FestX 2011 is my fourth Zoefest and starting with the 2008 meet ( Joshua Tree, CA) I began working on a body of work called the “Studio Series”.
The goal of the series each year is to work within constrains I’ve imposed to push both myself and the models. These constraints include shooting only one roll of film per session (this year I used 35mm with 24 frames to work within. Previous years I shot medium format and had 10 frames!), limiting the time down to 30 minutes (previously 15 minutes) and apart from selecting a “studio” setting there’s no pre-conceived theme to the shoot. Ideally I’m working towards one hero image from each session to be included in the series.
The “studio” setup for FestX was the Hotelito with their amazing coloured walls. Each image has been designed to follow the same look with the foreground leading into the wall and the models working within this space. I shot colour film converted to Black&White this year and used the colour from each location to tweak the tones to my liking.
There are quite a few other images from these sessions that almost made it in and I’ll post more of these soon, along with the colour work shot digitally.
I seriously didn’t want to shoot there because of the heat, however in the end I was so glad I did….. Here’s Anne in one of my trademark “attitude” shots..
This is part four in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico.
Waking up at Todos Santos Inn my first morning was a lovely experience. I managed to sleep in until about 8:30am. I threw on some clothes and stepped outside into the glorious daylight. We Chicagoans have a special appreciation for glorious daylight. It’s not that we don’t have beautiful sunny days in Chicago, it’s just that we only get about three months of them, four if we haven’t angered the sun gods that particular year. Chicago, as the old saying goes, has two seasons: Winter and Construction. And Winter can be a cruel mistress, with weeks and weeks without seeing a patch of blue sky, or sun for that matter.
In Todos Santos, there was nothing but blue sky. Walking down my little garden path with the sun on my face, the giant palm leaves politely grabbed at me like autograph seekers on a red carpet walk. Delightful.
I walked up to the shady veranda where coffee and tea was set out on a beautiful antique table. I would grow to love that table every morning.
Mmmm. Delicious coffee.
But coffee would only become one of my favorite morning rituals during my stay. There was also Mel and Scott.
Mel Brackstone is an incredible photographer. Looking at her work, you’d never know she hasn’t been shooting for decades. Mel, like many late blooming artists, decided she needed to stretch her creative frontiers and began to photograph male nudes. She had joined the ZoeFest community a few years back and in a short time had a stunning array of work with female models as well.
She and her husband Scott were two of about a half a dozen Australians who were attending ZoeFest. They were always up early and having coffee under the veranda. They became my quick catch-up guides to all things ZoeFest. Mel raised one eyebrow when I started to tell her about my ambitious shooting schedule, sometimes three shoots in one day. Days later, I would have to admit, she was correct in her assessment of my over-ambitiousness.
After a leisurely breakfast at Landi’s, the restaurant attached to Todos Santos Inn, I had decided to start my first day by continuing something I like to do in Chicago when I feel the need for a little creative inspiration. I decided to take a visit to one of the local galleries, a brief walk up the road from the inn. Michael Cope was one of the local artists that had been part of the welcoming celebration at Casa Dracula the night before and invited me to come by his gallery.
I walked through the doors at Galeria de Todos Santos and there was Michael, seated with local painter Erick Ochoa, who both greeted me with big welcoming smiles. Michael took me on a tour, showing me Erick’s beautiful work, and I was taken by his use of light in his painting. It really spoke to me. We continued through the various rooms looking at other artists he was showing and I could feel my breathing slow to the pace of my new temporary Todos Santos home. I was finally beginning to relax as I took in the work around me. Exactly what I needed.
After the tour Michael asked to see some of my work and I brought out my iPad portfolio and let he and Erick swipe through it. I love sharing work with other artists. Even when we work in different mediums, there is something about the language of art that we all understand and appreciate. It’s a very familiar and joyful language.
A bit more discussion, including an invitation from Michael to visit his new restaurant which was opening that Friday in the rear of the gallery, which sadly I could not attend due to other ZoeFest commitments, and we said our goodbyes and I headed back to the inn to get my gear for my shoot with Samantha.
Samantha was staying at the Hotelito, where many of the models were staying. It was another of the beautiful boutique hotels we had taken over. No sugarcane history here. Just a beautiful compound of little buildings with bursts of vibrant color on the walls. A completely different shooting environment I would take advantage of in the coming days.
