I trust by now you know that I am a commercial director and advertising photographer who specializes in crafting lifestyle, kids and real people campaigns. However, let me say today’s newsletter has nothing to do with that.

Last week I went to the desert, and I came back inspired.  —  Read my full story below.  🛠, SAW

Flashback:  In 1990 I rang Jason’s parent’s doorbell.

I was 16 and Jason almost 2 years older. We were acquaintances. He and I had gone to the same elementary school, scrimmaged against each other in soccer, and ended up at the same parties. Also attended many of the same concerts, for example Camper Van Beethoven, R.E.M., U2’s Joshua Tree tour *…

My first memory of Jason (and his twin brother Matt) was them standing on the school’s steps, proudly waving around the new cassette liner notes of Van Halen’s “Women and Children First” to a group of kids all wearing the same Levi’s jean jackets.

Jason’s dad answered the door and teenage me asked, “Is Jason home?” His dad had me wait outside as he went to fetch his son.

When Jason came to the door, I still was not invited in. Standing on the stoop, I explained that I thought he liked The Church (the Australian rock band - hit single “Under the Milky Way”) and that I had two tickets for the show in Chicago - and asked if he wanted to join me and make the 4 1/2 hour road trip from St Louis to Chicago.

What I love about this story is recalling that our first real conversation was that 4 1/2 hour talk in my ’84 Corolla. That mile marks day one of what has blossomed into a best friendship.

The Church show on June 23, 1990 in Chicago at Navy Pier was sublime and is bootlegged here.

Flash-forward:  Present day - 32 years later - Jason & I reenacted our original road trip to again see The Church, just last week.

Only this time we traveled from LA to the famed Pappy & Harriet’s venue in Pioneertown, CA, which is a lone bar in the desert just outside of Joshua Tree. The show was terrific and the setting stupendous.

The following day Jason and I made a pilgrimage into Joshua Tree National Park. He had been there before, but this was my first time. WOW! I sort of knew what it was going to look like - but I had no idea how it was going to make me feel.

I felt as though I were on the moon and could not believe that one could simply drive there. It was so incredibly quiet that when a fly buzzed past you’d notice and say, “hey, buddy!”

The landscape is so incredibly monochromatic that it is bewildering, in a good way. There is such a VIBE happening in Joshua Tree. A frequency that tunes you - and puts you attune with others.

It feels as though nothing could be living (much less thriving) in this dusty, dry dirt - and then you see a flower. Suddenly you want to be a like a flower. Then you gaze upon these trees, and spy one so unique, that you say to yourself, no, I’ve changed my mind. I want to be like THAT tree in my life, in my community, in our world. I want to be perseverant and thrive.

I created this moving self-portrait of Jason and I *just for fun* with a nod to U2’s Joshua Tree album to commemorate not only the moment in the desert but also our 32 years of friendship, standing tall with a Joshua Tree that grows no more than 2 to 3 inches a year, yet is well on its way of persevering and thriving for 500 years.

* The same night in 1987 the Minnesota Twins beat the St. Louis Cardinals in game 7 of the World Series, and Bono wore a red satin Cards jacket under his brown leather jacket, and revealed it after the first song, “Where the Streets Have No Name” to screaming fans of both band and baseball alike.

Hi there. I’m Stephen Austin Welch, a commercial director & advertising photographer.

We shoot broadcast & print campaigns for ad agencies, creative firms and companies both locally in California and around the globe.

In our Directing work, we shoot kids & family spots, lifestyle spots and real people documentary shorts.

With my Still Photography, I specialize in crafting lifestyle images with a twist, genuine portraits and dramatic landscapes.

See ’em all on our websites:  spots  »  knsaw.com  &  stills  »  sawphoto.com

Call me, SAW, for the next visual story you want to tell.

We love to shoot!