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!! 🙂
In addition to the shooting around Todos Santos, their were the wonderful moments meeting many new people. One afternoon I went to the pool at the Casa Bently to appreciate the experience while contemplating the cold and snow I was reading about back home. There at the pool, I meet world citizen Tara Tree and had a most splendid chat with her. Later my wife Dee Dee told me of her experience at the turtle release and how much more enriching it was because of Tara’s translations. Thank you Tara! Upon my departure from Todos Santos I was taking Brooke Lynne to the Aeropuerto and Samantha Grace rode along as she had a flight later in the day. To kill some time Samantha and I explored a couple old cemeteries where the locals were preparing loved ones’ grave sites for the day of the dead festival, then a formal catus garden and ending in the downtown of San Jose del Cabo for lunch where she expanded my vocabulary. Muchas gracias Samantha and loco tacos!!!
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The following is a little taste, a sampling, from my time shooting at the Zoe Fest X in Todos Santo, BCS, Mexico.
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Meghan
Meghan – Mexico 2011
In the palm oasis that divides Toto Santos. In addition to her modeling, I also highly recommend checking out Meghan’s photography.
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Candace
Where the Cactus Dance
On the bluff overlooking the old port dock. Worth the bumpy drive up the mountain and worth the full insurance on the rental car.
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St. Merrique
St. Merrique – Mexico 2011
A little shoot with big rewards!
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Anoush Anou
Fusion
Unlike other shoots, I did not have a lot planned. I am glad, because what she created was splendid.
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Brooke Lynne
Brindled Lagoon
A friend who shares her art with me. Thank you!
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Stephanie Anne
Mi Casa
A day before the Fest I explored this house and it looked like none had set foot in it for years. It soon was evident how popular it became, I thought a little make over would create something unique.
Hello everyone! I’m writing a series of blogs about our recent wonderful ZoeFestX experience on my personal photography blog and Zoe said it would be okay for me to post them here as well. I really truly miss all of you wonderful humans already. Here’s the first entry:
A week ago today, I got on an airplane in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to fly home after one of the greatest artistic adventures of my life. It’s a long, long story. Certainly too much for one blog.
So this will be part 1 of 50. Here’s how it begins:
Keira at Casa Dracula
Last July, I got an email from a photographer whose work I really respected. Zoe Wiseman is a friend of a model friend of mine and was inviting me to her annual fine art photographers retreat. This year it would take place in Todos Santos, Mexico in October. I emailed her back asking her for more information.
“Drying my nails. Can’t type. Call me,” she wrote back.
I did and Zoe proceeded to enthusiastically tell me the incredible details. 15 international figure models. A group of photographers she personally respected. All of them hand picked by Zoe, who would spend 10 incredible days collaborating to create spectacular images in an amazing location.
“You really need to come to this,” she insisted.
“Give me 24 hours to think about it.”
An hour later I called Zoe back to tell her, of course, I’d love to be there.
The next few months were very busy and I had very little time to prepare as October raced toward me. A few last minute projects crept up and suddenly my departure date was here. I’d be flying into Cabo San Lucas, picking up a rental car and finding one of the other photographers and one of the models and driving the 120 miles up the Pacific coast to the little town of Todos Santos. The only problem was, none of us had ever met each other. Our flights had all landed within an hour of each other and somehow through a series of voice mail messages, texts and emails, Joris, Ella Rose and I all connected and headed off on Mexico Highway 1.
The photo above is one I made in Casa Dracula, a one hundred fifty year old mansion built as part of a Todos Santos sugarcane plantation in the 1850s. Keira was an amazing model to collaborate with. She had reviewed my previous work prior to our photoshoot and reminded me how I loved to create images with sheer fabric and long motion exposures. She had paid attention. This is one of the amazing images we made and I decided to start our story with this one because of it’s colorful nature and the fact that it’s been dreadfully dreary this week in Chicago.
