July 2, 2026 • 36 mins
This week, Trent and Patrick sit down with photographer and filmmaker Stephen Elliott, who has traded a permanent address for a life of full-time travel. They discuss building a life around curiosity, documenting the world through film, redefining the idea of home, and why momentum matters more than perfection. Stephen also shares the habits and mindset that have shaped his unique journey behind the camera.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to a Home with Roby, Patrick mcasac with Roby
Commercial and Robie Services. Long with Trent. Ha'son from the
Ruby family at Companies. We are your host. Trent got
another exciting episode of at Home with Ruby. Got another
YPO fella, Stephen Elliott, who I think he might have
just been in Mexico with he is he is our photographer,
he I was. I saw that on on his not
(00:22):
well you know him through YPO though, right, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
He's on every trip, the big trip that we go on.
Uh yeah, a big three trip and does other stuff.
But wait till you here, wait till you hear this
guy story. Man, he's he's a wonderful, wonderful, dear friend.
I've been in you know, I've been in YPO close
to fifteen years. I think he is somewhere around that time.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I don't know. We'll let him clear all that up.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But uh, but yeah, last last show, Michael Pittman, Uh
was owned at a wonderful job.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Gret He'll awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Go check it out. This this show will be after
his show, So check Pittman. Pittman Pittman out.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Uh. And so Steven's with with Mud Productions. And Okay,
that's pretty cool if you and you go to his website. Man,
he's got a bunch of cool stuff out there. So
I'm really sorry this. I'm really excited to hear. We've
done this show for eleven years.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
This is a first.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're gonna get blown away like first yeah, like first yeah.
And I think he might be even in Mexico right.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Now as we talk, like, I can give you when
we get off the show today, before before I get
hit the road, I can give you your first cold slap.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's how it's gonna be. He thought that was funny.
That's how it's gonna be. That's a that's only only.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Only do that with my really really good heard her.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, tell me what I talked a lot on the
last episode about my comings and goings over the last
few weeks. Tell us all about what you've been going to,
what you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, man, you you right out of town when we uh,
when we had Tatum Napor filled in for you did
a great job. And then and then the other show
that Naper covered for young was The The Dad's Strength Brewing.
Uh And and I have a six pack in front
of me two point nine percent alcohol, the low calories
(02:10):
and uh and low alcohol.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So you can still function. I think they're trying to.
It's good.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Uh. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But we had just come back from from Surfside Beach
for for a heavy week and uh and then my
family we had the family annual family big three y
p O trip down in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
So UH, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Really cool being in being in this organization with with
all my friends and peers that are now my friends
best friends, uh and and who have kids and watching
these kids grow up together and then be together. And
so now my heart's my heart's full. I get so
(02:55):
much out of relationships and I'm really I'm really peaking
now on relationships. Got a I got a couple couple
customer friend golf trips here now next next couple of days, uh,
and then we're gonna dour our annual homage to uh
to Midwest Illinois, UH to see Reagan's family. That's gonna
(03:19):
be fun. I mean, fourteen hour drive for four days
is a lot, but it's gonna be good while it lasts.
And then come back and we're doing the first for
the Haston family going to the West Coast. We're gonna
kinda kind of like Steven. Steven has a nomad aspect
to his life. We'll let him tell you that. But
(03:41):
we're gonna fly I think in Reagan knows all this.
But we're gonna fly into San Francisco and then we're
gonna rent a rent a van and meander our way
every couple of days down and end up in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Oh wow, So that's a good little track, dude, I.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Guess it is. I don't know, I reckonize all the details.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
What is it? What inspired you to? Where'd that idea
come from? I mean, I mean, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Tatum's eighteen, she's going to Chapel Hill, Rowan's uh going
you know, she's going to her senior year in high school,
and we're just trying to experience experience things together. We're
big on the United States, the contingent United States, and
want to check it out.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
No, that's I mean, I have never I mean, you
probably bounced around different cities on the West Coast, but
never really been able to drive that coast. And I'm sure,
I mean, everywhere you go has got to be this magnificent. Yeah,
I'm I'm super excited. It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Uh, but Tatum, you know, she she's all into the
music scene and she's a little bougie and uh she's like, Oh,
Zach Brian and he's got Ryan bing Bingham opening for him,
who is one of my very favorite singers West Texas country.
What the day we're in one of the two days
(05:05):
we're in San Francisco. We got to get tickets. I mean,
tickets are like fifteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You were talking about tickets earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh, like, you're crazy, man, this is I mean. And
then you're torn. I mean you almost want to go
get a third mortgage on your house to do this
because you wake up one day and the kids are
all grown with their families and and and money juggling
is not your issue necessarily, if the Lord bless us is.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
At that moment.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's like, well, but but we're only going to
be in San Diego two days. I don't know if
we need to spend one of our whole nights doing that.
You can do that at other places.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Hey, you gotta love Tatum for trying.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I have my money on Tatum winning that one ultimately,
by the way, but I your your thoughts are the
exact same of my as my thought. I mean, like
you only get so much time I mean with your kids,
and so it's like you want to do all of
this stuff. Said that you can say that you did
it because in fifteen twenty years, you're right, these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Are only do that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
It's what I tell people when they're doing their house,
you know, nice custom project, and they're like, I can
use this product or that product.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I'm like, man, you have a good job.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm not trying to spend your money and I'm not
trying to waste your money. But in a couple of years,
there's a high probability you she'll be like, why didn't
I put this better stone in my kitchen that I wanted?
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I wish I had done it. So and that's if
things work out.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Things don't always go don't always go the optimistic route
for people. So you got to take that into account too.
I don't I don't know what to do, Patrick, I'm
gonna spend your money. You want to donate some tickets
to my family?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Maybe I think we're at the right spot to find
a hookup on tickets, just saying, uh, maybe there's an
eyeheart connection out.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You think I need to pull that card on.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Jeff, what do you think you might have something to
say about this? I can neither confirm nor to deny.
I'm sure there's somebody you could call.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I will have a conversation before I head up to
Ben or elk here in a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Thank you for the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Man, Sometimes you just put stuff out there, all your
all your problems, and the answers started cheering.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
But I will say I have so last night. You know,
we've been out of town.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So last night we were traveling on Father's Day, which
was Sunday. We're recording this on Tuesday. And last night
at dinner, I have two nice, cool, awesome, crafty handwritten
cards from my oldest and my my second oldest, Tatum
and Rowing, and I read them out loud, which made
them uncomfortable, made me uncomfortable, but it was really cool.
(07:46):
And then I said, Piper, she's my she's my young
edgy daughter. And I said Piper, where's my card? And
I was just kidding and she and she wrote me
a text. I got it this morning at nine seventeen.
I have not even been able to sit down and
read it. But It's a long text and it says,
(08:08):
I know I'm a little late. I don't have a
beautiful handwritten card for you, so I can't wait to
read that. So how was your Father's Day?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Patrick? It was good. Other than I was away from
my family. I was with my brother and his kids.
