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casa dracula Hotelito portrait snap shots travel

Samantha’s Experience at ZoeFest in Baja

ZoeFest 10 in Baja this past October was my first ZoeFest. ZoeFest is something I always have been meaning to attend. In the past I always contacted Zoe a little to late and missed the sign up boat. But in 2011, I finally jumped on the boat at the right time. After all, 90% of fine art nude modeling is timing.

It’s been hard for me to actually put in words what the experience of ZoeFest is like. It’s a pretty amazing experience. The most talented models and photographers in one place, making amazing friendship and creating even more amazing art. It’s purely the best modeling experience I may have had. I also, think the setting in Baja couldn’t have been better. ZoeFest and the laid back vibe of Baja just go hand and hand.

The best photo’s I have model in, in my career come from ZoeFest. I mean, these are memories I will cherish for life. I also, cannot believe the friendships I have made. Zoe really has a talent for bringing people together. People that mesh well. Maybe it’s because she is cat like in nature and reads people pretty well?

I’ve been able to recover some of my Baja images. Most of them are candid moments of fun. The photographers I have worked with have shown off the amazing art we created. But my job as the subject is to report the emotional and the experience. The photographer captures the emotion as a wizard in technology. A model, is the vessel of emotion. So, as a vessel, here are some of my fun moments when I wasn’t being a fancy pants art model. 🙂

I took a lot of shots of the sights. I tend to do that. Also, the picture of the trucks on the dirt road. That was the highway under-construction to get to Todos Santos. It was let’s say, not as safe as we are use to in the USA. Baja, is neat because it is kind of a like an island and I find it even to be different then the other parts of Mexico. This was the first highway in Mexican that was under-construction, I have driven on. Or road, because I was a passenger.

We did a lot of fun things, such as group dinners. Zoe brought in a fancy chef to cook us some of the best Mexican food I have had. That’s saying a lot since, I live in Los Angeles. The Mexican food is endless here. We celebrated Halloween and dressed up. I referred Halloween as, confusing the Australians since, they do not have Halloween there. I did the sea turtle rescue  twice. Just because I loved the sea turtles so much and found them so cute.

On my last day in Baja Mark and I took a tour of the local cemeteries. Probably a highlight for me. Just because I enjoyed seeing the locals prepare the graves and make repairs for the dead. The fact we visited so close to the day of the dead made it interesting. I love the respect and love the Mexicans show for their ancestry. It’s nice that as a culture they take time to take care of family plots and think about those who have passed. I took many photo’s of the graves and some photo’s of the families cleaning up and repairing them.

This was a great experience for sure. I cannot wait for the next Zoefest!

 

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artnude fine art nude Hotelito snap shots travel

8

Unexpected shoots are cool. I had dropped Sara Liz back to her room as she had a shoot with Cam. Claudine was walking back to the Hotelito so she hopped in my car. We grabbed some coffee and took off on the dusty bumpy dirt road that lead to who knows where. I wanted to shoot in all the abandoned buildings we saw but being in a foreign country and not speaking the language, knowing Mexico has issues with nudity and we would technically be trespassing, I opted not to risk my luck and just took some iPhone photos of the area. But man! Oh well. So, itching to shoot something after the drive Claudine and I went back to the house and did a short hours shoot as the sun was setting. What beautiful light. Those days in that magic hour were certainly appreciated. As I sit here in cold December on the shortest day of the year… I’d take that heat back in a second!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman - model: Claudine
© 2011 Zoe Wiseman – model: Claudine
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snap shots travel

The Pomme

Aaaaahhh, I’m finally home from Central America!! How weird to be in cold, wintery England after two months of heat, but thank God for the traditional, non overly-electric, magical Christmas build up we have here (um, in Guatemala I saw a flashing sign advertising the local beer on top of a puke-inducing neon tree)!! I’m in a weird mental limbo land of feeling excited for this time of year and seeing people I love and have missed, and being so sad to be leaving behind new friends and places I’ve met and experienced. I have a feeling I’ll be on the road again very very soon and certainly have a few gallavants up my sleeve for 2012… 🙂

Anyway, I never know what to do with myself after long flights. The jet lag always re-jiggles my priorities and bounces up my brain (in a slow, befuddled, way) and, suddenly, adding to this FestX blog seems the most important thing in the world. Those of you who follow my modelling blog at www.ellarosestory.blogspot.com (blatant advertising… mwahahaha!!) will know that when it comes to writing I often have trouble shutting up; my blogging addiction is in need of serious catching up and outlet!

