Ex-Hacienda Jaral de Berrio

The hacienda Jaral de Berrio, founded 1774, in the current state of Guanajuato, Mexico, was appointed to Miguel de Berrio y Zaldívar, Marquis of Jaral by Charles III, and was Mexico’s largest hacienda. Home to generations of the Berrio lineage, it’s wealthiest owner, Juan Nepomuceno de Moncada y Berrio was considered the richest man in Mexico during the 1830s, and was said to have left a hacienda to each of his 99 sons. During its heyday in the late 19^th century, it housed up to 6500 people and had its own railway station, post office, two primary schools, and a parish church. As was the style in this Francophile obsessed society, the main building was lavishly furnished and the walls hand frescoed or plied with imported French wallpaper.

Today, the ex-hacienda is a beautiful decaying ruin that houses the Jaral de Berrio mezcal factory. Visitors have free range to explore every part of this building (at ones own risk of course). Walls are collapsing, the floors of second story rooms have fallen in places, leaving dangerous holes, ceilings expose open sky, and the whole place is overrun with vermin and birds. Completely ransacked over the years, there are no windows or doors, the wooden frames are stripped, fixtures are gone, and all of the copper wire has been pulled directly out of the plaster walls, leaving violent grooves. The ex-hacienda truly is the embodiment of the old cliché “faded glory.” That being said, it is possibly one of the most magical places I have ever been, and I am so lucky to have had the chance to visit several times.

These images were taken on two separate occasions and represent the dualities between light and dark, as well as a departure into a bit more lavish costuming. I have refrained from posting these images, as I am planning on regularly returning to this hacienda to continue to delve into this body of work. Regardless, it felt like unfinished business not to have posted something, and by something I mean a lot of photos.

Project 52

Over the past year, I have come to really admire a few young, female, photographers, such as Brooke Shaden and Kristy Mitchell. Their dedication and endless creativity is such an inspiration. Although each of their work speaks to a world of dark surreal fairy tales, they both get there in different ways. Brooke uses photoshop to manipulate her images as a painter would work with a canvas, and Kristy spends hundreds of hours building costumes and sets to fulfill her vision. Each path has its merits and I am fascinated by both as a means to achieving vision. The one thing they have very much in common with each other is a dedication to their art and a boundless drive to create.

Thus, in honor of these ladies, I am announcing my new years resolution. I am going to attempt a 52 image project. This means shooting and publishing one photograph a week for a year. This project is intended to push my creativity, and my output. I will be experimenting with all kinds of themes and techniques but trying to stay in the vein of picture making rather than just picture taking. It won’t all be my best work, maybe there will be some real gems and some total bombs, but ultimatally its just about the process. The one thing I ask for is lots of support. I do this for myself, but it is always so much easier with cheerleaders, in fact, I think everything is probably better with cheerleaders.

That being said here is my first image:

“I only grew up on the outside”

The Lavender Project

A few weeks after I moved to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. I was in desperate need of some time away from the city to breathe fresh air, get away from people, and feel that I was in nature. Thankfully, I had just made a new friend, Carrie Haugh. Carrie was in the final stages of acting in a short film that would go on to be an official entry in the Guanajuato Film Festival. The last scene they needed to shoot was a dream sequence that takes place in a flowering lavender field. Although, there is a lot of agriculture in this area of Mexico, it is mostly known to be a hot and dry climate. One is much more likely to think of towering prickly-pear cactus trees than French lavender fields. Alas, this place is always full of surprises.

After forty-five minuets of barreling down a Mexican freeway in an old van with questionable steering and brakes, we pulled onto a dirt road and followed the signs to an enormous lavender farm. For various reasons, Guanajuato is a state from which men emigrate heavily to find work in the USA. The sad side effect being that whole towns are left with only women, children, and the elderly to continue to support their community. Rather than allowing these pueblos to sink even further into poverty and ultimately disappear, an NGO out of Albuquerque, New Mexico is bringing in The Lavender Project. A wonderful program, these co-op lavender farms have created a fantastic renewable source of employment and income (Please visit their web page to find out more: http://thelavenderproject.com/). The products they make are divine and they have a chocolate-lavender soap that smells so good I could live in it.

It was such a relief to step out of the car and inhale the fresh lavender plants drying out after a light rain. The film crew went to work and I was left with several hours and a field of my own in which to play. I even crawled over the fence and into some of the aforementioned prickly pear cactuses to take photos. It really is stunning to spend an afternoon in a place as surreal as a lavender field and I can assure you my need to “get away from it all” was quenched.

