You always hope to pick up shoots with those you weren’t able to pre-book throughout the week. On Halloween I thought I would just sit around. Then sitting around got boring. Meghan was just sitting around too. So we did this for an hour. 🙂
You do funny things when you hold a camera sometimes to get certain angles. I know I’m weird.
First video by me.
Thanks to Michael Marlborough for filming the behind the scenes action!
[vimeo 35196239 15 MEXICO]
And a new image from the shoot.
My tenth shoot! In year 10! In the 10th month of the year! On the 30th day of the month! 3’s. 333. I made a wish for good photos. Brooke Lynne is awesome so wishing was kind of silly. Enjoy.
Looking forward to seeing all the rest of everyone’s images! I have two more shoots to post then my fun posting is over. Kind of sad about that. I need a commune somewhere so this can continue all year round. ho hum.
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!
I posted my images of Ella Rose first here: My Part 1 would end up at Part 1,253 That was my 6th shoot (October 28) developed and scanned first. 🙂 And I just realized I snuck in shoots between the shoots I scheduled before arriving. So this timeline might be completely and totally WRONG, but who cares? Right? So much has happened since then. I am ready for years end. You know, I am taking suggestions for next year’s get together. Don’t be shy in sending them my way. I’d love to announce it before February so we can all start planning. Throw a dart at the map!
Sara Liz and I started off at Todos Santos Inn for my 7th shoot on October 29. TSI is not really my flavor, which is why I stayed at the Hotelito to start with, but it was an absolutely GORGEOUS hotel. Every little detail you could imagine wanting, they had. Beautiful bathrooms, lovely white linens, gorgeous suites and and and… I just like it modern. I tried forcing the shoot a bit and just decided that we were going to all three hotels in 2 hours! So, that’s what we did. Todos Santos Inn, Casa Bentley and Hotelito all in one. Enjoy. 🙂
St. Merrique and I shot at The Casa Dracula and at the Hotelito. Lots of pictures! I posted some earlier as I was in the midst of editing everything, but might as well put them all in one space.
We stopped at La Esquina cafe before our shoot and I had them fix up an iced mocha with three shots of espresso. I was feeling kind of “duh” in Todos Santos. Not sure why, maybe it was the drastic cut to my coffee intake upon arrival. Well, espresso intake. Espresso makes all the difference in the world! Anyway, it finally did the trick. I wasn’t moving at a snails pace anymore. And I think I took more photos because I was just stupid high on coffee! ha. I work best with lots and lots of mocha.
I worked mostly with my Rollei and later switched up and used my tilt-shift lens with my 35mm Nikon fM.
Merrique rules! By the way, incase you needed telling.
A few months before arriving to Mexico I had this image in my head all of a sudden of Carlotta with a Sombrero posed exactly like this:
So I emailed the owner of the Hotelito to ask if she knew of any shops in the area to purchase a sombrero or if I should buy one in Los Angeles and suffer the issues of flying on the plane wearing a sombrero. She told me a friend of hers had some antique sombreros and they just so happened to be from former El Presidente’s of Mexico. Of course I promised to treat the sombreros with the utmost care and she came through for me. This speaks volumes of how amazing she is. I’m thankful she entrusted me to use the sombreros. They were gorgeous!
Carlotta and I traversed all corners of the Hotelito during our shoot and found some beautiful light and cool areas for posing with these historical sombreros and for doing other images too. ¡Arriba! Carlotta is blessed with the ability to work in so many different genres of photography and it’s always so great to work with such a pro. I didn’t get to see her feature in Mexican Playboy while we were there… anyone have a link? Would love to add it here! Quite a coincidence. ha.
Enjoy our pictures. 🙂
I loved the Hotelito for all it’s stark shooting situations and shady spots too. Who needs a backdrop when there’s an abundance of natural light and beautiful vivid walls? I knew it would be good shooting when I looked at it online before arriving and definitely was happy when I arrived. I’m enamored by modern architecture and bold lines.
I worked all week with my Nikon FM 35mm and my Rollei. Little cameras that didn’t weigh very much so I wasn’t carrying around tons of gear in the heat. Plus I was scared to pack up my 4×5 with all my Polaroid film for fear Mexican Customs would hassle me on arrival. On the way home at the airport when they were searching my bags before departing they didn’t know what 120 film was, so I may have had a hard time explaining Type 55 Pos/Neg film to them and Sodium Sulfite. Though Steven Billups managed to bring in all his Polaroid film. Though I was happy with all the work accomplished with my little cameras. I ended up shooting more and going back to the camera set up I learned on.
Claudine and I worked together back in 2008 during the 29 Palms festival with my 4×5, so good that I had something different with me to get a different look. We had the opportunity to work together twice this time around. This is our first shoot. We didn’t wander too far away from that fabulous swimming pool. Shoot 10 minutes, jump in, shoot 20 minutes, jump in again… that was my week really. Claudine is quite an enigma, in a good way. She seems so unassuming in person but when you point a camera in her direction this intense confidence pops out and lends itself to inspiration. She’s great to work with!
I started a new “tradition” last year in Australia. It seemed only fitting that I do it again.
There will be video soon…
Every model who was at the festival!
Claudine, Ella Rose, Anoush Anou, Meghan, Stephanie Anne, Kiera Grant, Rebecca Lawrence, St. Merrique, Candace Nirvana, Brooke Lynne, Carlotta Champagne, Samantha Grace, Anne Duffy, Tara Tree and Sara Liz. Thank you, Ladies! Stay tuned for the video!
That sounded like a proper title when I started…
Since the festival has completed my home has been full up with Aussies. I’m keeping one, but the others have all left me to muddle through film and edits. I’ve decided that collecting Australians must be a hobby of mine. I think I like them. They all seem to have been brought up appropriately. They even help me clean when I’m not looking. And they leave me pretty orange flowers (thanks Mick and JC). But enough of that…
How about some pictures of a goat named Boots and Stephanie? I absolutely love Jenny at Hotelito for allowing us to have fun picture making with her goat.
And all my US friends… Have a very good Thanksgiving!