That's it seemed to me. And we'll have the Father's
Day locally, probably tonight.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And you lost your father this past year. God rest
your soul, so I'm sure that wait on you. And
and I remin this on my father every Father's Day,
and you know, I mean hopefully the memories stay as
strong and get stronger.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
As time goes by.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I might have listened to Matt stillwell, hey Dad a
couple of times.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
That's been known to do that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So and I mentioned this on the last show, Eric Church.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Those I've Loved along the Way also is a good
hey I'm thinking about your dad song. So, uh yeah,
go check that out. Hey, do do this. Go give
those you love a hug when you see him, hug them,
tell him you love them, because it goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I think it's an important aspect. Are you ready for
my man?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Man, it's Steven Elliott okay. So his he goes by
High five.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I bet there's a there is a ton of people
and he's not here to speak for himself yet that
only know him as high okay, but his name is
Stephen Elliott. His photography company it might be more diversified
than that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Will let him say his mud productions.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
He is man.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I mean, what's the the most what in the world
demand the beer commercial of.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The doss interesting, most interesting man in the world.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
This is him right here.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
When we returned Steven Elliott High five on the At
Home with Ruby Show.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And don't forget. Rugby Services is your one stop source
for all your electrical, he cooling, plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Robi servicesnow dot com. That's Robi servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back that Home with Roby. I'm patrickmcaac from Roby Commercial
and Robi Services along with Trent Hasten from the Roby
family of companies. We are your hosts, all right, Trent.
(10:17):
This I was introduced to Steven Elliott as Stephen Elliott
by the nice email that Kylie sets us up with
before we have a guess on the show. But I
was just informed that's not even his name. What's kind
of his name?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Asking Patrick?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So Stephen, if I can call you that, welcome to
the show, first of all, But what is your what
do you go by?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well? Thanks for having me, sir. A lot of people
know me as high A lot of people know me
as high five, and my family calls me mud and
people swear that I'm not a Steve.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
So you can make over that what you will for real,
but you are Steve? Is it two l's, two t's
or one two l's and one T.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Two l's and one T. We don't need a redundant
tea on the end. That's just for nonsense.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, you know what, we could have been related, ma'am.
My mom's maid name is Elliott with two l's and
two t's. That's my brother's name also, But we'll just
be related anyways. How about that?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Maybe there's maybe there's a chance they could level up
someday and lose the tea.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I can I can see that negotiation is even on
the table. But well, welcome, I'm so excited to talk
to you. Trent speaks so highly of you. Yeah, where
do we start, Trent?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Well, Well, first off. There's that movie. I'm a big
Matthew McConaughey fan.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Mud. Where did you?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Is that a nickname? I've never heard this. Your family
calls you mud?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah, my family calls me mud. Some other close friends
occasionally call me mud. It's not even a great story.
My brother and I got into like rhyming banters when
I was a kid, and he'd be like, hey Bud,
and I'd say hey, Stud, and then we just kind
of kept riffing back and forth, and it landed on
him calling me Mud Bud, and that stuck, and then
at some point the bud fell off and I just
(11:59):
was his Mud, to the point where my sister, this
these days, was filling out some legal form and it
was like, you know, list your relatives and she was like,
it's Mud. Wait, no, his his name is actually Stephen,
so yeah, it's And that's where the name Mud Productions
comes from. It just felt like an health I'm going
to start a company, which is a strong word, might
(12:21):
as well call it after me, So Mud Productions Mud.
And then the high five thing that just happened organically
because handshakes are a little like forgettable. So one day
I just decided you know what if I just give
people high fives and it just stuck and people started
calling me high five after that. So that's how that
all came together.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, every time I see you and I watch.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You work the crowd, Uh, you're You're always stolen a
mean high five. You and you and our other buddy,
David Strickler are my two big high fivers. Uh, it's
really cool gives.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
David gives some mean high fives. I'll tell you that,
but I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
He tries to hurt people, don't me. I got something
to prove, but oh no, here he comes. Here, he comes.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Kind of like bracing for it.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So where are you at now?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Right now? I am in Mexico. I was in Puntamito
last week as h as Trent mentioned, and then I
tacked on a few extra days and a little surf
town called Sayulita. So I'm here editing photos and hopefully
enjoying some surf real soon. And I just getting a
(13:42):
little an exit ramp out of Mexico for some personal
time here.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So well, so I do okay, So you I have
a question, because this is one of the most interesting
answers I've ever seen from a guest that that Kylie
put together is do you have no home? In very
few possessions, travel the world full time, taking pictures and
making films as I go. Yep, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Yeah, so I I love the question in that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, that is cool, tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
My career has been shooting events and travel for over
two decades now, I guess it is. And twenty twenty
everything shut down. You could guess how many events and
travel things were happening. So it really could occurred to
me that it doesn't make sense to be paying New
York rant, where I was living for several years, when
I don't have the New York quality of life. There's
(14:36):
just nothing going on. So I cut my lease and
sold virtually everything I own and put a few things
that I can't buy again in storage, and thought, I'm
just going to travel for a time. And back then
it was still COVID and nobody really knew what was
going on in the world, and so I thought, I
currently plan long term, but like for the next three months,
I'm just going to be like voluntarily homeless or unhoused.
(14:59):
I think it's the appropriate room now. And I just
started traveling, and I've traveled for work for years of
you know, I think I was looking through my archives
from a few years ago and I'd spent all of
four days in New York in the month of June,
and I was like, in hindsight, I don't really have
to have a place there, So long story short, I
(15:21):
don't have a home. I have a storage unit in
a feel box in Brooklyn, and I get back there
whenever I need to drop off something or pick up
something or change my wardrobe, and then head off to
the next destination for either work or my bucket list
or visiting friends.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So totally spoke. So when you where do you stay?
When you when you go back to Brooklyn, you just back.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
For wherever I can. I often crash on a friend's couch.
I've got a handful of friends that still live there.
Sometimes I'll just book a hotel for a night. Increasingly,
it's it's pretty quick turnarounds. I think I've been in
New York about seventeen seventeen days this year, over ten
different trips, so like them. Usually they're kind of overnight
(16:04):
at best, turn around and go somewhere the next day,
So it's very quick. In and out for me these days.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So uh, and Stephen, everybody knows.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I talk about it on the show Me Me and
a couple of knuckleheads go try to go kiteboarding every
year and the outer Banks at Real. Steven is a
avid kiteboarder. Uh, talk about your hobbies, but you you
are avid and and last year he was able to
join us out there and it was so fun having you. Man,
(16:36):
it was it was so great bonding with you.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But but you mentioned uh that that you journal your
no mad life. How much time do you put in it?
What do you write about? I mean it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yeah, Journaling and just writing in general something that's kind
of been a part of my life for Oh. I
think the first journal I got was like two thousand
and eight, just a little pocket moleskin notebook, and decided,
I'm just going to carry this with me everywhere because
if I try to like set it aside or have
it be like, oh this is my deep thoughts journal,
I'm never going to write in it. So I just
(17:15):
carried a journal with me everywhere, and I've done that
ever since two thousand and eight. I guess, so at
a minimum, I write at least a few gratitudes each day.
But the other thing that I like to do, it's
a practice called morning Pages, comes from the book The
Artist Way, and it's basically just stream of consciousness for
a set amount of words or pages. Basically you just
(17:37):
write and so you fill a page. Nobody reads it.
It's just for me, and it's a place to just
share my thoughts and so a lot of some of
my favorite short films and things that I've made have
come from that. But yeah, no, writing is a big
part of my life. I would say it's probably added
more to my life than anything else, just because the
practice of kind of sitting with your thoughts and letting
(17:59):
them be whatever they are is a really really powerful
thing for getting to know myself. I guess.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So on the questionnaire that you fill out, you said
you recently started a substack, which I'm not too familiar
with that, and you would like that track readers tell us,
Is that where you put this writing or some of
the writing?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, I do. I've scattered my writings over the internet
in various places for years, and substack is the newest
one that feels interesting and exciting to me. So I
do kind of boil down to a weekly newsletter and
then some smaller little updates and thoughts on substack there.
