.desert, beach & strippers

Yeah been to the States some Weeks ago for Vacation and to shoot some personal projects.

Well this was the original plan but in the end it was just Vacation with a lot of party going on.

Nevertheless I’d a blast during the 2 1/2 weeks over there spending time with amazing people in Las Vegas, Palm Springs & Los Angeles.

Shoot some rolls of B/W film which got messed up by the lab… note to myself develop the stuff yourself again.

Although I’m not satisfied with the outcome of the pics here’s the entry about the trip.

If you want to see real deal go check out Severins entries or Chris Documentary.

Need to get some balls, I guess. Nevertheless let’s start this thing.

Started out in Vegas, where super cool Carlos offered me a bed for a whole week.

Queue to check in for Continental Flight from Berlin to Newark.

Continental flights with a Boing 757-200 which is a pretty small plane for a flight like that. Only two seat rows with 3 ppl each ... fancy

woke up after some hours somewhere over the atlantic... quick shoot...

 

While trying to kill some time during the 4hour layover I spotted her doing the best thing someone could do.

What Sin City is all about. Money, gambling, Sex, Party & drinking ... learned that pretty fast ... well to be honest, it took only about 2 hours. Carlos was so nice to start out with beer before we hit the first Gentlemens Club. Good start but nothing compared to the Rhino LV. Would have loved to have a cam with me during these nights but you know .. the bouncers don't like dudes with cams. They even don't like guys wearing white T-shirts ... stupid gang thing ... nevertheless good night after a long trip. haha

Mr.Larios aka the living NYC Hardcore bible had to work so I was roaming around the Strip during the day. Strange mix of tourists, homeless ppl and freaks.

It must have been one of the hottest weeks. Every shadow area was welcome.

Poor guy sitting on a crosswalk all day long. There are basically two sorts of ppl spending the day ... homeless and guys selling "ICE COLD water". Heard this phrase way to often during the week.

hitting the "New York, New York" Casino Area. These places are just too huge. No surprise a lot of people spend their whole "vacation" inside.

Zombies ... everywhere ... fascinating in a certain way.

They should introduce a dress code ... say Hello to the typical Sin City Tourist.

Everything is fake in this City but hey they've got the Thunder from Down Under.

It's nice to waste some water and electricity in the middle of the desert. Effective range of those things might be 50cm.

After hours at the casino some peepz enjoy having a water massage. Wonder how many of em fall asleep in there.

Gun crazy folks training the digital way. Well the small guy still needs to learn how to hold the rifle.

Probably the most chilled job ... driving up 'n down the strip whole day delivering the message.

Missing at least one roll of film ... whatever ... Inside the "Palazzo" I think ...

I ordered some german beer and wanted it to be send to Carlos place but due to the intense heat they put the order on hold until it gets colder ? o0 Canceled it ... and surprise surprise the got a decent store in LV.

Don't know which night this is from .. might be from Rockstar Night aka Saturday. Someone is addicted to his Iphone ;)

Doesn't look like these two guys are having fun at all.

Welcome to Sin City ...

Some Fancy Ladies having a short shopping brake.

another zombie

smaller than I expected .. home of the couture pop.

had watched the movie "Hangover" before I went to LV, so I had a good laugh after getting there.

 

waited to meet Carlos at Caesars when they crossed my line of sight

rain and bad weather in Vegas ... weired ..

One day I forgot my cellphone at C's house so after trying to figure out how to get in contact with him, I decided to go to RM Seafood at Mandalay Bay because Adam the Chef is a pretty good friend of Carlos. Luckily he was working and so nice to send him a message.

While waiting I got some rad Sushi with Lobster and was invited to take some pics. Thanks Again for this unique experience!

If you ever make it to Vegas make sure to got there. The team is doing some sick stuff.

On Monday I'd pick up my rental car... first of two ...

last day in Vegas was pretty chilled and we went to Carlos parents for dinner. Carlos Dad getting this is the beast of a steak ready to be eaten. Freakin delicous!

Nice neighborhood .. safe and quiet.

