it... Hanging in a tree:
“Robo Tree”
Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 100 ~ 24mm ~ f/11 ~ 1/640s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Notice how the three main elements are the TV, the robot, and chair. They're all perfectly balanced from the edges. It's not in the same blue color scheme as the other two shots, but that's fine. I couldn't NOT post this shot, it's too weird.
And with that, we left, donated a bit, and drove out. Apparently Slab City varies in population heavily depending on the time of year that you come. For example, in the winter months, the town can get a couple thousand people living in it. During the summer, when the temperature regularly goes about 100 degrees F, it drops to just a few hundred.
Since we were there mid-day at the end of Summer (or is it Fall now?), it was pretty much deserted.
Interesting experience for sure, next time I'd want to come back mid-winter and see a concert or something. Would be fun to meet some locals. Actually meet some locals.
But yeah! That's it for this shoot.
Now I'll look for something ELSE that has a TV/antenna type of connection.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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