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 Travel with our mentors and try out all of the latest equipment from Nikon! Including world class digital SLRs, Nikkor lenses and the Coolpix line of Digital Cameras.
From there we headed out to lunch in the adjacent town, Ajijic. Our reserved garden seats were ideal for more photography of the tropical gardens and the lake. After lunch we ventured into the town of Ajijic. This town was full of color, from the wall-covered murals, the horse riders, to the friendly people. The small square was ideal for me to take some portraits of the locals. Everyone went off in different directions to photograph what they liked. We met up to continue to another town, Lake Chapala. Chapala was a fishing town as was evident by all the fishing boats in the water. The sight that was most unusual where the boats trapped in a field of green foliage in the water; their vibrant colors where a perfect contrast to the green surrounding them. Photographing the Mariachi Band was the grand finale of this day. Some participants practiced their “snooting” here. A technique Dave Black was teaching, to focus the off camera flash with a snoot on the subject creating a small shaft of light on their face. Bright and early the following day we headed to the Cabanas in downtown Guadalajara. The murals by Orozco were our main photography focus when we entered. The ceiling was a challenge, my attempt to shoot in dark light and still get a clear picture without a tripod proved difficult. The grounds on the Cabanas, with rose gardens, mirrored areas and magnificent architecture where a better focus for me. When the Folklore Dancers came out it was a beautiful sight. Their costumes where colorful and their movements uplifting. We all took our spots to photograph their dance and then had opportunities to focus on details. That afternoon, after lunch we had a private photography tour of downtown Guadalajara. The Cathedral was magnificent but further on we discovered the Palacio Municipal and Plaza de Armas, realizing how much beauty this city had to offer. That evening we had our first photo critiques with our mentors. It was very educational for me to see other photographers work. Since I am a beginner, it was inspirational to see the photographs they had since we visited the same places. We had all been looking forward to the bullfight scheduled for this day, but unfortunately it was moved to another town. The director set up the perfect substitute with the Mexican Rodeo. The stadium was an ideal size for all of us to be within range of the horse action in the pit. We were treated to magnificent horses, ridden by their elegantly dressed cowboys. There was so much to photograph during the rodeo, bulls taken down, wild horses ridden and lassoed; it was a thrill to witness and photograph. We further had the opportunity to go down to the sand pit after the show and photograph portraits and details of the cowboys and horses. This was an adventure I had never experienced; I was as excited as the little boys practicing their lasso’s in the stands. I didn’t think anything could top that, but I was wrong. That evening we had our second light-painting class with Dave Black. The group met on the roof of our hotel. We each had our chance to light paint our two beautiful tattooed models. They where also a part of this workshop and had been cordial enough to help with this lesson. Excitement filled the air as one by one each of light their bodies with the flashlight and then held our breaths until the picture appeared on the screen. We all knew that this was truly a unique experience that the mentors Dave & Doug had generously shared with us. Our final day began with music on the bus as we headed to the town of Tequila. A stop in the fields allowed us to photograph the rows and rows of growing blue agave plants This was a perfect place for me to borrow the fish-eye lens, letting me capture the entire scene. A local farmer explained and demonstrated the different techniques used to harvest the Agave plants as we all photographed him in action. Next stop was in the town of Tequila, where all the distilleries and Haciendas’ are. Our tour of the tequila distillery began after we covered our heads with hairnets. Along the way, we photographed the workers, carrying the agave plants and placing them in ovens and finally at the press where we all had tequila tasting. Our group photo was taken here with all of looking silly from the tequila and the hairnets. After lunch in town, we spilt up with our mentors and headed into the town of Tequila for more photo opportunities. The local merchants were friendly and willing to be photographed. The Hacienda Quinta Sauza was a beautiful location for more gardens and colorful authentic Mexican tile details. Not to anyone’s surprise our trip back to the hotel was aging full of music. We turned into a karaoke bus, all of us friends, laughing and singing.
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