Meghan in the Todos Santos Inn Bar – Shot with Canon 5D Mk II and Lensbaby composer
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Lensbaby and Meghan
Tag: Todos Santos Inn
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Carly and SaraLiz
These are some of the images from my shoot with Carlotta and SaraLiz. We started in the bar of the Todos Santos Inn, then moved to the spare bedroom, recently vacated by Robert.
I’ve put together a calendar of the images from this shoot, which is available here
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Brooke Lynne
What an absolute delight Brooke is to work with. From the start of our shoot she apologized for not feeling in top form…I was amazed the effort this girl put in while ill. Her attention to detail in every pose was a priority. I’m not sure if I will get to shoot Brooke here in Australia next, or if I will have to make another trek to America. I certainly will be campaigning for her to take a working holiday downunder.
Thank you Brooke, lets do this again.
This is part nine in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico.
As I mentioned in the last entry, ZoeFest X 2011 was loaded with talented photographers. Lots of different styles and ways of working. And although we did bump into each other from time to time at the various locations we had been scouting during our trip there, there’s sort of an unspoken rule among photographers that it’s bad form to lurk about at someone else’s shoot, unless you’re invited to.
I would catch a quick glimpse of a lighting setup or perhaps what camera they were using, but then it was a case of a self imposed, “These aren’t the droids you’re looking for. Move along.”
It’s not to say that we wouldn’t all find ourselves hanging out together in one of the common areas at the various lovely boutique hotels during post-shoot afterglow, talking shop and reviewing a few images here and there. But during the actual photography, everyone needs a bit of distraction free space to create.
Because of that, I, like you, kind readers, have to view their work online and I have provided many links below for us to do so.
First, a couple more exceptional Canadian photographers to get us started today.
Robert Farnham is from Kitchener in Ontario, Canada, a bit south and west from the Toronto area. Robert and I had many discussions about our respective work and the styles of the other photographers at ZoeFest. Robert likes to work in the details. Much tighter framing than subjects in vast landscapes. another photog who shot film, his style is more like my roots in Figure Photography. And I was glad he reminded me of that. Beautiful work.
Ron Chez is great fun to be around. From Sechelt in British Columbia, Canada, near Vancouver. I really need to visit that area some time. I hear it’s really lovely there. Ron seems to be wherever fun is. And there was a lot of fun at ZoeFest this year. Ron was one of the film guys on our Mexican adventure (still jealous), and is incredibly creative with his work. His Series portfolio is especially clever and makes me smile. I look forward to seeing more of his creations once he has time to process everything!
Ron was also one of those many behind the scenes heros. He managed to be a bit of a Land Traffic Controller by making sure everyone who rented a car for the drive from Cabo San Lucas Airport to Todos Santos had people in it and everyone who didn’t rent a car had a seat in someone’s car who did. Again. Hero.
Now, a few more of the Yanks to round things out. For my country mates who may not be aware, yes, we in the U.S. are sometimes referred to as Yanks out there in the wide world. Short for Yankees. It’s not about the baseball team and it’s not derogatory. To the rest of the world, it’s not about our Civil War unpleasantness either. Nothing to do with the North or the South. It’s a general term of endearment, which for us these days, is not only sometimes rare, it’s quite welcome.
Mitch Rice, from Santa Rosa, California near San Francisco, is a genuinely nice guy. I only had a few brief conversations with Mitch during ZoeFest, but you know how you can just tell someone is decent even though you just met them? Mitch is that guy. And he makes beautiful inspiring photographs too. I look forward to seeing more from our trip.
David! David is my city mate from Chicago, Illinois. I mentioned that we happened to be on the same flight from Chicago to Cabo, sitting right next to each other yet, but we didn’t realize we were going to the same place until we were half way there. Very funny.
First, a bit about my home town. When I used to travel abroad in the early 1990s and I mentioned I was from Chicago, the usual response was something like, “Ah, yes, Chicago! Al Capone, Bang! Bang!”
Later it was, “Ah, yes, Chicago! Michael Jordan!” Better. Slightly less sinister.
