On Sunday morning, after checking out of my hotel, I walked a short distance to the restaurant where we were to meet up and have our kickoff luncheon. The lunch was very nice, with green pasta and tiramisu, and we all got to meet each other. For this retreat, we had 8 photographers, and originally 5 models, all of whose time had been booked ahead of time. As an added bonus, one of the photographers brought along a model to shoot with after the retreat and to be his assistant at the retreat, but she ended up also being available for some shooting as well. So I got to work with 6 different models, 4 of which I had worked with before, and 2 of which were new to me. The models were Sienna Hayes, Kate Snig, and Daria Sells who all came over from Canada, Ivory Flame from the U.K., and Vivian Cove and Allie Cizek (the surprise extra model) from the U.S. I also knew one of the photographers, Ben, from a previous tour in Kauaʻi. In addition to the opportunity to visit France, where I had never been before, I was also drawn to this retreat by the opportunity to work with Kate and IvoryFlame, two awesome models with whom I’d worked before but don’t often get to cross paths with.
After lunch, we all piled into a van for the approximately two-hour ride to the historic château where we were staying and shooting. It was nice to see the countryside outside of Paris, and there were plenty of beautiful fields full of yellow flowers, that I later learned were Canola. The estate for our retreat was in the French countryside southwest of Paris and had been in the owner’s family for hundreds of years. The property had a main château, a few other buildings including the owner’s residence and a large stable-house that could also be rented out, a round chapel (with a wine cellar underneath), ponds, a forest, and horses. This was not a photo tour, but a retreat at a single location, and we had three full days plus two partial days for shooting at a beautiful historic 17th-century château. (The owner had us sign a form not to directly identify the property or location with our photos in social media; I guess not being sure as to what kind of images we would produce.) After a brief tour of the house and the grounds, we got settled in and had a nice dinner. I had a nice large room all to myself on the top floor, and we had a shared bathroom. 
All the meals at the château were quite delicious and the food was very healthy. After dinner, the first scheduled photoshoots of the retreat began near sunset. My approach to all these trips is that they are first and foremost a vacation, built around photography, but meant to enjoy, relax, and experience the culture and ambiance as well. Some of the other photographers, though, were there for all photography all the time. I had typically just scheduled two two-hour shoots each day, but I had tried to schedule something around sunset or golden hour each day. My first shoot was on this first day for 1 hour with Vivian Cove near sunset, who I had previously worked with in December at my house. This was a good way to get into the rhythms of shooting, get a feel of the grounds, and also think about the opportunities for further shoots. We shot some outside and some in the château. The sun didn’t set at the château until a little after 9 pm, so we ended up shooting relatively late each day. This was a nice long first day and a good way to start things off. [10,394 steps]
The next day, the first full day of the retreat, I had two two-hour shoots nicely spread out. Breakfast each day was primarily a grab-what-you-want-when-you-can affair, which I usually skipped to try and not go too far off my diet. In the morning I shot with Daria Sells, a lovely redhead from Canada, with whom I’d never worked before. We shot outside around the grounds as well as inside for a bit. Most of our days there were somewhat overcast, so we had nice soft light outside. We all gathered for a nicely prepared lunch and ate as a group each day. In the afternoon prior to dinner, I shot with Kate Snig who I’ve worked with before on several UTadventure tours including earlier this year in Mexico. We shot around the inside of the château in various bedrooms and common areas. [8,551 steps]
On the second full day of the retreat, I had again scheduled two shoots, but both these were later in the day. I again shot with Vivian Cove for two hours in the afternoon until just before dinner. We all gathered and had a lovely meal together. Then after dinner, I had a two-hour shoot with IvoryFlame until the sunset. I had worked with her two years previously on a pre-pandemic UTadventure tour in Mexico. We started with shooting in the château with a specific concept I had in my mind, and then went outside and did some shooting in the chapel and around the grounds. We got some great shots at sunset, and then tried some shooting in the wine cellar after it got dark. [7,332 steps]
On the third and last full day of the tour, I had originally scheduled two shoots comfortably spread apart, one in the morning and one after dinner. However, as we had a surprise extra model available I reached out and booked an hour to shoot with her in mid-afternoon. In the morning I shot for two hours with Sienna Hayes. I’ve worked with her many times and this was the only time I shot with her on this retreat. We shot exclusively inside the château at various locations all over. One interruption happened when Sienna noticed that she had a tiny tick burrowing into her abdomen, which kind of freaked her out. The owner, Edouard, came with a special tick removal tool and got it out, and Sienna was able to calm down and we finished our shoot. We again all gathered for a nice group lunch. Then, in mid-afternoon, I got together with Allie Cizek for a quick, but