Month: December 2009

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

Soph: Jungle Dance

This was a day of firsts.  First time working with the lovely Soph from Australia, first time entering the jungle forests of Australia and the first time I encountered the biting things of Australia.  The first two firsts more than made up for the last one.  We shot in two locations, first in some forest near Mission Beach and then among the rocks and trees on Mission Beach.  We entered the forest on a trail and did some shooting among some trees using the shadows of the leaves to paint her body.  Then we continued down the trail coming to a creek where we also ran into some other members of our group. Soph wandered up the creek where we got some stunning shots with the jungle canopy surrounding her.  And this is where the jungle dance comes in.  It was my first experience with the biting flies of Mission Beach.  And it’s not one or two attacking you..but swarms of them about the size of a US horse fly biting you and drawing blood.  But what am I complaining about! I had shorts on and they were just biting my legs. Poor naked Soph was getting bitten all over. It’s amazing either of us could hold still enough under the dark canopy of the jungle to get any sharp images!  We then escaped the killer flies to go to the flyless beach.  When we arrived at the beach, we ran into the same members of our group we encountered in the forest.  I swear we were not stalking them!!!  Once on the beach, we got some beautiful images among the boulders and trees.  Thanks to Soph for sharing the experience, the bites  and getting some lovely images

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

White

Muse @ our house on the beach. Trying to get that feeling of fulfillment back again as the weather turns cold, and the rain pours down. An island awaits in a couple weeks… until then, I’ll remember being here. I’ll remember walking outside and finding Muse cocooned inside of the hammock. Rei in her room practicing her Indian dancing. And myself opening the refrigerator in elation noticing the thoughtful chilled coffee Muse made me just to be nice. I really miss this place.

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

Claudine and Rebecca – Raumati Beach, NZ

After 3 days of rain on the South Island of New Zealand, our drenched group headed back to the North Island. We passed through Wellington and headed about 40 minutes north to spend the night at Raumati Beach before traveling on to Taupo the next day.  I awoke in the early morning darkness to go check out the weather and beach for a possible shoot that morning. OMG….not a cloud in the sky and the beach was gorgeous was a small river flowing into the ocean strewn with logs and debris. I found some beautiful shooting locations using that debris, and stumps of trees on the beach with the large Kapiti Island as background. Claudine was ready for an early morning shoot and we got some beautiful pre-dawn shots as the light was just hitting the waves giving it an amber bluish hue.  I then went back to our hotel and grabbed Rebecca.  The sun had risen at that point and got some nice slightly overexposed shots with the sun behind her as well as it accentuating her porceline complexion.  It was a tricky location because there were houses all along the beach. A few early morning passerbys just waved or ignored us.  Shooting like this is so natural to me now, that I forget it might offend some people.  Well apparently it did, becuase by the time Edward and Vassanta started shooting the police were out. I wish we had more time to spend here becuase you could take a boat to Kapiti island and I’m sure there’d be interesting shooting and hiking there.

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

We found this at the entrance of the Woo…

We found this at the entrance of the Woollaston Estates winery in Nelson. The sculptor is Marté Szirmay, and the piece is called Yantra for Mahana (I found that after some googling – there weren’t any signs around the piece.) It was commissioned by the winery for the site. There were other sculptures scattered around the grounds, and an art gallery on the premises. I’m glad no one was around to bother us, but definitely would have loved to see the other pieces and tasted the wine!

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

Claudine – Steel Kiwi

Our merry band had spent a lovely day watching rain drops fall as we drove through the New Zealand countryside on the South Island. What to do if it’s raining? Tour some wineries for some tastings at least.  We arrive at our first one, only to find it closed.  But discovered this massive steel sculpture on the grounds…and the rain had actually stopped.  We split up taking different sides of the steel behemoth to do our shooting. Claudine and I did our first shoot together and she did a wonderful job turning her body into a piece of art suspended from art. I love the angles we shot to accentuate the angles of the sculpture and her curves.

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

Vassanta – Stormy Beach

Prior to arriving for OzFest, several of us ventured to New Zealand where it rained most of the seven days we were there and didn’t do as much shooting as we’d planned.  Our B & B hostess was a former Playboy model (1960’s Girls of the Benelux) and recommended several places to shoot.  One of them was Rabbit Island about 30 minutes from Nelson.  After driving in the rain all day trying to see some natural sights, we ended the day on Rabbit Island.  We got out of the car long enough to see a deserted beach  with massive logs strewn across the beach – a great location, but then the rain started AGAIN.  We sat in the car for 30 minutes praying for the rain to stop, giving it another 10 minutes before giving up as the light was fading too.  At the 10 minute mark, the rain miraculously stopped and we ran to the beach for a quick 30 minute shoot as the light faded with even, but dull lighting on such an overcast day.  My challenge was to try to create some images that “popped” and not just a dull gray look. Vassanta was masterful (as she always is) using the environment around her to create some magic.