Leyenda Eterna

I met Foxie Flambé last summer camping in Jackson Hole, Montana. We had both been invited to a spiritual gathering that celebrated the opening of the Sacred Door Trail, a 165-mile long, nondenominational, circular, pilgrimage route. For four days and nights, we kept a sacred fire burning, listened and participated, while spiritual leaders from faiths around the globe blessed the space. For many of us, it was an intense and changing experience, full of great joy and great release. On the last night, Foxie sidled up to me and asked if I would be interested in wearing a feather Mohawk. Obviously, I said yes.

Fast-forward seven months, I get an email from Foxie asking me to purchase a ticket for the festival event Leyend Eterna. At first, I balked, and totally missed the chance. I had reservations, the event was being held across the Mexicali border in a desert canyon in Baja, Mexico, an area known for border violence. Knowing I had missed the opportunity, I stopped thinking about it until a month later when I received another email, they had released more tickets. At the time I was traveling through Mexico and had nothing but a suitcase full of clothes, no camping gear whatsoever. Foxie promised me that she was fully equipped to host me. If I just showed up at her house in Orange County a day or so before the event to purchase food and pack, she had all the camping gear and costumes I would ever need. I bought the ticket.

One month, and a pickup truck brimming with gear later; I was watching the sunrise as we drove south. What followed was one of the most unique festival events I have ever attended. Leyenda is much like Burningman, but set in an arid desert canyon with an oasis of palm trees and fresh running hot and cold springs. The six hundred or so participants are assigned small campsites, each with their own natural hot tub. During the day, hot weather is offset by hiking up to icy waterfalls, where one can brave high rock jumps into the deep pools below. On Saturday, there is an annual pool party where all attendees come dressed in their finest festival regalia to dance, swim, and enjoy their vice of choice. Thankfully, the main stage does not bump twenty-four hours a day, which allows you to really enjoy the tranquil, natural beauty, of the place. At night though, the party is on and everyone gets down on the dance floor until the sun comes up.

I was encamped right next to the main stage with Hullabaloo. The core of camp Hullabaloo is a group of circus performers known as Lucent Dossier. Needless to say, over the top pranks, performances, and general shenanigans were the norm and there was never a moment when someone wasn’t in hysterics laughing. I felt super welcome in this group, and I am so thankful that knowing no one but Foxie, I was surrounded by such fun-loving, caring souls.

Each night, as the moment struck me, I snuck off and did photo shoots in the beautiful, moonless, desert, darkness. Although, on very dark nights the challenge is to figure out how to light myself, the stars that appear in these images really bring out a special beauty. For a few of these shoots, I was able to borrow Isis wings from Foxie, a special treat that I hope to revisit someday. I am really happy with the work that I accomplished over these four nights, the last being a photo shoot with Miss Foxie Flambé herself. Enjoy the images, and if anyone ever sends you an invite to Leyenda Eterna, don’t hesitate!

As always, double click to enlarge and please feel free to share, repost and subscribe. Xoxo –janelle

Return to El Charco

After years of returning to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I have had several opportunities to shoot images in El Charco del Ingenio Botanical Garden. This is truly one of my favorite places on the planet. A constantly changing environment, this place shifts and transforms dramatically with the seasons. This was the first time I have been there during the height of the dry season, when the presa reveals itself to be an exquisite cracked mud plane. It was such a strange sensation taking photos in places that, only a few months ago, were under several feet of water.

I arrived at sunset on a hot sunny day expecting to work into a warm and productive night. Unfortunately, weather in the desert is always unpredictable, and where I had been wearing summery sundresses all week, a bitter cold wind decided to blow in and really ruin our fun. My companion was truly impressed with my ability to strip down to a dress and get at least a few hours worth of work done. By the time we returned home we both needed long hot showers to thaw out and get our core temperatures back to normal.

Though the almost full moon and the beautiful location were truly perfect, the freezing temperatures really hindered my creativity. We left vowing to return the following night but I ended up getting really sick and just could not muster enough late night energy. Thankfully, the Charco is always there, ever changing but ready for future projects.

As always, click on the images for a larger view, and feel free to share or subscribe.

The Mayan Ruins

For some reason, I have really been slacking on writing this post. It has been almost a month since I took these images and still I have not put them up. Maybe it is because I am not really sure if I like any of these images, or maybe I have just been having too much fun and writing my blog feels like homework. Regardless, I have since done new work, so I have to get this out of the way.

