Author: ronchez

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Drawing a close…

Strange is the title to this post, as Merrique was the second shoot during my time there at the gathering.

A lot of our work was concentrated on a square opening at Jennie’s place at the Hotelito. This theme (which is the first stuff posted) will become a themed series like a bunch of other previous submission. Though there is a lot of material and hence it has become the finale of the individual postings. I am amazed by the dynamics and creativity that Merrique brought to this, so I am very ecstatic with the results. Here are a couple of samples…

As well, we accomplished some other perspectives, and again, simply amazed.

Merci beaucoup, Merrique!! 🙂

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At Long Last…

Brooke and I have been in some sort of contact on and off for a long period of time. We both have been wanting to work together, but as usual, distance and geography were the achilles heal.

Thanks to the power of “Z”, and her efforts to create this gathering, we were finally able to collaborate. Brooke was my first shoot during this gathering and I am thankful for her professionalism and awesomeness which helped in making some creative imagery.

Thank you Zoe and Brooke. 🙂

Using the static exterior wall of my patio at the Hotelito as a backdrop, as well a marble table from my room used as a pedestal, we made an extensive amount of imagery which presented the fantastic, sculpture-like posing which Brooke is so known for. I was amazed at what she could do. Yay to the creative being!! 🙂

Here are some examples…

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A Lesson Learned… and Tea!!

Finally… going to the beach!!

As stated in previous posts, I had limited my shoots to the Hotelito corridors, for the most part. Finally the thought to take to nature and take advantage of the spectacular surroundings of the beach was eminent. Meghan and I were to collaborate there.

As for the title, ‘A Lesson Learned’, is a two part ordeal. First lesson, and it is one I am familiar with, is crowd control. The concept to capture there was to shoot waves coming in in various states of  shutter speed. We were able to do so, but only one roll, as I hoped to take advantage of more. We were there before sunrise and all was good, but there were early morning beach walkers about which hindered the process. Enough so as to change the scene and game plan .

The second lesson with that roll happened once I got home and started developing film. The developing tank I had used, has a tendency to hang spools up on the shaft out of the fluid height. That said, the one roll taken on the beach had full development on 2/3rds of every image and partial on the remainder. With those, I played farmer and cropped 🙁 (thanks JR for the great quote). They do still display evidence of negative damage. Here are examples…

From that point on we went to a different location made took advantage of the natural shrubbery. I am so used to rainforest that this different look was a blessing. 🙂

Back to the Hotelito for one last hurrah, and have a tea party. Set the table and chairs but something was missing… a secondary participant. Just so happened that Brooke was walking to Mick’s suite to do a session with him, but was a bit early. She had time to help out and all of us made tea party magic. 🙂 Again, this will become a series look so a couple of examples in the individual form. That said… Enjoy the tea!! 🙂

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The Casa Dracula

Once again I decided to get out of the confines of the Hotelito and experience the rustic glory that is the Casa Dracula. Such a great space full of character and spirit. I could have spent much more time there.

Claudine and I took advantage to work there. Prior to shooting Claudine showed me some things she brought and one of them was a roll of cheesecloth. Immediately I had a vision to capture with it, so was very excited to execute this.

Along with the majority of the shoot at ZfestX, the visions will eventually end up in series but for now I am displaying individual posts.

The first series explores void and a time past. When life seems empty, we move on.

The second series I set the camera up to view straight through a bunch of rooms. The camera stayed on one spot throughout and shot in the various locations.

The third series was utilizing the cheesecloth. Its properties and uses were endless. ‘Cocoon’ was a vision I had when seeing the material and I was extremely happy with what was created. Claudine, as most know, is awesome and she worked wonders with all the themes.

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A Collaboration

Rebecca and I had worked together back at the ’08 gathering in 29 Palms and we made some very awesome and unique images. Both of us being from far away places, it was great to have the opportunity once again to work together again.

What I didn’t realize since our first encounter was the rise in her own photography and vision, and was amazed with her approach and execution of her art. Her 2010 slide show was the previous year’s winner which I was able to see on this site which Zoe posted. 🙂 Seeing her 2011 show was fantastic and I only see bigger and brighter things in her future.

