Taylor Steele is sporting a beard these days. While a hairy face can be the ultimate expression of repose, he’s had zero time to relax during his whirlwind tour of Castles in the Sky. As you’ll see, Steele’s latest opus is a feast for the eyes and senses that, in this writers opinion, only somebody with scruff could produce.

Steele’s taking an entirely different approach from the one he took the world by storm with in the early 90s. Back then, looking back was the last thing he and his cast of hilarious misfits would be caught dead doing. They were running full speed at the future, eyes radar locked on progression, and the explosive brand of surfing Steele championed in his videos became a movement, called New School, which they said was taking over…and they were right.

Remarkably, it’s been almost two decades since Steele ushered in Gen Slater, most of whom is either retired or (gulp) the oldest of old school today. So with that in mind, it’s hardly a surprise that Steele is smelling the roses when he’s not sipping on jetstreams. He’s been searching for something bigger than the next big punt for years. Somewhere along the way he decided to start nabbing images of everything else he spotted along the way.

Castles in the Sky is a beautiful mosaic of his exotic travels: the sights, sounds, faces and places of waves near and far, past and future, are sure to detour you to wonderful corner of your mind far removed from your daily grind. This, along with state of the art surfing, is Steele’s preferred method of inspiring today…and if you’ve been around the block enough you’re likely to be as moved as ever by Mr. Steele and his crew.