But it's just it's a platform that's jaded by social
(18:43):
media the way a lot of other platforms do. It
feels like a place for artists and writers to just
do their thing and share their work. And increasingly I'm
finding that it's a bigger platform than I realized, and
a lot of people that we all know are on there.
So I'm excited to kind of be another voice, another
perspective on that platform, and it's a way for me
to kind of share my journey, share my travels. I
(19:05):
was telling my best friend recently that I've cut five
years of nomad life content under my belt, and I
really don't share a lot of it. Occasionally I'll post
something on an Instagram story, but I haven't really sought
out an outlet for it. But substack is the one
that feels kind of like, Okay, this feels like a
place where I can share my travels and my adventures
(19:28):
and lessons learned and random thoughts throughout the day. So
I'm excited to see how that unfolds as I continue
to put new content on that page.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So we got we got still photography which I've witnessed
for a long time. And maybe you can clarify how long?
How long have you been working with YPO Southern Seven.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I started shooting for YPO in fall of twenty thirteen. Wow,
thirteen years now. Yeah, so yeah, you nearly your your
whole white field journey almost Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, yeah, whose core lights very well you and then
Devyn who runs the Southern Seven from a from a
managerial standpoint, leadership standpoint. Uh, I think we're within a
couple months of each other as well.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I've got a question for Steven what what hours are
you taking photos of? Like, is there like a certain
time where you cut the camera off or do you guys,
do you shoot pictures all throughout the evening.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
There's there's no set cutoff time, but there is a
there is an awareness that I'm not going to capture
anything that needs to be seen again at a certain point.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Well said guy, and I think that you got his
question is more.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Than more than my photography skills. That latter skill might
be the one that keeps me getting hired by wife.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Duly noted, We'll move on. I got he understood where
you were coming from. Do you get a little carry away,
like to stay up late. I'm not saying nothing about that, but.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Do you know what we have carried away? And stay
up late?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Me too, No, Stephen, Stephen knows me very well.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
He's seen it inside and now so but so you
still photography, and then and then you talk a lot
about writing. I mean, just always thought you were a
wonderful artist. But man, and so, tell us about your
filming endeavors. I didn't know much about that.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, I wanted to make films since I was in
middle school or high school. It just always felt like
an interesting career, an interesting thing to work on. Long
story short, I didn't really have access for the opportunities
to get into film the way that one typically does.
But I I've been filming one second every day for
(21:53):
over a decade now, and so in the process of
doing that, I carry a camera with me everywhere I
go and films something every single day that seems interesting
or noteworthy or just honest. And as a result, I've
got quite a library of footage or just from my life,
and every so often, usually it comes up in writing.
(22:14):
All you know, some idea, what kind of spark for
a hit that could be that could be an interesting
little short film, and then I just kind of go
through the footage that I have and see if there
is a story to be woven together there. But some
of my the the things that feel most interesting to
me are the things that I've made. Photography is interesting
(22:35):
in that there's I would distinguish between making and taking photos.
Most of what I do for for hire is taking
photos just kind of rearranging what already exists, but making
photos kind of crafting an idea or doing a lot
of photoshop work. Similarly, with making films, feels like, oh wow,
(22:55):
I'm contributing to the world's collection of art or things
that wouldn't exist if I weren't here. So films is
something that's important to me. And I've only a handful
of short films that I've made, but each one of
them is is a passion project. It's something that's exciting
and something that I hope kind of outlasts me in
(23:16):
some way.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Do you have a platform or where folks and me
can go watch some of these films.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Yeah, you can find them on Stephen Elliott dot com.
That's Elliott with one T. Just just to clarify once again,
but yeah that Stephenelliott dot com is just my purely
personal website or whatever. But but yeah, that's that's where
I share the art that I share their stuff that
(23:45):
matters to me, not stuff that I was paid to
shoot or to promote. Sometimes there's a little bit of
overlap on that. But yeah, the things that have meant
the most to me, that I find interesting, they go
on Stevenelliott dot com and yeah, you can. You can
find them there.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Maam so Mexico. Now where you said you're going to
stay for a couple of days is wort of recharge.
Where's next?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I go back to the States to bounce around a
little bit, visiting family, and then I've got a couple
other photography projects coming up. But the next interesting place
will be in July. Probably mid July, I'll head down
to South America. I've got a buddy's wedding in Argentina
at the end of August, and so kind of from
(24:30):
whenever I land until end of August is my time
to explore that part of the world. So the wedding
is in Iguazoo Falls, Argentina, which is like the largest
waterfall in South America, and it's a right on the
border of Brazil and Argentina, and then Paraguay is close by.
I haven't been to any of those places, so my
plan next is to land somewhere there and then spend
(24:53):
time kind of backpacking, traveling around seeing bits of South
America that I haven't seen before.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
I wonder if you're going to line up with like
it doesn't the World Cup end right around then.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
I'm not sure when the World Cup ends, but it
started here in Mexico while I was here, so that
was really fun to just kind of be a part
of the energy there. But I mean, you guys in
North America and Canada, like, I love watching all these
foreigners like discover ranch sauce for the first time, and
like I kind of feel a little bit of American pride,
being like, oh they like us, this is cool.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I think it's cool that they're like getting to experience
in American culture.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
We get the sort of get a bad, bad name
around the world. It's cool they come to see it themselves.
It's it's it's a wonderful place to be.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But now you'll probably leave a little bit heavier, but
they'll be happy they came.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I was about to say we like cream based sauces.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
How about that.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Ranch is pretty good. I gotta be honest, it's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well, uh, how long you told me when we were
walking on the beach last year at the Outer Banks.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
You said you gave me.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
While we were holding hands.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Right, it was not all that it was. Uh, I
thank you and me and our good buddy David Stoffell.
But you said a cool fact. And I don't remember
the details, but in the previous year, how many mornings
that you didn't know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Have a plan where you were going to lay your
head that night.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah. So I keep a lot of random stats about
nomad life because I guess I like lists and numbers.
But probably the most interesting stat to me is the
number of days I spent where I woke up and
I didn't know where I was going to sleep that night.
Sometimes that's pretty like obvious, like, oh, I'm on like
a bike packing trip and I have a tent on
(26:41):
my bike and I'm just gonna ride until I feel
like pitching a tent. So sometimes it's kind of obvious
like that. Sometimes it's like I don't know if I'm
going to catch a flight today or if I'm going
to like stay with a friend or a hotel or whatever. Anyways,
last year, twenty twenty five had them No. Twenty twenty
five and twenty twenty three are tied at forty seven days.
(27:01):
Those years that I woke up not knowing Hoskins. I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That sounds pretty fun.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
It's very much.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It does.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
The first time, it's very unsettling. You're like, oh my gosh,
and then you realize, like, okay, I can just get
on I could just get on Booking dot Com and
make this happen, or like I can phone a friend
or you know, hop on a train or a bus
or a flight to somewhere else, and like it's it's
a very manageable thing. But it's a very unusual thing
for people because we all normally have houses or nowhere
(27:32):
we're going and when we're coming back. In my case,
I don't have a going back to do. It's not like, oh,
when this trip is over, I can go home and
you know, sleep and get on my own home Wi Fi.
And I don't have that, So there's going to be
some sense of I don't really know where I'm going
to be in six hours. It's all part of the adventure.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
What is one thing that you carry with you that,
like I have to have this traveling like you know,
some people might have a pillow or a blanket. Is
there anything that it no matter what like this comes
with me.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
I always have a camera of some kind that could
just be my phone, but increasingly I'm annoyed with the
quality of fat. I always have my pocket journal. The
newest there's a few. There's a few Little travel Essentials.