These days it’s, “Ah, yes, Chicago! Barack Obama!” Better still. So much better to travel abroad these days and not have to pretend I’m Canadian. Thank you Canada for being a reasonable place to pretend to be from when it was less than pleasant to travel as an American not so long ago.
But I digress. Back to David. He’s a former Ad Guy, and as I also work in the same industry, I can relate to his path. Sometimes it’s nice to create something that won’t end up in a focus group.
Gerry Oar‘s home base is in Olympia, Washington. I spent a lot of time with Gerry near the Todos Santos Inn veranda. Gerry is another great human. Always willing to answer a question. He’s also an amazing photographic craftsman. I could learn a few things from this Gerry guy.
And he made some lovely photos of Todos Santos Inn, which was home for many of us for an all to brief time.
Steven Billups is from Lewes, Delaware. Just between you and me, you should immediately move your mouse back to his name and click. Steven is great with composition. There is an amazing flow about how the components in his images go together. And I love his work with water as well. And yes, a film guy. More jealous.
Joel Belmont has the good fortune of living in Aspen, Colorado. Lovely place, that Aspen, Colorado. And Joel shoots with view cameras. I have mad respect for that. Nothing like a giant negative to soak up every little light particle. Joel has some images up from our Todos Santos get together, but I suspect those are just digital polaroids and the real large format work won’t be up for a while. Something to look forward to though!
And Joel is a conscientious humanitarian as well. His projects usually involve helping to right a devastating wrong out there in the world. He really is a good egg.
And there we have it. The Photographers of ZoeFest X 2011. An amazing group of talented, passionate image makers. I’m going to write more about what I learned about my own work being a part of this inspiring group a bit later.
For now, the images you see here are more from my shoot with the stunning Sara Liz at Todos Santos Inn.
Coming up, it’s back to stories of lovely, intelligent and creative models on day 3 (can you believe we’re only on day 3?), and shoots with Claudine, St. Merrique and Rebecca!
Much more to come!
This is part seven in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico.
A funny thing happened on the way to the shoot concept with Sara Liz. I’m going to write more later about how ZoeFest allowed me to stretch and experiment in a way that I haven’t had the opportunity to in some time, but for now, I’ll simply say I walked into all of my shoots in Todos Santos with an open mind and ready to be inspired in whatever way the muse du jour cared to lead.
Sara Liz is joyful. Sara Liz is exuberant. Sara Liz seems to view the world through her beautifully large wide open eyes in a way that makes you feel fortunate to be experiencing whatever it is that she happens to be experiencing in that specific moment.
When you are photographing Sara Liz, it’s less like work and more like play. She is also the Queen of the Photo Bomb, about which I will, again, explain more in another entry.
I say all of this not only to explain a bit about Sara Liz, but to give a little background on the unexpected conceptual turn that I found myself experiencing once we began our photoshoot.
My booking with Sara Liz was my third shoot of the day after Ella Rose and Carlotta and I was tired, but in the best kind of way. Back in my studio in Chicago, I’ve had the most lovely shoots between the hours of 10pm and 4am. It’s the time when the work or shoot of the day is finished and I can kick back with one of my model friends with a glass of wine and eventually the cameras come back out and we just play.
Our heads are too tired to over think anything. The daytime part of my brain has long since retired and the nighttime part of my brain is fresh and anxious to escape the dreamworld and create something in the real world. That’s usually when the unexpected turn happens.
Sara Liz and I began shooting around the fountain near the veranda at Todos Santos Inn. My daytime brain had decided to call it a day a bit early today and nighttime brain was called in a little earlier than usual. It is in these times when I stop thinking about the photographs I’m making. It’s a bit hard to explain, but it’s a bit like letting someone take your hand and allowing them to lead you somewhere you haven’t been before.
From the first release of the shutter, I could feel the images were going to be more about Sara, the person or maybe a character she was creating, rather than the more abstract concept of a traditional nude figure photograph. My nighttime brain told me to keep going, to continue this journey with my new collaborator without asking too many questions.
