419 - Land’s End
Today was a MUCH NEEDED reminder about why I shoot. Sometimes I get so lost in the sauce that I can't find the damn chicken sandwich.
It all started on an early morning in the good ole' city of Cabo San Lucas. The Mecca of all frat boys, the calling of all sorority girls. We had finally arrived.
It was a long drive to the bottom of Baja California from San Diego, and damn... it felt good to see some actually hot chicks around for once. There was barely any in this part of Mexico.
Our first official mission in Cabo was to wake up at sunrise for a hike to the top of it. There's this mountain called Mt. Solmar, that overlooks the ENTIRE city. But nobody knows about it, except locals. Mainly because it's on some dude's private property, and he has barbed wire fence and rabid guard dogs surrounding it. The reality is that most tourists would rather drink themselves silly on the beach than deal with it.
The CATCH is that he's actually a good guy, you just have to show up at 8AM sharp hope he's there. If he is, he'll take you on a guided tour to the top for tips. Sometimes I forget that this is MEXICO, and people can just own massive landmarks and do whatever the hell they want with them.
Needless to say, after an afternoon scoping out the place, we decided the dogs were too loud and the barbed wire was too sharp to hop in on our own accord.
So we woke up at 7:00AM in the only part of the city we could fit our Mercedes Sprinter, and walked about a mile and a half to the entrance gate. It was rather strange walking through the town in the morning.
However, shortly after showing up to the gate, we were informed from a local that the owner wasn't doing tours this week. For no reason.
Goddamnit Mexico. There's no way to predict this shit.
We ended up counted our loses and walked back to the van, defeated. And then I had a mental breakdown. The culture shock of Mexico was catching up to me, and the floodgates broke. Some dude walked by an offered us a tour to the Arch of San Lucas (for the 30th time in two days) and I just straight up told him to fuck off.
That's pretty out of character for me, and I was surprised the words came out of my mouth. But I was tired of being aggressively hassled, sick of having constant diarrhea, frustrated at my broken Spanish, and missing my convenient and lovingly corporate home, the USA.
On top of that, I was angry that my Google Fi plan was fucking me in the ass with international data (I had a $200 bill,) and my website randomly decided to lock me out for a couple days.
I pretty much got to the van and just stared at the wall for 3 hours. I had a shit ton of editing to do, but I didn't care. I wanted to just quit everything. It sucked.
But you can only sulk for so long.
At a certain point I needed to eat, so I fixed myself a shrimp ramen with egg and felt a little better as I enjoyed my favorite childhood snack. Haley convinced me to head to the beach, to clear my mind with a hike and a swim.
We made up a plan to head to Lover/Divorce Beach, which traditionally were only accessible via boat. However, we had some insider information about a sketchy cliffside hike to get there, if you can manage to sneak through a beachside resort.
A real adventure.
And an adventure it was. The resort, called the Grand Solmar, didn't seem to notice us walking right through the place. I guess when you're a good looking white couple in your late twenties, they don't question it. The rooms averaged at $900 USD a night, so walking through with $4,000 camera setups acting like annoying influencers didn't look too out of place.
If only they knew I lived in a Prius for two years delivering McDonald's to get here.
Once we made it through the resort, we found the entrance to the cliffside hike. But it wasn't so much of a hike as a traverse. Lots of Class 2 bouldering, and one Class 4 move over a high, slippery ledge. A local showed us the correct route for a couple bucks.
And then we arrived. Two amazing beaches nestled in the cliffs of Cabo. We spent the afternoon swimming around the shoreline, and ended up climbing up the cliffs a little higher to get some shots of Cabo from above. But I still wasn't completely out of my funk.
My adrenaline was pumping from everything, but I still didn't feel like I'd gotten an amazing photo recently. The past couple adventures had been no shows in the sky department, and today was looking like another contender.
What am I doing all this for? Why am I here? I'm completely out of place in Mexico, and now I'm risking my life on these sketchy ass cliffs for a sunset that probably wasn't even going to happen.
As the sun went behind the clouds and we began our trek back, I was defeated as ever. Everything I was doing felt pointless.
But then... I saw it.
A glimmer of hope passed through my mind as a golden ray emerged in the sky. I couldn't see it in full view because it was on the other side of the traverse, but it was clear SOMETHING was brewing. We hurried along.
The walk back wasn't too bad, besides Haley who had a freak-out moment on one of the edges. She got herself into this weird position where I had to help pull her down. The exposure didn't help- even basic bouldering can feel difficult when there's a dangerous edge next to you.
We got over the final ledge, and looked to the rays of clouds. The sunset HADN'T actually happened yet, we just couldn't see it from the other beach. It was happening NOW.
And it was the best sunset I've ever seen in my entire life. And I'm not just saying that. I've seen a LOT of sunsets. Words can't describe it, and I'm a photographer, so here's my picture:
“Duo Land”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 640 ~ 24mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/160s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It was as if Mother Nature looked down on me, saw my shitty day, saw my intentions, and said you know what? Let's hook this dude up. I swear to god when I say no one on Earth was happier in that moment than I was.
Everything I do is for these moments. All the shitty days, all the money I spend, all the culture shock I force myself to get through, everything. It's all for this.
Goddamn.
I felt this fresh burst of inspiration rush through me, and snagged another shot, as the sky got even more electric:
“Electric Flow”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 1250 ~ 32mm ~ f/9 ~ 1/50s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
If you didn't realize it, today's lesson was a reminder in getting through the rough days, because a good day will eventually come. Adventure photography is one of the hardest things I've ever done. There's always shit happening. But it's also one of the most rewarding.
I did want to give some info on that second shot though, before I get too cheesy here. The buildings you see to the right are the resort we snuck through. I'm trying to get better about incorporating humanized things into my landscape photography, which is why I left that boat in the first shot as well.
I've spent too long "cutting out" man-made things, and need to learn to embrace it. Why can't civilization be beautiful too?
The answer is it can. You just got to make it beautiful.
Alright, that's enough cheese for one day. This was a nutty adventure, and I'm pretty damn proud of it. BYE.
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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