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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

The book: Zoe Fest 2009, Mission Beach, …

The book: Zoe Fest 2009, Mission Beach, Australia will be finished printing on September 17.

Zoe Fest 2009 Mission Beach Australia
Zoe Fest 2009 Mission Beach Australia

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

on a boat

Here’s my favorite from my shoot with Malcolm Smith. I’m on a boat/surfboard thingy – whatever it is, it looks like a fun toy!

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

Babinda Boulders: Slippery When Wet

I made two excursions to Babinda Boulders.  It’s located in a park in the jungle midway between Cairns and Mission Beach, Australia.  Rapids run through beautiful curvy rock formations carved by the river as well as rain erosion.  The first visit was upon arrival in Australia. Claudine and I were anxious to shoot and stopped by there on the way to Mission Beach after flying into Cairns from Auckland, NZ.  There is about a mile of paved paths running high above the river bank to give you several lookout points over the beautiful rocks.  We reached the end of the trail overlooking a vast stretch of boulders with rapids running through them and cascading in small waterfalls.  Kids were everywhere jumping from boulder to boulder and over the stream as well.  Danger signs were everywhere – “Extremely Slippery, People have died here !”   With all the kids jumping from boulder to boulder, how dangerous could it be?  So we ventured out.  Of course, I find a wet patch and proceed to fall on my ass. It was like walking on ice! The signs were not joking.  So we gingerly wandered among the boulders trying to find private places to shoot.  In most cases, we had just a few minutes opportunity to shoot before onlookers materialized.  However, even with those limitations, I love the images we got – especially the ones of her curled up in these gorgeous womb like carvings in the rock.

The next day I went on a scouting trip of some locations for shooting later in the week and Rebecca came along for the adventure and also some shooting if we found some places.  Josephine Falls was gorgeous, but too crowded.  We were near Babinda Boulders and thought Rebecca might enjoy seeing it. Plus, there was a whole section I had not seen the day before, and it might not be as crowded to shoot in the areas I had been. We went back to the area Claudine and I had shot in.  It was not as crowded as the day before and we wandered around looking for shooting locations.  I warned Becca about the slippery rocks.  She thought it would be cool to shoot by the water by jumping down about 4 feet  into this cubby hole by the water. I was nervous, but off she jumped…..annnnd slipped right off the little rock ledge and into the rapids.  She was caught in a shoot of water barely clutching the rock walls before being swept down stream. I jumped down in the same cubby hole, slipping myself and it took all my strength to steady myself on the slippery rock and pull her out against the current. Miraculously, the sarong she had on didn’t get ripped off her by the current.  So now we are holding on to each other stuck in this cubby hole, just big enough for the both of us, with the rock ledge we need to get out 4 feet up.  So, I steadied myself and pushed her up the ledge and she was out.  But now I was stuck. It was too slippery for me to get any kind of footing to get out. Luckily two Aussie teenagers came the rescue. One holding on to me to pull me out and the other holding on to his mate to prevent him from slipping down into the hole with me.  Without them, it would have been a loooonggg wait because nobody was around.  So we were both bruised and banged up, but nothing major.  We had lost the confidence in remaining safe in the area, so we departed for the upper part of the river.  Here, the water pools into a small lake before being channeled into the rapids below. Rebecca went swimming in the pool with me shooting at a distance with a 300mm lens.  I couldn’t get closer due to the danger of slipping on the rocks to get to the pool and going swimming with my camera gear.  I think Rebecca enjoyed her skinny dipping and swimming except for one time putting her hand on a rock and finding a spider larger than her hand in a cubby hole. I love the ones we got with the light highlighting her form while swimming.  Later in the week, we visited a crocodile farm and learned that crocs are known to habitat bodies of water like the one Becca was swimming in.  hmm. That’s one bitey thing I’m glad we didn’t meet in the wild!

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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

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

NZ/Oz Odyssey

Here is a photo essay of our mini odyssey through NZ to Oz land, final destination Zoefest.

Thank you Zoe, not for just making art and facilitating its creation by others but for providing a means to live life as art. What a deal!  There are so many great photos, it was awesome. Odyssey II coming soon. ≈:)

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

New Zealand Beach

In my last blog, the gang (Edward Badham, Vassanta, Rebecca, Claudine and myself had just touched down in New Zealand the week prior to OzFest.  We spent a lovely week in NZ, although a WET one. We landed in Wellington, and took the ocean Interislander Ferry to Picton and eventually landed in Nelson (30 hours travel from NYC….ahhhh). But the company made the long trip fun!  We toured the South Island around Nelson for three days (as much as we could in the rain!!!).  We had a fun stay in a  B&B in Nelson that is run by a former Playboy Model from Amsterdam. She gave us some shooting locations and some places to visit that the average travel guide would not mention.  We pulled into one shooting location on Rabbit Island with lots of beach and driftwood potential with the rain still pouring down.  We said we’d wait 10 more minutes as the light was fading at the end of the day.Vassanta prayed to the rain gods to stop.  And it did….for 30 minutes. We jumped out of car, sorted out who was shooting with who and nailed it.  One result for me was the attached shot of Vassanta with the large log in the background.  I love the results with the shallow DOF.  The next day we headed back  to the North Island, with a stop in Rumati Beach where we were greeted by actual sunshine in the morning.  Attached is a sunrise shot that I like and some early morning beach shots.  Claudine is captured in a estuary leading to the ocean. I love the contrast of her with the debris around her.  Then, the brilliant color of Rebecca as the sun washes over her porcelain complexion with bright skies and offshore island in the background.  We headed next to Taupo and Auckland, but no real shooting (just fun!!!).  New Zealand was lovely and I look forward to returning when the rain is not so prevelant.    Next stop, OZ!!!!!!

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ZoeFest 2009 Australia Mission Beach

The Adventure Begins……..

After months of planning, I can’t believe this is actually happening.  Five of us will first travel from all over the US to meet in San Francisco, to leap over the Pacific and spend a week in New Zealand and then on to the Great Gathering in OZ.  Members of the gang include myself, the photographer Edward Badham and three models – Vassanta, Claudine and Rebecca Lawerence.  For me, the adventure begins a week before this  when I meet Vassanta  at JFK coming back from a visit to her homeland in Russia.  I can’t believe that in two weeks time she will have traveled from Russia to NYC to New Zealand and finally to OZ…phew…jet lag city.  During the week in NYC, we shoot together on a Long Island beach, hook up with Rebecca and have a send off party with some mutual friends.  I’m so busy with trying to wrap up all the loose ends, that I don’t even pack until a few hours before leaving…..hope I don’t forget anything

When we arrive in San Francisco, it’s Claudine’s birthday. She arrives with a birthday tiara and we provide the wine for a pre-flight celebration and meet and greet. Now it’s off to New Zealand.  From the time we leave NYC until we reach our final destination in Nelson, NZ, we will have travelled  for 30 hours straight, including a 3 hour ocean ferry ride from the North to South Island in New Zealand!!!  See ya on the other side of  the world!!!