I had partied the night before at zoe + ashlynn's. I was double-fisting absolut watermelon with a mango monster. occasional dips into grey goose and simply lemonade. a twisted tea, and shots of añejo poured from a "gold-plated" bottle shaped like a jaguar. keeping track of everyone's name was impossible. I picked up a 6'5" 200-something pound man and spun him around a bit sometime around 2am. didn't get home until close to 6am where I slept for an hour because I committed to taking beautiful pictures of beautiful gabby arnold on that very sobering morning, 5/25/25.
I left my place around 9. I was still drunk. I'm not even talking, slight buzz still going or slightly hungover witht he spins—no motherfucker, I was still drunk. sober enough to be self-aware. I chugged a few waters beforehand and hopped on the metro. got off and thank heaven, there's a 7-eleven. I drank coconut water, ate protein, all I could to finally no longer be drunk. I still could feel those linger effects on my organs from a night of drinking though.
in spite of my severe missteps, we played dress up and created fun pictures to remember who we were in 2025. gabby as herself, and me as a ridiculous person.
gabby's running her magazine, timeless karma. editorial work is very involved. endless emails, layouts, design choices, styling choices, etc. especially if you're a small team. just from our time together I learned shit you have to do that didn't even cross my radar. might get myself into hot water for not being as diligent as she is. I truly just fuck around.
my personal biggest gripe—and this happens so often, it is not targeted towards any specific person or group—is already having a rapport or agreement with an artist to photograph/feature them but being sent to their mgmt to work out details only to either never get a reply or even worse... a reply outside of the email chain where the artist isn't cc'd. it can get so petty, hence me bringing it up. not naming names though because this literally happens all the time. it's okay, I'm not that mad about it.
a difference between gabby and I, is our exposure to inspiration. I personally hate looking at art. I loathe looking at anything I see as beautiful because it makes me want to kill myself. I wish I was joking. but gabby has a healthier relationship to art. magazines stacked, copies of la times' image, copies of i-d, interview magazine, etc. you have to surround yourself by your medium, you have to learn from your medium, otherwise you don't know how to differentiate yourself or how to build on the past. you need to know what the fuck exists and is possible to create in order to know what the fuck you're able to do yourself. I pray I can adhere myself to that way of thinking. I want to love it. I miss art.
I'm truly inspired meeting every new person in my life, even if the one time is the only time. we're really in this shit together, trying to make sense of it all. trying to leave something worth it. but even the things that don't seem very worth it should exist, it brings us closer to what we know we want. I'm learning, from my mistakes and everyone I look up to. no pedestals though, I'll drop you as soon as I start seeing the call-outs on instagram.
when gabby launches the magazine, I'm gonna read it. because I know the avalanche of work needed to make it possible. I want to respect the process. I want to indulge in creation. this is the first step. thanks, gabs.