As for the title of this post, ‘A Collaboration’, this is inspired by what we accomplished. Staying at the Hotelito, I saw a setting which I wanted to capture with the privacy walls around my room which we took advantage of. Rebecca had wanted to take advantage of posing in the pool with some motion captures and brought this to my attention which I was more than happy to take advantage of.

That said, what she envisioned and how I visualized it could be two entirely different perspectives. As well, motion imaging can be hit and miss and at the time I wasn’t certain I would captured the composition with the motions. Her motions/poses I was not worried of, it was my timing. Alas, I was pleasantly surprised and moreso very happy with the captures.

Yay collaborations!! 🙂

I’m done rambling’… here are a few from that session…

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Carlotta at the Todos Santos Inn

With the predominance of my shooting whilst in Mexico was done at the comfortable confines of the Hotelito, I did have the opportunity to work at the Todos Santos Inn. Such striking contrast between the two locations, from old world style to modern design.

The majority of the work will end up being presented in a series format to be posted at a later date. This post I am presenting a small handful of individual images to showcase our time there. Carlotta and I had previously worked together in Vancouver back in 2007 and was a fantastic experience. This time around was no different. Thank you Carly 🙂

Alas… the photos… and more to come later on.

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artnude Hotelito

The Stairs…

One of the great things of a group gathering is to work with and/or share time with other fellow artists. Many with various perspectives and intentions. The one potential downside is the potential of photographers to utilize the same or similar backdrops (whether natural or manmade).

In this case, the stairs of the model house at the Hotelito. The model house had so much potential and for the most part was well utilized by most.

Samantha and I worked on the stairs inside and made some wonderful looks. When photographing this area, I was to make this into a saris. I ask posting individual images from this perspective (among others images posted) but the intent is a collage, to be continued at a later date.

With that said… enjoy!! 🙂

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The Cannery…

For the most part, my time shooting in Todos Santos was kept to the confines of the Hotelito and a couple of times at the Todos Santos Inn. Fantastic locations they are, but was nice to take advantage of something different and wandered to the infamous ‘Cannery’ where pretty much everyone else ventured to.

That said, it exposed so much to the artistic eye and the cool thing I noticed from the previous posts is that the submissions are unique to whomever has shot there. A brilliant location, and thank you to those who shared it as I was not the first (if any, the last) photographer to shoot there.

Keira and I seemed to have threatened each other to work together for some time now. Finally, it came to fruition in Todos Santos, and a perfect experience was brought about.

Entering inside the location, it was obvious the void of spirit and a time gone past was evident. What I hoped to capture there was an essence of this, and Keira gave me a lot to work with. Thank you Keira!! 🙂

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International Part 3

Having Tara and Emma in International parts 1 & 2 respectively, Anne makes up the finale of these overseas collaborations.

While staying at the Hotelito the days prior to our shoot, I was in admirance of the architecture about the place. Having spent copious amounts of time in or around the pool, I loved how the wall lights lit against the static walls within the pool compound, and the casting of shadows it produced as well.

This inspired me for a dusk/dark shoot to exploit these qualities. Anne was up to the challenge and was brilliant. The beauty part of the shoot was that even during the evening, temperature was not a factor (YAY warm climate). We took advantage of what light was barely available to capture some slow shutter work with the hammock. The remainder was exposed to whatever the lamps gave us.

I did have some focus issues, which made me a bit sad. Regardless, I was stoked with what came from our work. It was different from the norm which was very cool.

Here are samples from our collaboration. Enjoy!! 🙂

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artnude fine art nude Hotelito

International Part 2

The title “International” depict the models outside the North American region (an attempt to be clever, lol) with whom I worked with in Mexico. This entry is describing the work with Emma.

We worked around the parameters of the Hotelito. We shot 5 rolls of 120 (645 format) during that time. During our shoot, I used for the first time a lens which I had purchased a few years back but never utilized. It has a built in shutter and has a certain purpose which I don’t particularly know exactly but came with the camera I had bought. Not realizing I had it on a setting which did not open the shutter when I depressed the trigger on the camera, 2 of the 5 rolls  were blank. This makes Ron have a sad face 🙁

Regardless, we garnered some awesomeness taking advantage of the lines of architecture and motion of clothing/prop. So definitely not all lost. But will always wonder what those other two rolls were to be.

Loving the cross-continental collaborations!! Thank you Emma!! 🙂