We moved to a nearby wall above the gardens where she perched and draped in beautiful ways. What was different is that she was engaging the camera with those big eyes of hers in a way that assumed a sort of gentle control, almost like when I’m viewing a beautiful piece of sculpture that in my imagination may come alive at any minute, possibly in a benign way or maybe something more menacing if I turn my back on it.
Unusual things to be thinking about during a photoshoot? Sure. But that’s exactly why I love when nighttime brain Billy makes an appearance. It’s like my second photographer, very much like me, but with a wonderfully skewed point of view. He’s definitely more the risk taker and explorer. A good partner to have.
Sara Liz and I moved into the library room at the Inn where a gorgeous old doorway opened out onto a small balcony. Lovely soft light was coming through the doorway into the room.
I began to imagine what thoughts were going through the mind of the character she was emoting. It was imposible not to be curious as to what was happening behind those eyes. Something a bit more cinematic than usual. Haunting.
We headed down below to the garden and found some lovely low angle rays of light navigating the leafy obstacle course. I positioned her so the light would fall only on her eyes in a sort of inverted mask.
Finally we head toward my room at the Inn. I had been paying attention to the light coming in the windows during various times of the day. It was late afternoon and as we approached, I noticed the sun had not quite made it to my windows yet.
However, when we opened the door, a thin shaft of brilliant light streaked across the steps up to the bed.
“Wow!”, we both said in unison as we hurried inside. The light was moving. We knew we only had a few minutes.
I positioned Sara Liz on the corner of the bed, directly in the beam of light and turned on a small table lamp behind her to add some background to what would have otherwise been a black hole.
Once again a character emerged and her eyes began to tell a story. I wondered what she had just experienced, or what she was going to experience. It was like watching a movie.
Our little sun beam silently disappeared and we called it a wrap.
Part of the wonderfulness of ZoeFest is being able to make it up as you go. There is no right or wrong, except if you create nothing. That would be wrong. Certainly my time with Sara Liz was not exactly what I had imagined our shoot would be when I woke up that morning, but certainly more interesting than it might have been.
Sara Liz had taken my hand and led me on a little photographic journey that late afternoon in Todos Santos. And I would happily watch that movie again.
More to come.
This is part six in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico.
I dropped Ella Rose back at the Hotelito and returned to Todos Santos Inn where I had arranged to meet the lovely Carlotta for our mid-day photo shoot that was scheduled to begin in just a few minutes. I was happily exhausted from Ella’s shoot and I only had time to quickly shower the sand off of me and grab some fresh clothes so I wouldn’t be quite so beach-y for Carlotta.
We had decided to stay close to home, so to speak, for this shoot. For a few days, I had been thinking about how to use the grounds of the Todos Santos Inn for interesting shooting ideas. I have to admit it was a bit of a challenge to wrap my head around. It was a beautiful place, but you know how sometimes you walk into a room and it just hits you? You know instantly how it’s all going to come together? Well, for some reason, the Inn and I instead seemed to be dancing around a few ideas, but the Inn was waltzing and I was doing some kind of Hammer-Time thing.
It’s actually an interesting creative challenge to find myself in. You know there is something there, but for some reason you can’t quite put your finger on it. I knew Carlotta would be incredible. We had been table mates at the Hotel California dinner and talked quite a bit at the welcoming party at Casa Dracula on our first night in Mexico. I knew the work we created would be excellent, I just needed to figure it out.
Sometimes when you have a block, it’s best to just start shooting and not over think it. If you let the, “Oh no… I have this amazing model and the ideas aren’t coming,” voice get the better of you, it actually is going to be less than you had hoped.
I’ve learned to respect the block. Don’t panic.
We found a nice leafy area off of one of the garden paths and we began to work. She was beautiful and working the most lovely curvy poses. Carlotta has one of those strikingly gorgeous hour glass silhouettes. I still hadn’t quite found it on my end yet, but after a few minutes, I could feel the block beginning to give way. She was very good as I knew she would be.