productive shoot in a variety of locations inside the château. She is more of a fashion model than an art model so she brought a different kind of energy that was an interesting change. Even though we only had one hour, we produced a lot of nice images. After this, a group shoot with all the models had been arranged with most of the photographers, but I skipped that and took up the offer of the owner, Edouard, to give a short historical tour of the property, which was quite interesting. We again all gathered for a nice dinner, and then after dinner, I had another photoshoot with Daria. We shot inside the château, outside around the grounds and gardens, and in the chapel, and as the sun was setting we got some great sunset shots. When we had first talked, she mentioned that her red hair could really light up in the sunset, and that turned out to be very true. After the sun had set, we went into the wine cellar for some final shots. I was kind of running out of gas at the beginning of this shoot, which told me that the three shoots I ended up doing were pushing my limit for creativity and energy, but I still got some great shots with Daria. My lack of energy was probably exacerbated by my limited sleep while we were there. [7,050 steps]
On the final day of the retreat, I had scheduled an early morning shoot with IvoryFlame before we all had to pack up and leave. Even though it was a bit cold and foggy in the early morning we started out shooting outside and got some nice images. We finally moved in and took some pictures in the upstairs anteroom with IvoryFlame in some classic French looks. After the shoot, we all quickly packed up and got back in the van to Paris. We returned to the restaurant where we’d had our kickoff get-together and had a nice lunch. It turned out this was Kate’s birthday, so she got a nice cake and a song from everybody. After lunch, we slowly separated with the bittersweet feeling of a group that had enjoyed their brief time together.
I walked back to the hotel where I had begun my visit to Paris. This would be my base for the next week or so of sightseeing around the city. I had thought I would meet up with Maddy in the afternoon after my photo group broke up, but she was out with her friends and her plans became unclear and ultimately ended up staying at a friend’s house in the north of Paris. Ultimately I ended up just relaxing and hanging out at the hotel all afternoon/evening and spent some time sorting out my photos. [6,450 steps]
This photo retreat ended up being much better than I had imagined. The unique and beautiful location, the atmosphere, and the good camaraderie of all the participants made this a great few days. The models were really great and I think I got some awesome images. The only downside of staying in the hundreds of years old château was that the bathrooms and shower on our top floor didn’t manage to get any hot water going until it was finally fixed near the end of our stay. But this was a minor inconvenience in what was otherwise a magical stay.
Selected images from my various photoshoots can be seen on my photo blog at:
Tonight I again joined Bob and went and saw another play from the SPARC Theater, Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. I’ve always found the plot somewhat silly, but I guess that’s what makes it a classic comedy of mistaken identity. This production chose to set the play in El Paso, Texas, which didn’t overly affect the play, but gave them a chance to do a little variation on the basic play. The actors did a good job, and it was an enjoyable play to watch. it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, but it was a fun evening. It was pleasantly warm, and the new venue is a beautiful setting with the vineyards in the background. It was good to see my second Shakespeare play of the summer. I can’t wait for more.
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Upon returning from Mexico I immediately developed a significant leak when I turned the water back on. When I got a plumber out to look at it, he said my pipes were too old and his company wouldn’t let him touch them for fear of causing further damage. This led to me having to get a full re-pipe job for my house. I always knew this was an eventuality, but I wasn’t quite prepared to deal with it at this moment. It was expensive but not as bad as I was fearing it might be. As they couldn’t schedule it immediately I was with very limited water service for over two weeks. I jury-rigged some spades and plastic bottles to direct most of the water away from the wall and into a bucket whenever I turned on the water, but it was far from perfect. The work finally got done and I’m now happy to have up-to-date copper water pipes throughout the house.
Of course, it’s never just one thing, and the work kind of snowballed. I used the construction as an excuse to replace the vanity in my bathroom. This in turn pushed me to paint the bathroom. Since they had to work in my office, it forced me to clean up the horrible mess that I’d been procrastinating on for years, and throw out a ton of stuff. Also, as they opened the walls in my office, I used it as an opportunity to install some ground wires to the plugs, so I now have 4 truly grounded plugs and a GFCI in the bathroom. (This also allowed me to get rid of an extension cord that was snaked through my house for 30 years.) Painting the office is now also on the agenda. 
Just a few months prior to the plumbing work I also replaced my 50-year-old stove that was disintegrating. A month after the construction I also did some major repairs on my car that I’d been putting off for more than a year. So I’ve spent a lot of money this year, but I feel like I’ve brought several key parts of my infrastructure into the 21st century.