 

Needed to go to Best Buy to get an cable to connect my IPOD to the cars audio system. While a having a look at the CD's I encountered that the little EMO bitches from Tokio Hotel are sold in the desert too.

Alone on the road .. and I loved it. There are only 2 options .. Like it or Hate it.

Cliché ... first stop after entering Indian Reservation near Valley Of Fire NP.

Not much going on during the morning...

After hours of driving on Interstate15 I finally made it to Palm Springs. Had no real plan though but decided to try to get a cheap motel room instead of sleeping in the car at about 30°C (at night). Found one after some time for 50$ per night which I stayed in until I left for LA.

But waste of energy again. CA got enough of it, right ? ;)

Wanted to have some meat for lunch .. yeah again .. and the people I asked for a good place all recommended the same place. forgot the name though.

But the Burger was nice. Looks tiny on the picture.

Palm Springs Aerial Tram ... nice ride but little bit too expensive. Nevertheless the view was worth it.

Tourists spotting the Salton Sea.

Palm Springs, Palm Desert & Joshua Tree NP

 

Same day I did the Desert Rock Tourist thing ... so drove to Sky Valley.

Adam if you're reading this ... just for you ;) .. no go hate me ;) Yeah this is only interesting if you're a Desert/Stoner Rock Fan.

After that I went to Joshua Tree to see If i might be lucky enough to get into the Rancho De Luna. FYI it's the Place bands like Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles Of Death Metal, Arctic Monkeys etc. recorded stuff. Legendary place. Tried to get in touch with the owner (David Catching) before I went there but didn't got a reply until the day after I've been there.. Simply knocked the door and someone really opened. Explained who I am and well got in. Sorry David ;) The guy chilling there was Cinematographer John Pirozzi, who directed vids for bands like QOTSA, Calexico and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Strange feeling being there.

All sorts of strange things....

and this nice old police car outside. Wanted to finish this nice day in the national park watching sun go down. Enjoying some stars you know .. but "god" didn't liked me anymore after I left the Rancho.

There's a time difference of about 6 hours between this Image and the last one. About 15minutes after I went into the Park I stopped to have a cig break and to get some water. No big deal at all. At least usually it isn't... Well it becomes a problem when a young geologist working for US Government decides to hike all day on the desert (48°C this day) without drinking enough water and all of a sudden got a total blackout while driving and crashes into the front of your rental car.

Best thing if they keep driving ...hit 'n run style... So I stopped the next car driving by and convinced the driver to take help. We drove up the hill to get cell phone service and wow my little geologist friend was stuck in the dirt and hadn't even recognized what happed minutes before, nice! So I called the rental car company and the cops, which came like an hour later. bla bla bla ... my friend was brought to hospital due to massive dehydration and the highway patrol gave me a nice ride on the front seat to a small mexican restaurant to wait for the tow truck. 4 hours later the guy finally arrived, I was still in kind of shock. Drove into the dessert again to unload my new car and get the broken one. This is actually the only picture that exists of that event, since I wasn't really able to shoot. Believe me you don't want to be stuck out there surrounded only by rednecks.

here you got the reason there are so much overweight ppl in america ;)

the day after the crash ... new car different wasted area ... salton sea. californias hugest lake..actually man made like 100years ago by accident. Hot, stinky and with a humidity beyond good and evil. Nevertheless ppl are living out there. rednecks and meth addicts of course.

Bombay Beach. Freaky place. Nhat loves it.

Abandoned places and a bunch of trailer parks/meth labs being the only things you'll find there. Heard of people who needed to do U-Turns on the street because some rednecks started to follow them ;)

FYI .. you can drive there for hours without seeing another car.

Just some typical trains passing by from time to time.

That's it .. nothing ...

Empty places ..

but kind of beautiful

oh and dead fish

everywhere!

 

Next day I moved on to LA. Stayed at USA Hostel in Hollywood which is pretty nice place... well there is no AC but could be worse. After checking out where to park the car I went out for a little walk around the area.

Hollywood Blvd. is made for tourists. Souvenir & Smoke shops everywhere.

As well as preparations for some sort of filming...

and street "artists". Though the little guy isn't really excited.

Add cool people.

People waiting for the bus

"You're not welcome here."

