425 - Fábrica La Rojeña
Today we visited the small town of Tequila, Mexico, which is literally the Napa Valley of tequila. And let me tell you, we got the full experience.
I'd never even heard of this place before, which was surprising based off the amount of tequila shots I've taken in my life. Imagine endless fields of agave, and at the heart of it, a colorful, eclectic town.
To kick things off, we decided to take a tour of it's largest distillery, Jose Cuervo. (The fuck... I thought that was just some American company acting cultural for cash.) Apparently Jose Cuervo literally build up the town of Tequila to where it is now from nothing, all from tequila money- and it played a massive role in building the modern tequila industry. Craziness.
The tour was phenomenal, we had an English speaking guide who walked us through the entire factory. I don't want to get to into details about their history because this is a photography blog, but let me say it was WORTH IT.
I focused on architecture photography at first. Here's a photo I got of one of the agave storage containers:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 320 ~ 29mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I loved the bright yellow walls, contrasted with that insane doors. Leaves many questions to the viewer, especially if they had no context as to what this was. The next photo I got on the tour was of the shaved agave itself, check this out:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 320 ~ 51mm ~ f/7.1 ~ 1/200s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
In order to add interest to that photo, I emphasized three globs in particular when editing, and cut them to make a sort of triangle trifecta. If there's no pattern in a shot with so much chaos, use editing to add your own pattern.
My favorite thing about the factory was the smell. I'd never smelt fresh trimmed agave before, and it's now one of my favorite smells in the world. So fresh, sweet, and tangy.
My next favorite part was obviously the sampling process. We got to try five different shots of tequila, all aged in different years. By the end of the tour, we were completely smashed. I guess I was expecting that, but it still came as a surprise.
My only gripe about the tour was that we didn't get to see any agave FIELDS... Just the factory. Now, they do have a separate tour of the outdoor fields, but it's expensive as hell, and it includes transportation by train in midday lighting. We decided to opt out of that, in favor of our own exploration.
We rolled up to a campsite on iOverlander down the street that was surrounded by agave fields, and made a pact over beer to wake up for sunrise. (A cardinal sin of adventure photography.)
Fast forward to the next morning, my alarm starts blaring at 6AM like it's the goddamn 4th of July. I was NOT in the mood. My head felt like a prickly mush. I feel back asleep almost instantly, and woke up about 15 minutes later to my subconscious yelling at me to go shoot.
After all, I'd just written a blog post yesterday at Mirador de Cristal about shooting at all costs, no excuses. Fuuuuckkkkkkkkkk.
I rolled out of bed and slowly began gathering my things. I popped an orange Tic Tac to get me into state.
(If you're not sure what I'm talking about here, I ALWAYS eat orange Tic Tacs when I get a good photo, to program confidence in my mind associated with orange Tic Tacs. Then, when I'm in a situation like today where I feel like shit or I can't get in the mood, eating one gets me back into the mood FAST, or as I like to call it, state.) It's like a photography drug. Only to be used in the most dire of situations.
The first thing I noticed when I stepped outside was how insanely beautiful the plants were. Thy were absolutely MASSIVE in person... I figured I'd start with some more intimate scenes, and work my way up to something bigger. My first show was of a small line of plants, no sky:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 200 ~ 31mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/30s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
The sky was empty and blown as the sun came up, so I didn't get any solid shots featuring the sunrise. I simply utilized the light from the sun hitting plants at various angles. My second shot was of this tree that looked straight out of Africa:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 200 ~ 67mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/125s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I included the dead tree next to it as a nice little comparison of life versus death. Deep, I know. Finally, I felt fully warmed up. I started looking for something a bit more epic, and decided to shoot at 16:9 today. It was all gonna be all about tall boys. My first shot included the fence, because it was a barrier I was going in and out of for shots, and since it was so gnarly and made of wood, it made a good foreground:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 200 ~ 24mm ~ f/10 ~ 1/125s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
I really liked the tree in the top left to balance the wood, which is why I made it slightly glow in Photoshop. The next shot I got was of this massive powerline that kept making popping noises in the field, surround by spike agaves:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO ~ 200mm ~ 70mm ~ f/8 ~ 1/1250s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
It's nice to be EMBRACING the human-made components of these places. I've said this in several adventures leading up to this one, but shots don't HAVE to be pure nature. It's easy to get into that mindset when browsing professional landscape photographers frequently on Instagram.
And with that, I felt pretty proud of the day's loot. My hangover was temporarily fixed as my mind sunk deeper into the photography, and I felt like I could actually think clearly. Funny how photography does that.
Walking back to the van, I realized I wanted one more shot, a close up shot of the sharp agave edges. So I snagged this interesting composition of a spider web between two plants:
“Pinocchio Verde”
Taken on Sony a7rIII + Zeiss 24-70mm f/4
[ISO 200 ~ 70mm ~ f/4 ~ 1/320s]
(Want a Print? Get one here.)
Which leads me to my final tip. If you're looking for a subject (for example, sharp edges on agave plants,) but can't make up your mind as to which one to photograph, look for one that STANDS OUT (i.e. this one with webs on it.) It'll take your subject to the next level.
But yeah, that's today's shoot. At the end of it all, I figured if you're doing a sunrise shoot in Tequila, Mexico NOT hungover, you're probably doing it wrong.
Alright... I'm gonna go nap. Bye.
I’m on a mission to explore as much as humanely possible.
Want to see my progress? Check out the Adventure Map.
*Please note this page contains affiliate links.