Soooo… What can I say about my first ever experience of a Zoe Fest? I travelled all the way from England, by myself in the end due to my fellow English buddy needing to drop out the day before, feeling like a bit of a crazy person. What the hell was I doing flying into Mexico City by myself, arriving late at night, and navigating the country to and from various airports before zig-zagging with my backpack south through six countries all the way down to Costa Rica? Why don’t I just have a normal job like my friends – be a physiotherapist or be ‘in sales’, get a mortgage… etc. etc.? Well, truth is I wanted an adventure, and I wanted to meet and be photographed by the people whose work I’d admired, across the long distance of oceans and the short, tiny distance of online networking, for the two-and-a-half-ish years I’ve been modelling for. During the week, I met some incredible people who genuinely inspired me, but also I want to say how much I enjoyed the slide shows. Sometimes I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing in life – I absolutely love modelling, inspiring people to create things, performing, dancing, manifesting different emotions and versions of myself for a lens, travelling… being free… but there is also the aspect of uncertainty I frequently feel when someone asks me the simple question ‘what do you do?’ I will make a confession: sometimes I feel a little sheepish. Is modelling a worthy activity? Is it vain, ephemeral, obscure, difficult to understand? Am I just floundering, indulging myself in an indefinite ‘gap year’ when I should really be using my (expensive, extensive, successful) education and be a ‘real’ person in the ‘real’ world? Should I do something more productive with my time for income – be a doctor (admittedly unlikely; too squeamish), help people, make a difference in the world which goes beyond prancing about for ‘pretty pictures’?

What I felt at FestX was a sense of validation. Watching the slide shows in the evenings made what we do feel important. During the day, we had fun, chatting, laughing and playing about with cameras… and in the evenings we saw the results of what those times can achieve; set against music chosen by the creator with an intent to move their audience in the way they choose, simple frame after frame of beauty and interest, creativity and visual stimulation. Watching my own slideshow, put together by Michael Marlborough was one of the proudest moments I’ve experienced for a looong time.

I want to say a biiiig thank you to everyone who booked me during the week, was interested in making art with me (and thus helped make my presence retrospectively possible by helping towards my jaw-droppingly expensive flight…seriously, WTF?!) and a biiig thank you to Zoe, who is obviously very wonderful and clever to think of organising such things. I had fun! Can I come again?

Here are my snapshots…

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snap shots travel

Memories

Well it’s been two weeks since I returned home to Australia and I’m still finding cactus thorns in my feet and pesos in my pockets! What an adventure, I  feel so lucky to have been a part of it all. Everything about the fest was wonderful from the accommodation and photoshoots to the people and the parties. A highlight for me was releasing the tiny baby turtles into the ocean. When someone said to me, lets go to the beach and see sea turtles, I wasn’t expecting that! It was a moving experience.  More highlights were making new friends and catching up with old ones, creating art, the dinners and get togethers, celebrating my birthday with much tequila, the beauty of the Mexican landscape, Oh and the comment of the week made by Tara over dinner one night “If you looked this good you’d shoot yourself” …referring to self portraits lol. Well I guess you just had to be there 😉  This was a fest to remember. Thank you to Zoe and all involved in making it happen!

Here is a collection of piccies from my iphone

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artnude snap shots travel

WTF @ the Hotelito

Ok I was shooting at Hotelito and I had to step away from my camera for a few minutes to use the bathroom…. when I checked my images later I realized I must have had on “Auto” because there were these images of the local wildlife in some sort of ritual dance. BTW, someone is sure flexible 🙂

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snap shots travel

Wild horses…. We’ll ride them someday

One of the things I loved about Todos Santos were the wild horses roaming around. One let me pet her on the nose. Now I’m back in Los Angeles wanting a horse really badly. Anyone wanna come raise a barn? 🙂

Communicating
Communicating (photo by my husband)
Wild Horses
Wild Horses on a Mexican Road

It’s been Aussie Central here at Casa Zoe. Michael and Jacinta stayed for a spell and for me the fest is now over. DO NOT LIKE GOODBYES. See you all next week!

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night time snap shots

Party on the patio!

A few photos from our last party in Todos Santos. This one held at the beautiful Hotelito. I think a good time was had by all! Here’s a link to the images, warning: people having almost too much fun LOL

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snap shots

Random Act of Awesomeness and other bits of debauchery.

‘Twas an amazing time had by all. Being a film addict, the only thing I have to date to show and tell are some iphone imagery and some evil digital snaps. Coming back to non-tropical/desert weather, I am looking forward to developing and editing the work created with the amazing models. Will be a busy and active winter. On that note… si, please!!

Emma & Anne glowing 🙂
Zoe chillin’
Jenny & Fanny 🙂
Lunch with Steven
Humans 🙂
Go Turtles Go!!
The turtle release…
Ella approves 🙂
Carlotta & Robert
The Gang
Sara contemplates…
Tasty beverage 🙂
Sharp Dressed Men
What’s for lunch??
Typical Australian welcome
Ernesto feeds us tequila
Reunite
What I was coming to…
What I left…
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snap shots travel

Tortugas!

Stephanie Anne and the Black Sea Turtle babies….

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snap shots

Back to the rat race

I’m sitting in the parking lot of Whole Foods as a friend shops for her hippy food waiting. So out of boredom I thought I’d upload a few snap shots from Todos Santos.

The drive back was pretty uneventful except for the wandering moo cow in the middle of a bit of construction. As I’m snapping the photo Candace reflected on the guy urinating on the side of the road. Made for a great giggle.

Todos Santos is a cute little town, I’d go back even just for a weekend get away. The Hotelito is great for that. LOVE it there. Can’t wait to get the photos Michael Marlborough shot from our dinner with The Mechanic in Chef, Iker who fixed about 15 different dishes representing different regions in Mexico. The food was to die for. Unfortunately I think I gained weight that night. Ha. Brilliant. Jenny, the owner, was such an amazing host and took such great care of all of us.

So until we get those photos please enjoy a few random snaps of different things. 🙂