Has recently gifted a really nice compass because my sense
of direction is abysmal, Like I've literally gotten lost walking
to somebody's mailbox before, like I don't know how to
(28:26):
get back, which is very ironic. I can travel the world,
but don't ask me to like tell you where something
is in town. And then I recently got a oh,
I also have a travel face. I try to get
fresh flowers whenever I get wherever I go somewhere for
a time, because it's really nice to just like have
a little sense of home, like a I get fresh flowers.
So if I'm staying somewhere for like a week or two,
(28:48):
I'll go find fresh flowers. Recently, in Wahaka, I got
a little succulent, a little potted succulent because it felt
fitting for the place. But I've got a travel vase.
It's just this little it folds down to nothing and
you fill it up with water and it kind of
balloons out and holds some flowers. So that's kind of fun.
And then most recently, I got a remarkable I think
that's a really cool note writing table a KI. Yeah,
(29:11):
it's like a kindle. You can write on that one.
I mean, I don't take it on hikes, but like
it's always in the bag wherever I go because it's
a really nifty blend of technology and writing. So a
lot of my journaling these days happens on that. Soups
are somes that carry with me everywhere, like.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
A million questions, but obviously we don't have time to
get through all of them. But this is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
So, I mean you started off you said it'll be
a couple of months COVID, and obviously it's been five
or six years. Do you not I'm not telling you.
I mean, do you have a foresight? I mean, is
this something you want to do forever? Are you gonna
see how it evolves or where's that at? Secondly, Uh, yeah,
(29:54):
the evolution of the technology of your filming and your
and your photographs over the twenty plus years you've been
doing and then lastly on the photographs I know that
you do professionally for YPO and for our group as
(30:15):
an example, how much what's the ratio of the art
And you're an artist and you're awesome and you make
everybody at all ages feel so comfortable, Thank you, But
what is the percentage of time that goes into the
actual art of taking the photos? The action, the action
out there, and then the behind the scenes working on
(30:37):
the photos and working on your craft.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
A couple questions for you, got it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
I'll take those in reverse order, the time spent shooting
to the time spent doing the back end work everything
from editing to scheduling and all that can be Yeah,
it's about one to one.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
So if I've got a two hour shoot and two
hours in editing and email and schedule and stuff like that,
so yeah, so it's kind of I feel like one
to one is pretty accurate. That's if I'm doing it
in a hurry. You could always spend more time editing,
you can't always spend more time shooting. So it depends
(31:17):
on the nature of the work, but if it is
something like a large event, it's probably one to one
in terms of time with camera in hand and time
at my laptop. In terms of kind of how the
technology has evolved and whatnot, that's something that's very fascinating
me that I haven't really dabbled with a whole lot.
We've gone from My first camera was a film camera.
(31:39):
Very quickly after that was digital, and then digital cameras
themselves have shifted from what's called the DSLR, which is
basically just a big camera, to a mirrorless camera, which
just means basically smaller and better quality. And then now
you can create all the photos and films you want
with AI. So it's a fascinating time to be in
(32:04):
this field and kind of see that arc. I'm really
curious about AI filmmaking and I want to dig more
into that, but I haven't done that yet, But it
is a fascinating place where the tech is going and
kind of what that means for me as an artist
or not. So that's something I'm asking me again in
a year and let's see, let's see how I'm feeling
(32:24):
about that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Absolutely, I mean, as far as.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Settling down, or kind of like the end of No
Mad Life. I've been saying from day one, I'm going
to ride the wave until it ends, and I don't
know how long that's going to be. I certainly didn't
imagine it being five plus years. But I've really enjoyed it,
and I'm still really enjoying it. So it's one of
those things I equate it to when I lived in
(32:49):
New York. So many of my friends were, you know,
you'd come to New York for a year or two
or three, and then there's kind of this itch of like, Okay,
maybe I should go back home, I should go somewhere else.
And I saw so many of my friends kind of waffling.
I'm like, I don't know what to do, and I
kind of just decided, you know, I love it here
in New York. If I spend the rest of my
life here, what a great life. If not, I think
(33:11):
it'll be obvious when the time comes for me to
go do something else. In my case that was No
Mad Life. I feel the same about this, where like
I don't I don't know. I don't have a plan
or a trajectory of like, oh, this is when it's
going to be done, but I think it will feel
right and obvious when the time comes, So I'm kind
of just trusting that.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
There you go, Patrick Man, that is cool.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So the whole time you started talking about the one
on one one versus one on editeen action and setting up,
setting up emails and stuff, I was like, Hey, yeah,
we we have to do. Now you're part of the
at Home with Rugby family. Uh, and we're going to
keep this going as long as people want to come
on the show and tell their story and cut up
(33:54):
and have fun and make each other feel good. So
we got to check in with you ever every so off,
and uh, please do and and see where you've been,
what you've been up to, what what?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
How? How how's your craft evolving? Yeah? For sure, I'm
so amazed.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Uh, I just you but truly you make my six
year old feel special, and you make me as the
forty eight year old and everything in between and my
family feel very special.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Genders, ages, shape, sizes, And I watch you do from
a third person. I watch you do that so well,
and then and then the and then the product and
the results of your art are are awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Well, thank you very much. Those are some very kind words.
I appreciate it well.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
And you put up with me a little bit.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You're not one to put up. If you're one, your
one to enjoy. So thanks for hanging. Thanks for making
me part of the Ruby family. And I look forward
to more check ins and more stories to come.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Wait were you are? And uh check out Steve Elliott.
Is it Stephen Elliott dot com?
Speaker 4 (35:04):
That's fine? Yeah, with one T anywhere else? And Elliot
and Stephen Stephen with the pH too. There's so many
ways you could misspell my name.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well, I'm so dumb it too.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
You and Patrick had that whole conversation and five minutes
later I was like, oh, he wasn't talking about the
V versus the ph' you spell Elliott? So uh, and
I do follow you. I don't follow many people on Instagram,
but I do follow Stephen Elliott on Instagram as well.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
So check him out.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
And uh, he's got a great picture on Stephnelliott dot com.
He's standing in front of some mountains, beautiful background, he's
framed in the middle, and he's got a real nice
vintage motorcycle there. So uh, kudos to you, big dog,
and thank you for being here.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Thank you. Hey, I'm happy to be here. You guys
keep crushing it on this show. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Hey, that's what we're about. Thanks for listening to At
Home with Roby. Go do the Golden Rule. Treat others
the way you want to be treated, because that smile
always is needed.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Thanks for listening.
Welcome to a Home with Roby, Patrick mcasac with Roby
Commercial and Robie Services. Long with Trent. Ha'son from the
Ruby family at Companies. We are your host. Trent got
another exciting episode of at Home with Ruby. Got another
YPO fella, Stephen Elliott, who I think he might have
just been in Mexico with he is he is our photographer,
he I was. I saw that on on his not
(00:22):
well you know him through YPO though, right, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
He's on every trip, the big trip that we go on.
Uh yeah, a big three trip and does other stuff.
But wait till you here, wait till you hear this
guy story. Man, he's he's a wonderful, wonderful, dear friend.