Now that the shooting was underway, we began to discuss the large elephant leaves that were everywhere in the garden and pool area. I had her move to the edge of the rear of the pool and among the giant lush leaves.
There it was.
Her shape completely complimented the nature around her. Now we had something really good happening.
I had this idea to photographer her in the pool more or less from the water level. The mid-day heat was fairly intense and as Carlotta got into the water, I kicked off my shoes and much to her surprise, I walked down the steps into the pool with all my clothes on. I was in the zone by then and I didn’t want to waste any time.
That, and the cool water felt so good.
She posed and I bobbed, making sure to keep my camera as close to the waterline as possible without dunking it. It worked.
The water was refreshing for me, but a bit chilly for her, so after about 20 minutes, Carlotta got out of the water and I continued to photograph her perched on a nearby crumbling wall and then the pool’s edge, all while I continued to bob in the water.
Note to self: Shooting from in the water is incredibly relaxing.
Eventually we ran out of places for her to pose in close proximity to the pool and we both ventured back out into the sunlit garden.
Carlotta carefully made her way into the middle of a particularly leafy area, the palm leaves framing her wonderfully. She backed out to the other side and I followed her into the center using the leaves in front of my lens to diffuse the composition.
Absolutely beautiful.
Finally we were ready to wrap the shoot for the day. I was very happy with our journey from my early bit of a block, breaking through to make some truly lovely photographs of her. Sometimes when you’re a bit lost, the best thing to do is keep moving forward. More often than not, you eventually get there.
I would try to do it all over again in an hour with the exuberant Sara Liz.
More to come.
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.
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.
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.
Much more to come!
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The trio
Three beauties in one room…..bonus! Second image shot with my home made bendy lens
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Part 3 of 50: “Hi, I’m Billy”
This is part three in a series of blogs on my recent artistic adventures in Mexico.
My home base for ZoeFest X was a charming boutique hotel called, most appropriately, Todos Santos Inn. Like many historic buildings in town, it had once been the home of one of the local sugarcane barons in the 19th century. Now, it had been beautifully restored into a little paradise. I walked into the main airy foyer and then into the office to the left. It did almost feel like I was walking into 1850s Mexico. Beautiful, luxurious 1850s Mexico.
I was led back out through the foyer again, through a large beautiful brick arched patio area and down a few steps to a lush green garden with palms and huge elephant leaves reaching from the stone paths up to the blue sky. We walked past the curves of a beautiful little pool and down another path to my garden apartment.
I opened the door, stepped through and was stunned to see such a beautiful room. A roomy living room area and then three steps up to the bedroom with a beautifully appointed king-sized bed, with sheer white mosquito netting covering the large canopy above. Even if I never left this room, I could probably make some lovely photographs in here, I thought to myself.
I took a quick shower to wash two airports and the dusty drive off of me and headed back out to the patio where a few members of our group who had started to assemble there.
For our first night, Zoe had set up a welcome party at one of the other hotel locations, a huge 150-year-old house that was once the mansion of a wealthy sugarcane plantation owner in the 1800s. There was beginning to be a definite sugarcane theme here. The locals now called the mansion Casa Dracula. Rex, the proprietor, welcomed us all in and began to weave a tale about the origin of the mansion’s nickname having something to do with the plantation owner being bloodthirsty or the arches windows on the facade or something like that, I don’t really remember. Too much cerveza, vodka, tequila and meeting lovely people by then.
The party was a chance to officially meet each other and put names with faces. Over the course of the evening there were many, “Oh, you’re Billy!,” and other similar exclamations. Many in our group had worked together in the past either at previous ZoeFests or other shoots around the world, so it was a great reunion for them. And even though I was a ZoeFest rookie, we all knew each others’ work and I was welcomed in like family. Even though we had all been in contact with each other through email, it was great fun to meet all of these talented photographers and models whose work I had been studying since July.
