My life hasn’t been the same since…"The Box"

Post N001

Aug 21, 2024

Does anyone remember the box? I sometimes think my creativity peaked that year (November 2019). Life hasn’t been the same since that photoshoot. For those who don’t know, my senior year of high school required a final assignment where we had to create a photo book with a consistent theme and concept, and I wanted to do something bold. So, I decided the best idea would be to build an 8 ft x 8 ft plywood box in my backyard while my mom was out of town.

I think back to the time when I was with my friends Max, Henry, Jaidin, as we stood around in Ledford’s (my senior year photo teacher) classroom, creating the lousiest blueprint I’ve ever seen for a large plywood box painted all white. I think we used a stapler to represent a wall? There were definitely a few paper clips in there. But the way we bounced ideas back and forth to each other was beautiful. I’d pitch something, and Henry would immediately shut it down, saying it wouldn’t work. But then, it just clicked. And we had it. We took Henry’s van down to Home Depot, bought a ton of plywood, and that night, stayed up all night building this thing. It was so dark that we drove Henry’s car through my driveway all the way to the backyard and used the headlights for light. One of my favorite memories was when a neighbor walked by and could kinda see what was going on from the sidewalk. Garrett, Cooper, Henry, and I all had t-shirts wrapped around our heads as if we were members of the Taliban. I noticed the person walking by and commanded them to step into the backyard to witness what we had just built. It’s hilarious to look back on that moment—four teenagers dressed as mercenaries, building a giant box made of plywood. The neighbor never came in.

Once we drilled 4 pairs of plywood panels creating walls and a floor, more friends came the next day to paint the whole thing white. I think we had 5-8 guys just painting away with their shirts off, music going, and laughter spreading. To finish the day, we broke our backs trying to lift the last piece of plywood onto the top to make a roof. Didn’t work at all. But it came together. An 8-foot by 8-foot cube painted all white with a white tarp creating a roof. Then, once the weekend rolled around, we conducted a whole photoshoot. I convinced all my friends to come and model by offering free beer. Shout out to my friend’s mom who bought us a 30 rack! (Sorry, Mom).

That night was magical. Oh my goodness. The ideas were ENDLESS. Rest in peace to the SD card that got wiped somehow. But it’s okay because we all persevered as a group, and there were like 20+ people in my backyard! People from high school who usually wouldn’t see each other outside of school came together for this, all itching to do their thing in the box and pitch their ideas. It was the most collaboration I’ve ever seen, and I graduated college at “the best” art school. I’ll never forget how fun those days were. Thank you for all the help.

I’m sitting on this flight to NYC thinking, what do I do with Substack? For now, I think this is why I’m here: to come up with the next “Box”. Ever since that day, I’ve been itching to come up with a new design for a spatial, experimental experience. And I just haven’t yet. But I think my ultimate goal in life is for the box to be an everyday thing. Hear me out: for years, I’ve dreamt of all our friends living on a ranch in Montana or Wyoming, just thriving and creating. We’ve got Max, Garrett, Kanan, Lucas, Kayla, and Coop working on an album, Alan playing the piano of course, Jaidin and H-Ball working on films, Weston acting, Josh shooting photography while Leo, Carson, and Riley are creating a collection of clothes. Leo from SM is modeling, Benny is cheffing it up, Lydia making a table, Max drawing up a comic, and Maxwell wizarding up on Photoshop. A safe haven for artists, all adding their strokes to this never-ending masterpiece. Oh, I almost forgot, while we’re all creating, Henry is out shooting an elk (Ryan and David are probably off shooting quail).

I apologize if I didn’t add you to that name-dropping part, but if you’re reading this, you know I very much appreciate you, and we need you on the property. The Box was this space where anyone could do anything; the land in Wyoming is just a much larger and more freeing version. So yeah, I think using this space to force myself to write creatively every day will push me closer to that goal. One box at a time. We can’t lose the connection we share with one another. We can’t lose the ability to collaborate. How did we not make a documentary about the box? So yeah, if anyone has any ideas for a new spatial experience, let me know. Here are the final images from The Box.

See ya on the 1,000 acres!