I've been in you know, I've been in YPO close
to fifteen years. I think he is somewhere around that time.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
I don't know. We'll let him clear all that up.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
But uh, but yeah, last last show, Michael Pittman, Uh
was owned at a wonderful job.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Gret He'll awesome.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Go check it out. This this show will be after
his show, So check Pittman. Pittman Pittman out.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Uh. And so Steven's with with Mud Productions. And Okay,
that's pretty cool if you and you go to his website. Man,
he's got a bunch of cool stuff out there. So
I'm really sorry this. I'm really excited to hear. We've
done this show for eleven years.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
This is a first.
Speaker 1 (01:16):
We're gonna get blown away like first yeah, like first yeah.
And I think he might be even in Mexico right.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Now as we talk, like, I can give you when
we get off the show today, before before I get
hit the road, I can give you your first cold slap.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
That's how it's gonna be. He thought that was funny.
That's how it's gonna be. That's a that's only only.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Only do that with my really really good heard her.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Well, tell me what I talked a lot on the
last episode about my comings and goings over the last
few weeks. Tell us all about what you've been going to,
what you've been doing.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, man, you you right out of town when we uh,
when we had Tatum Napor filled in for you did
a great job. And then and then the other show
that Naper covered for young was The The Dad's Strength Brewing.
Uh And and I have a six pack in front
of me two point nine percent alcohol, the low calories
(02:10):
and uh and low alcohol.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So you can still function. I think they're trying to.
It's good.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Uh. So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
But we had just come back from from Surfside Beach
for for a heavy week and uh and then my
family we had the family annual family big three y
p O trip down in Mexico.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
So UH, it's.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Really cool being in being in this organization with with
all my friends and peers that are now my friends
best friends, uh and and who have kids and watching
these kids grow up together and then be together. And
so now my heart's my heart's full. I get so
(02:55):
much out of relationships and I'm really I'm really peaking
now on relationships. Got a I got a couple couple
customer friend golf trips here now next next couple of days, uh,
and then we're gonna dour our annual homage to uh
to Midwest Illinois, UH to see Reagan's family. That's gonna
(03:19):
be fun. I mean, fourteen hour drive for four days
is a lot, but it's gonna be good while it lasts.
And then come back and we're doing the first for
the Haston family going to the West Coast. We're gonna
kinda kind of like Steven. Steven has a nomad aspect
to his life. We'll let him tell you that. But
(03:41):
we're gonna fly I think in Reagan knows all this.
But we're gonna fly into San Francisco and then we're
gonna rent a rent a van and meander our way
every couple of days down and end up in San Diego.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
Oh wow, So that's a good little track, dude, I.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Guess it is. I don't know, I reckonize all the details.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
What is it? What inspired you to? Where'd that idea
come from? I mean, I mean, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
Tatum's eighteen, she's going to Chapel Hill, Rowan's uh going
you know, she's going to her senior year in high school,
and we're just trying to experience experience things together. We're
big on the United States, the contingent United States, and
want to check it out.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
No, that's I mean, I have never I mean, you
probably bounced around different cities on the West Coast, but
never really been able to drive that coast. And I'm sure,
I mean, everywhere you go has got to be this magnificent. Yeah,
I'm I'm super excited. It's gonna be fun.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
Uh, but Tatum, you know, she she's all into the
music scene and she's a little bougie and uh she's like, Oh,
Zach Brian and he's got Ryan bing Bingham opening for him,
who is one of my very favorite singers West Texas country.
What the day we're in one of the two days
(05:05):
we're in San Francisco. We got to get tickets. I mean,
tickets are like fifteen hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
You were talking about tickets earlier.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Oh, like, you're crazy, man, this is I mean. And
then you're torn. I mean you almost want to go
get a third mortgage on your house to do this
because you wake up one day and the kids are
all grown with their families and and and money juggling
is not your issue necessarily, if the Lord bless us is.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
At that moment.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
So it's like, well, but but we're only going to
be in San Diego two days. I don't know if
we need to spend one of our whole nights doing that.
You can do that at other places.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
Hey, you gotta love Tatum for trying.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
I have my money on Tatum winning that one ultimately,
by the way, but I your your thoughts are the
exact same of my as my thought. I mean, like
you only get so much time I mean with your kids,
and so it's like you want to do all of
this stuff. Said that you can say that you did
it because in fifteen twenty years, you're right, these opportunities.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Are only do that.
Speaker 2 (06:06):
It's what I tell people when they're doing their house,
you know, nice custom project, and they're like, I can
use this product or that product.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
I'm like, man, you have a good job.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
I'm not trying to spend your money and I'm not
trying to waste your money. But in a couple of years,
there's a high probability you she'll be like, why didn't
I put this better stone in my kitchen that I wanted?
Speaker 1 (06:25):
I wish I had done it. So and that's if
things work out.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Things don't always go don't always go the optimistic route
for people. So you got to take that into account too.
I don't I don't know what to do, Patrick, I'm
gonna spend your money. You want to donate some tickets
to my family?
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Maybe I think we're at the right spot to find
a hookup on tickets, just saying, uh, maybe there's an
eyeheart connection out.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
You think I need to pull that card on.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Jeff, what do you think you might have something to
say about this? I can neither confirm nor to deny.
I'm sure there's somebody you could call.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
I will have a conversation before I head up to
Ben or elk here in a few minutes.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
Thank you for the idea.
Speaker 2 (07:13):
Man, Sometimes you just put stuff out there, all your
all your problems, and the answers started cheering.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
But I will say I have so last night. You know,
we've been out of town.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
So last night we were traveling on Father's Day, which
was Sunday. We're recording this on Tuesday. And last night
at dinner, I have two nice, cool, awesome, crafty handwritten
cards from my oldest and my my second oldest, Tatum
and Rowing, and I read them out loud, which made
them uncomfortable, made me uncomfortable, but it was really cool.
(07:46):
And then I said, Piper, she's my she's my young
edgy daughter. And I said Piper, where's my card? And
I was just kidding and she and she wrote me
a text. I got it this morning at nine seventeen.
I have not even been able to sit down and
read it. But It's a long text and it says,
(08:08):
I know I'm a little late. I don't have a
beautiful handwritten card for you, so I can't wait to
read that. So how was your Father's Day?
Speaker 1 (08:17):
Patrick? It was good. Other than I was away from
my family. I was with my brother and his kids.
That's it seemed to me. And we'll have the Father's
Day locally, probably tonight.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
And you lost your father this past year. God rest
your soul, so I'm sure that wait on you. And
and I remin this on my father every Father's Day,
and you know, I mean hopefully the memories stay as
strong and get stronger.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
As time goes by.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
I might have listened to Matt stillwell, hey Dad a
couple of times.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
That's been known to do that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So and I mentioned this on the last show, Eric Church.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Those I've Loved along the Way also is a good
hey I'm thinking about your dad song. So, uh yeah,
go check that out. Hey, do do this. Go give
those you love a hug when you see him, hug them,
tell him you love them, because it goes a long way.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I think it's an important aspect. Are you ready for
my man?
Speaker 4 (09:15):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Man, it's Steven Elliott okay. So his he goes by
High five.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I bet there's a there is a ton of people
and he's not here to speak for himself yet that
only know him as high okay, but his name is
Stephen Elliott. His photography company it might be more diversified
than that.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Will let him say his mud productions.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
He is man.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I mean, what's the the most what in the world
demand the beer commercial of.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
The doss interesting, most interesting man in the world.
Speaker 3 (09:48):
This is him right here.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
When we returned Steven Elliott High five on the At
Home with Ruby Show.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
And don't forget. Rugby Services is your one stop source
for all your electrical, he cooling, plumbing and handyman needs.
