Tag Archives: burning man

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

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Goblin Valley

Well hello there, long time no posting…

So, it has been a while since I got on here and posted some new work.  Between getting back from Burning Man, packing my whole house in storage, and moving to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, things have been a bit crazed.  Never fear though, I have been working a lot and have some exciting new work to put up over the next few days.  Aloyse came down for a week to visit during the full moon, even with the rainy hurricane Jova weather we still managed to get some terrific new images. First things first though, I still have one shoot I did on the way home from Burning Man that I never got around to posting.

One of my favorite places on the planet is this bizarre spot in the middle of the deserts of Utah.  Named Goblin Valley, for its unusual sandstone rock formations, I can truly say this place is one of the world’s most magical and psychedelic locations.  I have been coming to Goblin Valley since I was about sixteen, and my friends would be surprised to see the new pay station, on grounds ranger housing, and full campground.  The cat may be out of the bag.  Fortunately, we were still able to drive right into the park at night and “illegally” run around in the moonlight.

Getting to Goblin Valley was the end of a great adventure. We had had a long few weeks of road tripping across the American west, and when all was said and done we had traveled over 4000 miles.  Accompanied by my great friend Angelo Valenzuela, we had driven from Colorado to Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Los Angeles, and Black Rock City, now were slowly retracing our steps towards home. As we crossed the desolate strip of highway between Salina and Green River, Utah, I watched the moon traversing the mackerel sky, illuminating the vast desert emptiness.  Slowing heading for the horizon, I was concerned we would not get there in time to use the moon’s natural light.  As we pulled in to the parking lot, the moon was low, but on an angle that was reminiscent of the “golden hour” just before sunset.

The night was cold, and I was afraid that shooting naked might be miserable, but once disrobed, I adapted quickly and felt comfortable enough.  I climbed up on to the rocks and went through the usual static poses.  Then something happened.  I became a four-legged alien monster creature. Always looking for new directions and growth, this seems like a very fun interesting avenue for exploration.

Goblin Valley is a truly bizarre and amazing place.  Wherever you look there are rocks and towers that resemble everything from falaces to faces.  In the second image, if you look at the rock, you can see the profile of a face, leering at me in the dark.  After shooting in the first three locations, the clouds began to move in and the light became obscure, so I pointed the camera directly at the moon.  At this time, Angleo decided to jump in to the photo and we got a wonderful backlit image.

On the way back to the car, the moon set, the clouds really came in and we didn’t have much of a flashlight.  Suddenly, we became wildly disoriented.  Goblins reared out of the darkness, and I was irrationally terrified.  Although Goblin Valley is not large enough to really get lost, that moment of panic was an amazing experience.  After a few frightening moments, we retraced our steps, and were able to find the truck.  The campsite was full, so we parked a few miles away, and fell asleep pretzeled together in the front seat.

Temple of Transition

I am going to acknowledge another less successful attempt in my photography.  At Burning Man this year, the most impressive art piece was certainly the “Temple of Transition.”  In years past, the Temple was this really spooky place you visited, left an offering, and got the hell outta there.  Even though previous temples had been incredibly beautiful, they were certainly not the hub of action that this year’s temple turned out to be.

My first close view of the temple happened from an art car manned by the Piñata’s Revenge Camp.  We cruised around the magnificent structure at sunset as the earth harp was being played for the masses gathered below.  The great sky changed color every few minutes from pinks to purples and finally blues.  It was really something, something sacred and special, and something I wanted to come back and photograph.  I kept putting off shoots for various reasons, eventually choosing the night of The Man burn.

I arrived early and sat around for a while as the sun dropped behind the horizon and it became dark enough to do long exposures.  The problem with sunsets and sunrises is that they happen so quickly and the light changes so fast that you are constantly readjusting your camera settings to keep the same basic exposure.  It is a real pain, and if you are me, you normally go out without a specific game plan, and things don’t always go so well.   I ended up standing with the backlit temple behind me, which was beautiful but left me a dark blackness in which to work.   Without a front light source I was too dark to see, so I tried to light myself with two very bright flashlights and that was pretty much a failure.  The composition is pretty awful as well, as I am standing central and static in front of the temple and not engaging with my surroundings, sort of an alien tourist at the temple image.

I was trying to achieve this “many armed goddess” thing by dragging the light over my arms in different places; it kind of worked, and might be great in the future but not here.  By the time I started to explore, the light was gone and we were going to be late for The Man burn.  We abandoned the shoot, and I came away from the burn without any new images.  Disappointing in retrospect, but sometimes that is just the way of things. These are the results: nothing special, but as this blog is not only about success but the learning process I feel the need to post what I captured.  (No worries though, the next shoot kicks ass!)  Click on the images for a larger view.