These images were taken at three different Mayan temple/city complexes on the Yucatan peninsula, Chichen Itza, Ek Balam, and Tulum. At this point I have taken images at six different temple locations and although some of the images have come out well, it is really difficult to dodge the tourists, get images with out ropes and signs, be barricaded from getting close to or climbing on the ruins (yeah, yeah, I know) and thus, I never feel very satisfied when I leave. One thing I have learned is that my best images happen when I am completely alone, no assistants, and no audience. When I am in these locations, my mind just reels with “what ifs,” aka: what if I had this all to myself, what if tripods were allowed and I didn’t have to hide mine from the guards, what if I could be here at night, etc. I know that on special occasions such as equinoxes, they allow adventurous tourists into the ruins at night, but excepting this, I think I am over shooting in super touristy ruins.

That being said, I did get up early enough to avoid the hoards of tour busses and get a few nice images. Lately, I have been trying to explore some different ideas with my work, so you will see some of the same and some new looking stuff. I was too lazy to give this a hard edit, and after all there were three different shoots involved so there are lots of images to look at. Special thanks to my assistant who knows who he is. As always, click on an image for a larger view, and please share! Much love — Janelle

Cenotes – Dzitnup, Mexico

I have always been a great lover of natural hot springs, I seek them out and relish in their healing waters. Now, I am also a great lover of cenotes. Prior to this trip, I had never experienced these amazing formations created by underground rivers. The Yucatan peninsula, ancestral home of the Mayan people, is entirely limestone with no running surface water. Due to the extreme porosity of this rock, all of the fresh water is underground. Scientists believe that there are around six-thousand cenotes in this area and less than half have been documented. There are several types and they range from lakes and open sinkholes, to caves connected by underwater channels and passageways. In many areas, one can scuba dive and explore these magical, interconnected, and very dark places.

Believed by the Mayan people to be entrances to the underworld, cenotes served as both a source of water and a site for sacred rituals. They were the foundation for such great civilizations as Chichen Itza, Coba and Ek Balam. Many Mayan people still believe that spirits dwell in cenotes and thus they never learn to swim. Within many of the caves, stalactites and stalagmites are common formations, as are the fossils of shells and marine life dating back as far as 50 million years. Complex and interesting ecosystems, the crystal clear water is home to a variety of fish including a species of blind catfish. In many, tree roots extend hundreds of feet from above to reach the deep, water sources below. It is impossible not to be impressed by these natural wonders, and the opportunity to swim in them and take photographs is truly unworldly.

The cenotes pictured here are just outside the small town of Valladolid, deep in the jungle at the center of the peninsula. The local Mayan name for this group of cenotes is Dzitnup, and they are respectively referred to as X’kekén and Samulá. Only a two-hour drive from Cancun, these cenotes are often on the itinerary for huge tour groups. Knowing this, and to the surprise of the locals, I arrived just before opening at eight am, and was rewarded with two full hours completely by myself. The first cave was lit with colored LED lights that illuminate the stalactites and provide an added layer of surrealism to the images. Although, I started shooting while dressed and rarely work without clothes, I felt comfortable being nude and I really like the results. In the second cave I had to swim to the island with my dress in a bucket to keep it dry. Like an optical illusion, the water is perfectly clear, and it is almost impossible to tell the depth until you jump in. Thus, that which appears shallow in the foreground of this image is actually several meters deep. Though I visited a few other cenotes on this trip, I was never able to make more images but I am certain I will return in the future.

Be sure to click on the image to see a larger view as these cenotes are really amazing and in the last one I am a tiny figure on the island. As always, feel free to repost and sign up for e-mail blasts below if you don’t want to miss anything.

Isla Mujeres

It has been about four months since I last made any new images. This winter, I have been living in the snowy Colorado Mountains and I find that when the weather is cold I have no interest in creating new work. Fortunately, this post finds me traveling through the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico. I arrived on the full moon, landing in Cancun and immediately taking a ferry out to Isla Mujeres. During the day I partook of the usual beach stuff, highlighted by a snorkeling trip to the Under Water Museum. This place is absolutely amazing and a lot bigger than I expected, there were sculptures all over the place, and a lot of surprising ones I had not seen in any photos of the project. My biggest regret is not being a diver, as the sculptures sit about thirty feet under the ocean surface and snorkeling just does not do the artwork justice. For more info on this incredible place, check out: http://www.musacancun.com/.