Keep it easy and get it all done by one.
Robi servicesnow dot com. That's Robi servicesnow dot com. Welcome
back that Home with Roby. I'm patrickmcaac from Roby Commercial
and Robi Services along with Trent Hasten from the Roby
family of companies. We are your hosts, all right, Trent.
(10:17):
This I was introduced to Steven Elliott as Stephen Elliott
by the nice email that Kylie sets us up with
before we have a guess on the show. But I
was just informed that's not even his name. What's kind
of his name?
Speaker 3 (10:30):
Asking Patrick?
Speaker 1 (10:32):
So Stephen, if I can call you that, welcome to
the show, first of all, But what is your what
do you go by?
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Well? Thanks for having me, sir. A lot of people
know me as high A lot of people know me
as high five, and my family calls me mud and
people swear that I'm not a Steve.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
So you can make over that what you will for real,
but you are Steve? Is it two l's, two t's
or one two l's and one T.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Two l's and one T. We don't need a redundant
tea on the end. That's just for nonsense.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well, you know what, we could have been related, ma'am.
My mom's maid name is Elliott with two l's and
two t's. That's my brother's name also, But we'll just
be related anyways. How about that?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Maybe there's maybe there's a chance they could level up
someday and lose the tea.
Speaker 1 (11:18):
I can I can see that negotiation is even on
the table. But well, welcome, I'm so excited to talk
to you. Trent speaks so highly of you. Yeah, where
do we start, Trent?
Speaker 3 (11:28):
Well, Well, first off. There's that movie. I'm a big
Matthew McConaughey fan.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
Mud. Where did you?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Is that a nickname? I've never heard this. Your family
calls you mud?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Yeah, my family calls me mud. Some other close friends
occasionally call me mud. It's not even a great story.
My brother and I got into like rhyming banters when
I was a kid, and he'd be like, hey Bud,
and I'd say hey, Stud, and then we just kind
of kept riffing back and forth, and it landed on
him calling me Mud Bud, and that stuck, and then
at some point the bud fell off and I just
(11:59):
was his Mud, to the point where my sister, this
these days, was filling out some legal form and it
was like, you know, list your relatives and she was like,
it's Mud. Wait, no, his his name is actually Stephen,
so yeah, it's And that's where the name Mud Productions
comes from. It just felt like an health I'm going
to start a company, which is a strong word, might
(12:21):
as well call it after me, So Mud Productions Mud.
And then the high five thing that just happened organically
because handshakes are a little like forgettable. So one day
I just decided you know what if I just give
people high fives and it just stuck and people started
calling me high five after that. So that's how that
all came together.
Speaker 3 (12:42):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Well, every time I see you and I watch.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
You work the crowd, Uh, you're You're always stolen a
mean high five. You and you and our other buddy,
David Strickler are my two big high fivers. Uh, it's
really cool gives.
Speaker 4 (13:00):
David gives some mean high fives. I'll tell you that,
but I appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
He tries to hurt people, don't me. I got something
to prove, but oh no, here he comes. Here, he comes.
Speaker 4 (13:14):
Kind of like bracing for it.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
So where are you at now?
Speaker 1 (13:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:21):
Right now? I am in Mexico. I was in Puntamito
last week as h as Trent mentioned, and then I
tacked on a few extra days and a little surf
town called Sayulita. So I'm here editing photos and hopefully
enjoying some surf real soon. And I just getting a
(13:42):
little an exit ramp out of Mexico for some personal
time here.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
So well, so I do okay, So you I have
a question, because this is one of the most interesting
answers I've ever seen from a guest that that Kylie
put together is do you have no home? In very
few possessions, travel the world full time, taking pictures and
making films as I go. Yep, that's amazing.
Speaker 4 (14:06):
Yeah, so I I love the question in that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
Yeah, that is cool, tell us about it.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
My career has been shooting events and travel for over
two decades now, I guess it is. And twenty twenty
everything shut down. You could guess how many events and
travel things were happening. So it really could occurred to
me that it doesn't make sense to be paying New
York rant, where I was living for several years, when
I don't have the New York quality of life. There's
(14:36):
just nothing going on. So I cut my lease and
sold virtually everything I own and put a few things
that I can't buy again in storage, and thought, I'm
just going to travel for a time. And back then
it was still COVID and nobody really knew what was
going on in the world, and so I thought, I
currently plan long term, but like for the next three months,
I'm just going to be like voluntarily homeless or unhoused.
(14:59):
I think it's the appropriate room now. And I just
started traveling, and I've traveled for work for years of
you know, I think I was looking through my archives
from a few years ago and I'd spent all of
four days in New York in the month of June,
and I was like, in hindsight, I don't really have
to have a place there, So long story short, I
(15:21):
don't have a home. I have a storage unit in
a feel box in Brooklyn, and I get back there
whenever I need to drop off something or pick up
something or change my wardrobe, and then head off to
the next destination for either work or my bucket list
or visiting friends.
Speaker 1 (15:35):
So totally spoke. So when you where do you stay?
When you when you go back to Brooklyn, you just back.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
For wherever I can. I often crash on a friend's couch.
I've got a handful of friends that still live there.
Sometimes I'll just book a hotel for a night. Increasingly,
it's it's pretty quick turnarounds. I think I've been in
New York about seventeen seventeen days this year, over ten
different trips, so like them. Usually they're kind of overnight
(16:04):
at best, turn around and go somewhere the next day,
So it's very quick. In and out for me these days.
Speaker 3 (16:12):
So uh, and Stephen, everybody knows.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
I talk about it on the show Me Me and
a couple of knuckleheads go try to go kiteboarding every
year and the outer Banks at Real. Steven is a
avid kiteboarder. Uh, talk about your hobbies, but you you
are avid and and last year he was able to
join us out there and it was so fun having you. Man,
(16:36):
it was it was so great bonding with you.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
But but you mentioned uh that that you journal your
no mad life. How much time do you put in it?
What do you write about? I mean it's crazy.
Speaker 4 (16:53):
Yeah, Journaling and just writing in general something that's kind
of been a part of my life for Oh. I
think the first journal I got was like two thousand
and eight, just a little pocket moleskin notebook, and decided,
I'm just going to carry this with me everywhere because
if I try to like set it aside or have
it be like, oh this is my deep thoughts journal,
I'm never going to write in it. So I just
(17:15):
carried a journal with me everywhere, and I've done that
ever since two thousand and eight. I guess, so at
a minimum, I write at least a few gratitudes each day.
But the other thing that I like to do, it's
a practice called morning Pages, comes from the book The
Artist Way, and it's basically just stream of consciousness for
a set amount of words or pages. Basically you just
(17:37):
write and so you fill a page. Nobody reads it.
It's just for me, and it's a place to just
share my thoughts and so a lot of some of
my favorite short films and things that I've made have
come from that. But yeah, no, writing is a big
part of my life. I would say it's probably added
more to my life than anything else, just because the
practice of kind of sitting with your thoughts and letting
(17:59):
them be whatever they are is a really really powerful
thing for getting to know myself. I guess.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
So on the questionnaire that you fill out, you said
you recently started a substack, which I'm not too familiar
with that, and you would like that track readers tell us,
Is that where you put this writing or some of
the writing?
Speaker 4 (18:21):
Yeah, I do. I've scattered my writings over the internet
in various places for years, and substack is the newest
one that feels interesting and exciting to me. So I
do kind of boil down to a weekly newsletter and
then some smaller little updates and thoughts on substack there.
