413 - San Ignacio
Today's adventure was at an oasis in the middle of the Baja California peninsula known as San Ignacio. And I've never felt more like a tourist in my life visiting this place.
Having done a bit of research on the place beforehand, we determined that we wanted a palm tree shot with the river nearby. You know, a typical oasis shot.
But in typical Mexico fashion, there weren't any photo guides, or for that matter, ANY good photos of this place online. We determined off of Google Maps there was one bridge in town that would (hopefully) get us a river/palm tree shot.
So that's where we went.
The fun began when our location of choice happened to be along the busiest road in this rural town. Picture this. We're sitting on the side of a bridge with $6k worth of camera gear in our hands, being gawked at by locals in cars.
Don't get me wrong- most people were friendly looking. Many smiled, waved, and looked happy to see us. A few looked confused, and one car even cat-called Haley. But the one thing they all had in common was a look of surprise to see us. Maybe I'm being too self-conscious here, but I felt extremely out of place. They probably just don't see people taking tripod shots on their local bridge often.
Therefore, the biggest thing I learned on this shoot was to embrace the culture shock. Unless, of course, there's danger involved. At no time did I feel "in danger" of being robbed or hurt, just very, very out of place. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, more like a mental block in my head.
Kind of like walking on a slackline 3 feet off the ground, versus 100 feet off the ground. The skillset's the same, but in one situation you're facing more mental challenges then the other. I have to apply that same notion to photography.
If you don't know what slacklining is, Google it. I was obsessed in college.
OK. Now let's talk photos. The first thing I noticed keenly about this place was the massive spike in my foot. My sandal soles are made out of TIRE, but this thing still broke through and was poking my toe. Quite rudely, at that.
I removed it and looked around. The thing had come off the palm trees... Shiiit. I realized the palm trees were made of massive spikes. MASSIVE ones. Like cacti spikes.
It was insane. Do all palm trees have this? Have I missed this my whole life? Or is this just some fucked up species that was for blood?
Either way, I knew it was a good shot. I zoomed into the palms, and got a nice bushel of spikes:
“Blue Thumb”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 50 ~ 47mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/50s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
That shot was also made possible with the help of luminosity masks. I dimmed out the background and enhanced the sharp edges, to make them look like blades. Continuing my obsessive saga of crazy cacti.
The next part is where this shoot got tricky. The sky wasn't doing anything, so a big landscape shot was out of the question. However I figured I could look straight down, and avoid the shitty sky all-together. I loaded up the drone and took a bunch of shots of the palms from above. The sunset light was just right- skimming the tops of the trees like a banana latte. The trees themselves almost looked like mechanical gears, spinning in the wind.
One of my favorite palms happened to be laying out across the water, almost sideways. I took a a few shots of it from above, and ended up with this one as my favorite:
Here's the reason this shot works. The palm tree appears to be upright, but all the other trees aren't. It creates an optical illusion to the viewer, and challenges their sense of direction.
Shots where the viewer has to take a second to get oriented can be extremely powerful, if done correctly. By correctly, I mean on purpose. If your horizon's slightly tilted by accident and this fucks up the viewer's orientation, you're not doing it right. The trick is to have two different dimension planes crossing in the middle, confusing the viewer for a few glorious seconds.
I'll be honest when I say I didn't THINK of this concept until the edit. I actually took that shot sideways, snagging a bunch of pics because it was the most interesting tree there. Then I realized in post that it would look trippy straight up.
It's strange how some shots don't "come together" until editing. Which is why I think it's important to take some shots even if you're not sure what you'll do with them later. The important thing is that you're taking advantage of the light, and your time in the field. The in-depth thinking can come later, when you're not pressed for time.
Alright, that's enough on the lecturing for today.
So many thoughts popped into my head now and I had to get them on paper. Honestly that's why I do these write-ups. It's not for you, the viewer. It's because it forces me to sit down and process what happened in these shoots. What can take out and apply to the next one? Else I just edit the photos, post em', and forget what really went down that day.
Now this adventure has been documented, processed, and applied to my brain for the next shoot.
Let's go, baby.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
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