Cabalgata de Cristo Rey

Three days in the saddle for 10 hours a day is not something I would recomend to any one but I did it. A few years back a friend of mine who runs Coyote Canyon horseback excursions in San Miguel told me about the Cabalgata de Cristo Rey. It is a 3 day horse back pilgrimage where 2000+ cowboys ride to the Jesus statue in the middle of Mexico. It had to be done. I never thought twice about what I was really getting myself into. I've ridden a horse for four or five hours at a time without any problem so I didn't think it would be that difficult to double it, times 3. Boy was I wrong. That was the most grueling experience I have ever taken part in.

Rodrigo picked us up at Casa de Sierra Nevada (our amazing host) around 5 am. We had to be saddled up and on our way before sunrise. We started out from the ranch with about 25 people and as the day progressed other ranches began to join in with us. By the end of the day there were horses as far as you could see. It was quite an amazing sight. We travelled through lands and villages off the beaten path that not many people will ever see.

We made our first stop that afternoon in a small village for dinner and well needed sleep. After dinner we began setting up camp but somehow my equipment didn't make the transition to the truck that dropped everything off for us. Fortunately Rodrigo had an extra sleeping bag. Of course I had brought all my REI gear to help ease the "roughing it" factor but when it got left behind I was officially roughing it. Of course sleep was difficult being surround by hundreds of horses snorting and fighting all night.

The next morning we were up before sunrise and finding a place to use the restroom was not an easy task but finding a 4 foot ditch to fall in and rip all the tendons in your ankle is pretty easy to do. Somehow I managed to pull myself out of the ditch and make it back to camp in time to saddle and head out for day 2. Day 2 was much like day 1 just with a lot of aches and pains. I wasn't sure how I was going to make it but I had no choice so I sucked it up and headed out. It was a little easier to block out some of the pain because along the way we were making more friends and had more people to talk to. We also learned more about what the pilgrimage was really about. The most exciting part of the trip were the kids along the way. Each village we rode through, the children would come out give the riders letters for them to take to Cristo Rey. It was much like children giving letters to Santa. In return all the riders would throw candy to the kids.

We made it to Cristo Rey by the end of the second day where we attended a 2 hour long mass on horse back then headed back down the mountain a ways to our camp. Fortunately this time the van that had my equipment was there so I was able to sleep in a little more comfort but it was still rough sleeping. Especially when my boot almost wouldn't come off from the swelling in my ankle.

The third day was all on horse back but not as much riding. There were a series off masses at different locations at Cristo Rey. At the end of the day we loaded the horses into the trucks and drove home. Not sure I would have made it back by horse back. Not sure the horses would have made it back. It was a long grueling trip. Am I complaining? NO! I think I'm just trying to get my point across as to what these riders sacrifice every year for their beliefs. It was a true experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. Not sure I could do it again but I'm so glad I finally got to experience it. Hats off to you guys that do this year after year. My heart goes out to you and thank you Casa de Sierra Nevada for the nice cozy bed upon my return.

A day with JD Souther

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to hang out with one of the greatest song writers of all time. Cowboys and Indians magazine called to see if I would be interested in shooting the story on JD Souther. I think I said yes before they even finished asking the question. It was a long drive from Austin but I drove up to Amarillo and spent the day hanging out at Palo Duro canyon, JD's old stomping grounds. We met about 6:30 in the morning to take advantage of the morning light but without a cloud in the sky it was a difficult shoot. I got some nice shots but I didn't have "The" shot.
After our morning shoot JD had some things to take care of so I spent the day driving around Amarillo looking for another location but it just wasn't presenting itself. After several hours of scouting I got lost and ended up in an unfamiliar part of town but it was meant to be because there it was, The old 47 Knucklehead. This was going to be the shot. I went in and asked the owners if I could borrow the bike he was of course a little hesitant but when he found out what it was for he was more than happy to let us use it. I called JD and told him what I found but I think he was hoping for something else but when he saw the bike he was hooked on the idea. When he saw the final picture he said it was one of his favorite pictures ever taken of him. Those are the words a photographer likes to hear.
JD is responsible for many of The Eagles top hits and his music has been recorded by numerous other artists including The Dixie Chicks, George Strait, Linda Ronstadt and many others.

Fallen Angels

My latest shoot for Marrika was a huge success. I worked with Samantha again who is always awesome and she introduced me to Bobbie who was equally amazing to work with. I couldn't be happier with the shots we got. All of my work for Marrika has always been on location mainly because I don't have a studio but when you spend a small fortune on studio lights you kind of want to use them. The idea for this shot required a lot of space in order to set up the lights the way I wanted so I borrowed a friend of mines living room that was about 20X30 with 16' ceilings. It worked out perfect I was able to set up my profoto 2400 pack with my new 5' octabank softbox, 2 1x4 strip softbox and my new grids. We had a 6 hour shoot with about 12 wardrobe changes and the day just flew by.

I am heading out Sunday to Amarillo to do a shoot with JD Souther for Cowboys and Indians magazine then making my way west for several shoots and of course catch a few waves. More on that later.


Pura Vida!

Finally seeing the light.

OK, I know it's been a while since I last checked in. It's been rediculously busy with everything going on. I had my first shoot with Cowboys and Indians magazine since my last update. I also had a fashion shoot at Brocante here in Wimberley, took a vacation from the country and headed to Big D for the weekend, designed a new ad campaign for Marriak Nakk designs from our last photo shoot and helped my bud Pat Obryan shoot one of his new instructional videos on internet marketing but more on all that later. First I have to tell you about my new toy.

As a photographer you can never have enough glass in your bag. I'm constantly hanging out at Precision camera looking for my next purchase. Of course I've never walked out of there without something in my hand. It's been a while since I bought a new lens, I don't care for flash photography and it's not always convenient to set up my lights so I went with the 50mm 1.4. What an awesome lens! You can practically see in the dark with it. And of course it's Nikon as if you couldn't tell from the pic. I will be posting some new pics with it soon. Lots more to talk about but I will tell more later. "Keep in Focus!"