People gathering at the MJ star. The hype seems to be over.

Guy giving me the look .. haha

 

Looking for girl, hu ?

Liked the scene with Sun getting low.

Sapphire ... Vegas is everywhere.

Later I joined some Australian, German & UK Folks to have some drinks and to go to a not so fancy Club Crawl. Stupid guide and bad clubs .. at least if you're a Rock fan. Nevertheless we got wasted. haha

Come on .. it's cool to keep cartoon heroes from your childhood in mind but getting a Transformers tattoo ?

 

Shittiest drink you can get. Problem in LA is that everything closes at 2pm .. so you won't get any decent drink after that time.

Teamed up with Nhat next day to meet Jamie & Chris for lunch. View over Silverlake,LA ... nice area.

Say hello to Nhat, the most chilled dude I've ever meet.

Murph ... amazing little fellow.

Chris favorite "church" offering free tests...

Having a nap is always good, just make sure the MB is running.

*cuddle*

experimental firmware, huh ? ;)

This one hasn't moved for a long time.

On our way to the Beach we came across the Paladium where people gathered to get into some kind of show. In the background you can see the Hollywood hills "Volcano" ;)

 

adorable old couple

Guy asking for money to get some beer. Nhat is such a good guy.

Everyone loves to chill.

Looks like he got some Medical Marijuana ^^

Impressive ball.

Checking exposure.

Movie Set ? Veteran having a good time at the Beach ?

nothing to add ...

beside the fancy scratches I like this one.

 

Why is there a Pyramid on the Dollar bill ?

 

Pure California lifestyle .. getting a Botox treatment while being stoned, nice!

classic ..

 

There are strange folks around though I haven't seen anyone at muscle beah.

Watching the match those two might think about there times playing there back in the days.

 

 

Venice is packed with tourists during the weekend but almost empty on workdays, with only some locals and drug addicts around.

 

 

 

 

Would have liked to have one of those as kid.

cruising at the beach

I really really love this area of LA.

 

Went on to Santa Monica to go to the pier and grab some food.

Chris got a better shot of similar situation

typical sightseeing frame

 

Chris shoot a nice portrait of this guy the day before. Saw em everyday roaming around hollywood blvd.

Bus stops are always nice.

MJ again

It's extreme how many homeless ppl are actually around. Never seen as much as in LA before.

 

Pools, Pipes & Punk Rock ...

I got addicted to the Beach so I went there again. First scene I witnessed that day.

They had a nice battle and the folks around a good laugh. We're all going to hell... hell yeah.

Same day was Venice Beach Basketball League Finals, so stopped to watch some action.

 

A white guy won the Slam Dunk Contest ...

lovely scene.

tons of cheap glass

with dad

unique couple ... watch out for the mohawks

drum circle time ...

and Bella Vida

Where's David?

will make a nice FB print.

 

There are no scratches on the neg ruining a frame I like.

 

It's so relaxed out there. Just some surfers and folks hanging around.

Yeah fishing at this spot will be successful.. I'm sure

Always started the day with a short walk.

Californian contrast

go check out Carlos footage of her at Sugar Factory

Wonder when they introduce Medical Weed in Vegas ...

Meet Chris, Jamie & Nhat again for dinner...

...so we'd a little walk around Hollywood Blvd at night.

 

I'm not good a shooting slow shutterspeeds ... wish I'd more steadier hands

Listening to Mos Def - B Boys Document

Public Transport in LA ? uhm not really .. it's a joke compared to European cities.

Ended up at a nice Italian restaurant with some open mic action going on. Rad food.

People going to club around 9pm .. o0 .. won't happen in Berlin.

Santa Barbara street scene. Cleanest City I've seen during my stay and everyone seemed to be happy.

 

 

 

That’s it …

Thank you to all the amazing folks I meet and got to know during the trip but especially:

Carlos for being such a great host in LV and giving me the Rockstar Treatment! My highest respect to you for being such a great talent and awesome father.

Chris & Jamie for finding some time to spare with the strange german fellow in such a sad Situation.

Nhat for being the chilled guy you are and showing me the beach.

cheers from Berlin

philip