By night, I have been out under the full moon on the rocky seaside cliffs, evoking La Serena. Fitting, as I am on the Island of Women. The motivation for these images came while dancing to Cuban salsa, at La Terraza, a great local bar. I met three German sailors there who were living and working on The Stahlratte: www.stahlratte.org. This is huge steel sailboat run by a non-profit foundation, and by far the largest sailing vessel docked on the island. Anyone can sail with them as they circle the Caribbean, but it is a work/live situation not a cruse ship. From my tour of the boat and meeting the staff, I imagine this might be as close to feeling like a real pirate as one could find these days. With sailing on my mind, and hearing stories of vessels breaking up on the rocks surrounding the island, I was inspired to play the roll of the temptress on the cliffs.

In the first images, La Serena beams a light into the night, mimicking a lighthouse and falsely directing ships. Later, she sings out to the sailors, enchanting them and luring them to their demise. It felt so good to be shooting again, and to also have a little narrative in mind while I was working. I do feel a bit rusty, and I am test-driving my brand new Nikon D7000. So far so good but I kind of wish I had not left the manual at home. The images I am getting look gorgeous with this improved sensor, but I have to be careful these days, as my images files are three times larger and my computer’s hard drive is going fast. I have about ten more days in the Yucatan to shoot new work, cenotes and Mayan ruins here I come. As always click on the image to see a larger version.

Hierve el Agua

A few years ago I saw a travel photo of my friend Lauren Lewis standing in one of the most beautiful natural infinity pools in the world. This image really made an impression on me and I knew that one day I would have to try to shoot an image there. Turns out that the location is Hierve el Agua, a few hours drive into the mountains outside the city of Oaxaca, Mexico. Created by natural spring that has a very high mineral content, thousands of years has left cascading deposits that flow down the mountain side in frozen waterfalls. On the top of this unusual formation are pools of water where bathers can swim on hot days.

As reluctant as I am to get up early, we were in our van by 7am and at the pools by 9am when they open. I was just able to take these images before the hoards started to arrive. Thankfully, I was traveling with a group of photographers that appreciate shooting without other people around. This is one location I would love to photograph over and over again just to see how different cloud formations, sunsets and sunrises affect the images.

Normally, I pride myself on having crisp in focus images, but while shooting this I accidentally dropped my neutral density filter into the water. I dried it carefully and put it back on my camera, but I didn’t realize that the water had left behind a really nasty film. The effect of this film was an incredibly beautiful soft focus. Although this is not my normal modus operandi, I actually love the effect.

The Ethno-Botanical Garden, Oaxaca

Occasionally, before I head to a new place, I get online and scope out photographs to get ideas for shooting locations. When I came across images of the reflecting cactus pool at the Ethno-Botanical Garden in Oaxaca, Mexico, I knew I had found something magical. Within hours of my arrival in Oaxaca, I had tracked down the gardens and gotten a very rare permit from the director to shoot photos over the following two evenings. The garden itself is the old grounds of the Santo Domingo de Guzman church and monastery. Built in the late 1500’s and fully restored in 1999, the church remains a functioning religious site, but the monastery has been converted into a regional museum. The museum is best known for housing sacred gold relics that have been discovered at Monte Alban, the ancient indigenous pyramids just outside of the city. Due to potential monastery access issues through the gardens, it its closed at sunset and getting to stay even a half-an-hour into the dusk is a great privilege. Unfortunately, I was asked to sign a strict personal use agreement, so I may never really get to do much with these images, but having the opportunity to take them was thrilling.

Although, I was granted access to the gardens from 5-7pm, and it was almost dark by 6:30, I had to be at the gates at 6:45 or the guard would lock me in. This gave me a lot of time to wander around taking a variety of daylight images and almost no time in the dark at the cactus reflecting pool. Thank goodness I had two nights to shoot, because I totally blew it the first evening. These images are the first that I have taken with my new Nikon 10-24 lens and obviously I still have a lot to learn about focusing it in the dark. Even though, I set up the shot before dusk, like a well-organized photographer, I accidentally moved the camera and could not quite get it back into focus. This mistake was not really apparent on the back of my camera, but later in Lightroom, I could tell the images were fairly useless.

The second night by the reflecting pool was much more successful, but making this image was far from easy. In order to get an image in the dark, I was relegated to shooting during the transition from evening to night when the light changes very fast. Thus, I was forced to run back and forth around the reflecting pool to the camera, adjusting the exposure settings for every image. This is why you can see a fairly pronounced difference between the first and second images at the pool. Both nights, 6:45 came far to fast, just as I was getting into the swing of things and the images were getting interesting. All in all, I feel like the shoot was a success and I am happy with the work, but of course I would have loved to have more time.