But it's just it's a platform that's jaded by social
(18:43):
media the way a lot of other platforms do. It
feels like a place for artists and writers to just
do their thing and share their work. And increasingly I'm
finding that it's a bigger platform than I realized, and
a lot of people that we all know are on there.
So I'm excited to kind of be another voice, another
perspective on that platform, and it's a way for me
to kind of share my journey, share my travels. I
(19:05):
was telling my best friend recently that I've cut five
years of nomad life content under my belt, and I
really don't share a lot of it. Occasionally I'll post
something on an Instagram story, but I haven't really sought
out an outlet for it. But substack is the one
that feels kind of like, Okay, this feels like a
place where I can share my travels and my adventures
(19:28):
and lessons learned and random thoughts throughout the day. So
I'm excited to see how that unfolds as I continue
to put new content on that page.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
So we got we got still photography which I've witnessed
for a long time. And maybe you can clarify how long?
How long have you been working with YPO Southern Seven.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
I started shooting for YPO in fall of twenty thirteen. Wow,
thirteen years now. Yeah, so yeah, you nearly your your
whole white field journey almost Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Yeah, yeah, whose core lights very well you and then
Devyn who runs the Southern Seven from a from a
managerial standpoint, leadership standpoint. Uh, I think we're within a
couple months of each other as well.
Speaker 1 (20:19):
I've got a question for Steven what what hours are
you taking photos of? Like, is there like a certain
time where you cut the camera off or do you guys,
do you shoot pictures all throughout the evening.
Speaker 4 (20:31):
There's there's no set cutoff time, but there is a
there is an awareness that I'm not going to capture
anything that needs to be seen again at a certain point.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Well said guy, and I think that you got his
question is more.
Speaker 4 (20:46):
Than more than my photography skills. That latter skill might
be the one that keeps me getting hired by wife.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Duly noted, We'll move on. I got he understood where
you were coming from. Do you get a little carry away,
like to stay up late. I'm not saying nothing about that, but.
Speaker 4 (21:03):
Do you know what we have carried away? And stay
up late?
Speaker 3 (21:05):
Me too, No, Stephen, Stephen knows me very well.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
He's seen it inside and now so but so you
still photography, and then and then you talk a lot
about writing. I mean, just always thought you were a
wonderful artist. But man, and so, tell us about your
filming endeavors. I didn't know much about that.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
Yeah, I wanted to make films since I was in
middle school or high school. It just always felt like
an interesting career, an interesting thing to work on. Long
story short, I didn't really have access for the opportunities
to get into film the way that one typically does.
But I I've been filming one second every day for
(21:53):
over a decade now, and so in the process of
doing that, I carry a camera with me everywhere I
go and films something every single day that seems interesting
or noteworthy or just honest. And as a result, I've
got quite a library of footage or just from my life,
and every so often, usually it comes up in writing.
(22:14):
All you know, some idea, what kind of spark for
a hit that could be that could be an interesting
little short film, and then I just kind of go
through the footage that I have and see if there
is a story to be woven together there. But some
of my the the things that feel most interesting to
me are the things that I've made. Photography is interesting
(22:35):
in that there's I would distinguish between making and taking photos.
Most of what I do for for hire is taking
photos just kind of rearranging what already exists, but making
photos kind of crafting an idea or doing a lot
of photoshop work. Similarly, with making films, feels like, oh wow,
(22:55):
I'm contributing to the world's collection of art or things
that wouldn't exist if I weren't here. So films is
something that's important to me. And I've only a handful
of short films that I've made, but each one of
them is is a passion project. It's something that's exciting
and something that I hope kind of outlasts me in
(23:16):
some way.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Do you have a platform or where folks and me
can go watch some of these films.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
Yeah, you can find them on Stephen Elliott dot com.
That's Elliott with one T. Just just to clarify once again,
but yeah that Stephenelliott dot com is just my purely
personal website or whatever. But but yeah, that's that's where
I share the art that I share their stuff that
(23:45):
matters to me, not stuff that I was paid to
shoot or to promote. Sometimes there's a little bit of
overlap on that. But yeah, the things that have meant
the most to me, that I find interesting, they go
on Stevenelliott dot com and yeah, you can. You can
find them there.
Speaker 1 (24:02):
Maam so Mexico. Now where you said you're going to
stay for a couple of days is wort of recharge.
Where's next?
Speaker 4 (24:09):
I go back to the States to bounce around a
little bit, visiting family, and then I've got a couple
other photography projects coming up. But the next interesting place
will be in July. Probably mid July, I'll head down
to South America. I've got a buddy's wedding in Argentina
at the end of August, and so kind of from
(24:30):
whenever I land until end of August is my time
to explore that part of the world. So the wedding
is in Iguazoo Falls, Argentina, which is like the largest
waterfall in South America, and it's a right on the
border of Brazil and Argentina, and then Paraguay is close by.
I haven't been to any of those places, so my
plan next is to land somewhere there and then spend
(24:53):
time kind of backpacking, traveling around seeing bits of South
America that I haven't seen before.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
I wonder if you're going to line up with like
it doesn't the World Cup end right around then.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
I'm not sure when the World Cup ends, but it
started here in Mexico while I was here, so that
was really fun to just kind of be a part
of the energy there. But I mean, you guys in
North America and Canada, like, I love watching all these
foreigners like discover ranch sauce for the first time, and
like I kind of feel a little bit of American pride,
being like, oh they like us, this is cool.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (25:26):
I think it's cool that they're like getting to experience
in American culture.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
We get the sort of get a bad, bad name
around the world. It's cool they come to see it themselves.
It's it's it's a wonderful place to be.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
But now you'll probably leave a little bit heavier, but
they'll be happy they came.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I was about to say we like cream based sauces.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
How about that.
Speaker 1 (25:48):
Ranch is pretty good. I gotta be honest, it's pretty good.
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Well, uh, how long you told me when we were
walking on the beach last year at the Outer Banks.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
You said you gave me.
Speaker 4 (26:00):
While we were holding hands.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Right, it was not all that it was. Uh, I
thank you and me and our good buddy David Stoffell.
But you said a cool fact. And I don't remember
the details, but in the previous year, how many mornings
that you didn't know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
Have a plan where you were going to lay your
head that night.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
Yeah. So I keep a lot of random stats about
nomad life because I guess I like lists and numbers.
But probably the most interesting stat to me is the
number of days I spent where I woke up and
I didn't know where I was going to sleep that night.
Sometimes that's pretty like obvious, like, oh, I'm on like
a bike packing trip and I have a tent on
(26:41):
my bike and I'm just gonna ride until I feel
like pitching a tent. So sometimes it's kind of obvious
like that. Sometimes it's like I don't know if I'm
going to catch a flight today or if I'm going
to like stay with a friend or a hotel or whatever. Anyways,
last year, twenty twenty five had them No. Twenty twenty
five and twenty twenty three are tied at forty seven days.
(27:01):
Those years that I woke up not knowing Hoskins. I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
That sounds pretty fun.
Speaker 4 (27:07):
It's very much.
Speaker 1 (27:09):
It does.
Speaker 4 (27:10):
The first time, it's very unsettling. You're like, oh my gosh,
and then you realize, like, okay, I can just get
on I could just get on Booking dot Com and
make this happen, or like I can phone a friend
or you know, hop on a train or a bus
or a flight to somewhere else, and like it's it's
a very manageable thing. But it's a very unusual thing
for people because we all normally have houses or nowhere
(27:32):
we're going and when we're coming back. In my case,
I don't have a going back to do. It's not like, oh,
when this trip is over, I can go home and
you know, sleep and get on my own home Wi Fi.