After a few hours of discussions of art and life, we all began to pull out our calendars to start booking times and places to shoot for the ten days we would all be there. Some of the photographers had already planned shoots with a few of the models. I had planned to do the same, but my schedule right up to the trip was too full for me to do much more than make a few email introductions in advance.
Happily, it really didn’t seem to matter. I was not the only one whose goal was to just get to ZoeFest and sort out the details once I arrived.
I recognized a few of the faces from the photographs I had seen. I had actually known the work of some of the models for a few years, although this was my first time meeting them in person.
“Hi, I’m Billy.”
It was just that simple. There were fifteen incredibly smart, lovely and creative models that I could arrange to photograph during the course of ZoeFest. An embarrassment of riches, as I like to say. Many of them were familiar with my work as well, so it was great to discuss shooting with them. If I was going to make plans to shoot with all fifteen of them, it would mean multiple shoots on most of the days and location scouting to go with them all. I decided it would be best to just begin booking the time and sort out exactly where we would shoot a bit later. I had only been in Todos Santos for a few hours and not seen much of the town and other hotels yet. There would be time for that later.
Since Ella Rose and I had already gotten to know each other on the drive in, I decided it would be a good idea to book some time with her to start. I thought I would relax and maybe do a bit of exploring for my first full day there and start shooting on day two. We picked a time for early that second morning when the light would be lovely. Perfect. Now I could start thinking of some photographic ideas!
As the party progressed, I began to discuss photography with so many talented photographers and models. In short order I had shoots booked with Carlotta, Sara Liz and Rebecca.
If I may back up for a moment, there were actually three Chicagoans at Zoefest this year among the very international group. At one point during the flight to Cabo, the man sitting next to me got up to use the restroom and since I was in the window seat, it seemed like it would be a good time to do the same.
“Are you staying in Cabo?,” I asked him, as we waited in line.
“No, I’m actually headed up to a little town called Todos Santos,” was his reply.
I smiled. “Are you a photographer?”
He chuckled back, “Yes!”
“ZoeFest?”
“You too?!”
It was very funny. David had been sitting next to me for half of the flight. We had no idea we were on the same mission.
What we also didn’t know was that Claudine, another Chicagoan and one of the models we were now having tequila with at Casa Dracula, had also been on the same flight. The three of us had landed, got into three separate pre-arranged cars with other photographers and models and now found ourselves together once again. It’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to paint it, as Steven Wright used to say.
Claudine was, of course, added to my shooting calendar in short order. I was inadvertently starting to create an ambitious shooting schedule for myself. But really. How could I not? Anything less would have been very un-Billy.
A few local artists were on hand at the party as well and they supplied us with ideas for potential places to shoot outside of town near the ocean and various nearby ruins. Perfect!
As I mentioned a few paragraphs back, I had originally planned on taking the day off on my first full day in Todos Santos. It had been an extremely busy summer into fall for me and I was still not fully unwound from a day of international travel. However, Samantha Grace, also a ZoeFest first timer, and I had started taking about what we each might be doing for our first full day. I told her I was planning to just take it easy. She said she was thinking the same thing.
However, as the words were coming out of my mouth, a little voice inside me gave me a good slap and told me in a sarcastic tone that only your inner voice can truly pull off, “Yeah, great plan Billy. Fifteen models and you’re going to waste a day when you could be making art? Brilliant.”
The voice had a point. Another few sips of tequila and Samantha and I both convinced ourselves that we would probably regret not shooting together the first day. We would officially begin ZoeFest tomorrow. On day one. But at noon. At least we could sleep in a bit.
A few toasts, more laughs and we all headed back to our respective homes for the night.
Today’s photograph features the lovely Carlotta, who I photographed in the beautiful pool at Todos Santos Inn. As I was beginning to discover as the days progressed, shooting at mid-day in the Todos Santos heat was grueling. It’s true that her eyes had inspired me to make some photographs of her from water level. And the practical side of me decided that it might be good to shoot from in the pool to cool off a bit. I carefully brought my camera to within an inch of the surface of water as I happily bobbed closer to get the right composition. It turned out to be a very relaxing way to shoot.
As always, more to come.