Samantha at Casa Dracula
I picked up Samantha and we headed up the road back to Casa Dracula. Samantha and I spent hours exploring the compound grounds finding interesting areas to make photographs. She was great to work with and it didn’t take long for either of us to get into a good groove in the hot Mexican sun. Samantha has wonderful curves. All woman, lovely, creative and great fun to collaborate with. She has a happy spirit and her enthusiasm was inspiring.
As we explored outside we found ourselves discussing what we were seeing as potential places to shoot. Our mantra was to try to not shoot the obvious. Yes, that was a beautiful window in the stone wall of the fire pit, but putting her in it would have been the easy choice. We decided to use the window as a compositional element instead and have her pose off to the side of it. Better.
We continued to shoot for about two hours before we agreed to head inside into Casa Dracula to explore for a bit longer with more great results out of the heat and sun. At one point I noticed a sliver of light coming from the main front doors into the main entrance hall. I had Samantha pose near it for a few minutes before we figured we’d better stop before a local passerby got an eyeful.
Samantha had great ideas and like all of the models I’d be working with the next 10 days, she had great eye for light and composition. All the women were excellent models who had been in front of the cameras of some very world class photographers from all over the globe. From the first release of the shutter, you could tell something wonderful was about to happen.
Samantha at Casa Dracula
That evening, we all were invited to a delicious dinner at Hotel California (yes, that Hotel California, and yes, we had pink champagne on ice with lots of pretty, pretty girls, that we call friends). It was there I had a chance to continue getting to know everyone over a great meal. I more shoots for the next few days with St. Merrique, Meghan Claire and Tara. No rest for the wicked as they say.
I love Billy’s breakdown of events so much and very happy Tara picked up on it and has started her’s also. I thought about what mine would sound like and started going through past emails, thought about the insanity of putting the event together and all the mishaps along the way in order to finally make it to Mexico and decided that maybe I should keep the blog completely and totally light hearted and fun. It’s better for me to sit and listen to all the good stuff people have to say… the back outs and people canceling at the last minute somehow seem lessened in their impact when I see how much fun people had. So, I’m going to leave them at the wayside, remember not to invite those people again, and focus on how totally awesome the entire week was.
I could not have done it without the help of a few V(ery)I(mportant)P(eople). These VIPs have been involved with me for years and know how to sort it, I don’t have to tell them much of anything, I just say go for it and it rolls through and it gives me a time to relax after all the organizing and last minute chaos that happens. The festival would not be the same without their help. So a massive thank you to Michael Marlborough for dealing with the slide shows, organizing over $4,000.00 worth of sponsorship and for being an awesome big bro! Ron Skei for organizing all the rides for models to and from the airport, making sure they get home from parties OK, and generally being a massive help. And Stephanie Anne for being my voice. I’m shy in front of a crowd (even in friendly company) when it comes to speaking and having Stephanie there to take the reigns when we have announcements eases me. Put me on Rollerskates and ask me to do cartwheels in front of 100,000 people … no problem… put me in front of a crowd and ask me to speak? No habla Ingles! So, thanks Steph!
I’m so happy everyone had such a great time! Once I arrived, it was perfect! I had one great time myself. I miss the pool at the Hotelito so badly! I have a massive pile of snap shots from our parties taking by Michael Marlborough I plan on blogging soon, so stay tuned. Our group shot is SCHWEET! We even have a group video. Among other things! haha
I just finished developing, scanning and editing all the images Ella Rose and I made while we were there. I lucked out and got to work with her twice, very happy about that. She’s really a lovely person and has this very English way about her. Very posh and lady like. I approve. And over 75 images later… I’m definitely happy with the work we created. Hopefully our paths will cross again soon.
The last shoot of my first ZoeFest was with a lovely New Mexican by the name of Stephanie Anne so it was only fitting that I continued on from that fantastic sunrise beach shoot with another here in Baja.
Mal Grant and I drove Anne D & Stephanie Anne down to Cabo San Lucas in the hope of getting some shots with the famous Arch in the background. Unfortunately the massive ocean liner parked in right in front put paid to that idea so we needed to find another spot real fast before we lost the good morning light. Luckily we found a couple of great beaches only a few minutes further south from Cabo.
My shoot with Stephanie Anne continued later that day when the afternoon cooled down a little and we shot at the Hotelito in Todos Santos.