And I don't have that, So there's going to be
some sense of I don't really know where I'm going
to be in six hours. It's all part of the adventure.
Speaker 1 (27:52):
What is one thing that you carry with you that,
like I have to have this traveling like you know,
some people might have a pillow or a blanket. Is
there anything that it no matter what like this comes
with me.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
I always have a camera of some kind that could
just be my phone, but increasingly I'm annoyed with the
quality of fat. I always have my pocket journal. The
newest there's a few. There's a few Little travel Essentials.
Has recently gifted a really nice compass because my sense
of direction is abysmal, Like I've literally gotten lost walking
to somebody's mailbox before, like I don't know how to
(28:26):
get back, which is very ironic. I can travel the world,
but don't ask me to like tell you where something
is in town. And then I recently got a oh,
I also have a travel face. I try to get
fresh flowers whenever I get wherever I go somewhere for
a time, because it's really nice to just like have
a little sense of home, like a I get fresh flowers.
So if I'm staying somewhere for like a week or two,
(28:48):
I'll go find fresh flowers. Recently, in Wahaka, I got
a little succulent, a little potted succulent because it felt
fitting for the place. But I've got a travel vase.
It's just this little it folds down to nothing and
you fill it up with water and it kind of
balloons out and holds some flowers. So that's kind of fun.
And then most recently, I got a remarkable I think
that's a really cool note writing table a KI. Yeah,
(29:11):
it's like a kindle. You can write on that one.
I mean, I don't take it on hikes, but like
it's always in the bag wherever I go because it's
a really nifty blend of technology and writing. So a
lot of my journaling these days happens on that. Soups
are somes that carry with me everywhere, like.
Speaker 1 (29:28):
A million questions, but obviously we don't have time to
get through all of them. But this is fascinating.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
So, I mean you started off you said it'll be
a couple of months COVID, and obviously it's been five
or six years. Do you not I'm not telling you.
I mean, do you have a foresight? I mean, is
this something you want to do forever? Are you gonna
see how it evolves or where's that at? Secondly, Uh, yeah,
(29:54):
the evolution of the technology of your filming and your
and your photographs over the twenty plus years you've been
doing and then lastly on the photographs I know that
you do professionally for YPO and for our group as
(30:15):
an example, how much what's the ratio of the art
And you're an artist and you're awesome and you make
everybody at all ages feel so comfortable, Thank you, But
what is the percentage of time that goes into the
actual art of taking the photos? The action, the action
out there, and then the behind the scenes working on
(30:37):
the photos and working on your craft.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
A couple questions for you, got it.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
I'll take those in reverse order, the time spent shooting
to the time spent doing the back end work everything
from editing to scheduling and all that can be Yeah,
it's about one to one.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
So if I've got a two hour shoot and two
hours in editing and email and schedule and stuff like that,
so yeah, so it's kind of I feel like one
to one is pretty accurate. That's if I'm doing it
in a hurry. You could always spend more time editing,
you can't always spend more time shooting. So it depends
(31:17):
on the nature of the work, but if it is
something like a large event, it's probably one to one
in terms of time with camera in hand and time
at my laptop. In terms of kind of how the
technology has evolved and whatnot, that's something that's very fascinating
me that I haven't really dabbled with a whole lot.
We've gone from My first camera was a film camera.
(31:39):
Very quickly after that was digital, and then digital cameras
themselves have shifted from what's called the DSLR, which is
basically just a big camera, to a mirrorless camera, which
just means basically smaller and better quality. And then now
you can create all the photos and films you want
with AI. So it's a fascinating time to be in
(32:04):
this field and kind of see that arc. I'm really
curious about AI filmmaking and I want to dig more
into that, but I haven't done that yet, But it
is a fascinating place where the tech is going and
kind of what that means for me as an artist
or not. So that's something I'm asking me again in
a year and let's see, let's see how I'm feeling
(32:24):
about that.
Speaker 1 (32:25):
Absolutely, I mean, as far as.
Speaker 4 (32:28):
Settling down, or kind of like the end of No
Mad Life. I've been saying from day one, I'm going
to ride the wave until it ends, and I don't
know how long that's going to be. I certainly didn't
imagine it being five plus years. But I've really enjoyed it,
and I'm still really enjoying it. So it's one of
those things I equate it to when I lived in
(32:49):
New York. So many of my friends were, you know,
you'd come to New York for a year or two
or three, and then there's kind of this itch of like, Okay,
maybe I should go back home, I should go somewhere else.
And I saw so many of my friends kind of waffling.
I'm like, I don't know what to do, and I
kind of just decided, you know, I love it here
in New York. If I spend the rest of my
life here, what a great life. If not, I think
(33:11):
it'll be obvious when the time comes for me to
go do something else. In my case that was No
Mad Life. I feel the same about this, where like
I don't I don't know. I don't have a plan
or a trajectory of like, oh, this is when it's
going to be done, but I think it will feel
right and obvious when the time comes, So I'm kind
of just trusting that.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
There you go, Patrick Man, that is cool.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
So the whole time you started talking about the one
on one one versus one on editeen action and setting up,
setting up emails and stuff, I was like, Hey, yeah,
we we have to do. Now you're part of the
at Home with Rugby family. Uh, and we're going to
keep this going as long as people want to come
on the show and tell their story and cut up
(33:54):
and have fun and make each other feel good. So
we got to check in with you ever every so off,
and uh, please do and and see where you've been,
what you've been up to, what what?
Speaker 3 (34:06):
How? How how's your craft evolving? Yeah? For sure, I'm
so amazed.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Uh, I just you but truly you make my six
year old feel special, and you make me as the
forty eight year old and everything in between and my
family feel very special.
Speaker 3 (34:27):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Genders, ages, shape, sizes, And I watch you do from
a third person. I watch you do that so well,
and then and then the and then the product and
the results of your art are are awesome.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
So thank you for that.
Speaker 4 (34:40):
Well, thank you very much. Those are some very kind words.
I appreciate it well.
Speaker 3 (34:44):
And you put up with me a little bit.
Speaker 4 (34:48):
You're not one to put up. If you're one, your
one to enjoy. So thanks for hanging. Thanks for making
me part of the Ruby family. And I look forward
to more check ins and more stories to come.
Speaker 2 (34:56):
Wait were you are? And uh check out Steve Elliott.
Is it Stephen Elliott dot com?
Speaker 4 (35:04):
That's fine? Yeah, with one T anywhere else? And Elliot
and Stephen Stephen with the pH too. There's so many
ways you could misspell my name.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
Well, I'm so dumb it too.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
You and Patrick had that whole conversation and five minutes
later I was like, oh, he wasn't talking about the
V versus the ph' you spell Elliott? So uh, and
I do follow you. I don't follow many people on Instagram,
but I do follow Stephen Elliott on Instagram as well.
Speaker 3 (35:34):
So check him out.
Speaker 2 (35:35):
And uh, he's got a great picture on Stephnelliott dot com.
He's standing in front of some mountains, beautiful background, he's
framed in the middle, and he's got a real nice
vintage motorcycle there. So uh, kudos to you, big dog,
and thank you for being here.
Speaker 4 (35:52):
Thank you. Hey, I'm happy to be here. You guys
keep crushing it on this show. It's fun.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Hey, that's what we're about. Thanks for listening to At
Home with Roby. Go do the Golden Rule. Treat others
the way you want to be treated, because that smile
always is needed.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Thanks for listening.
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