The original plan was to spend the entire day shooting at a special hacienda near Izamal. It had been turned into a botique hotel, but it was currently not being used as a hotel. It was beautifully decorated and had great artwork. It had numerous beautiful settings including a pool, and a water / fountain chamber, and the main building had several beautiful rooms. One bedroom had a beautiful staircase up to a second floor area, an one room was painted in an aged yellow/orange that provided the background for some awesome pictures. The original plan was to shoot in the morning for a few hours, then take a break and leave for lunch Izamal, then return and shoot in the later afternoon. However, we got a little change of plans. Apparently the owners were trying to sell the property, and they had somebody coming to view it in the afternoon. Those people wanted to stay the night to check it out, so we ended up not being able to have our second shoot of the day there.
We had a nice lunch in town, then we went downtown at went through a museum of local Mayan folk art. We also walked through the prominent convent of San Antonio de Padua. It is a large dominant structure in the middle of town that looks a bit like a fortress castle. While we were doing this, the models took the opportunity to go to a day spa for a little rejuvenation. After we all reassembled it was nearing sunset, and we decided to go down to the square in Izamal where UT Adventure had made a splash a few years ago with a model shoot, and have a golden hour guerrilla shoot. This time all the models were dressed, so it was more like a fashion shoot. All the locals found it quite interesting and were checking us out pretty good. Some were probably remembering back to the nude shoot a few years ago. After sunset we headed back to our home base, and we were hoping to possibly return to the nice hacienda on the last day.
Flamingos and Shaman. Our forth day was mid-tour and it was supposed to be a gap-day where he had a lighter schedule and could catch a little rest (but as usual, that has to be taken with a grain of salt). As such, we had only one scheduled shoot. Originally it was another hacienda, but as the flamingos were present at a nature reserve, they opted to go there. It was actually a fun outing where we went to the town of Ria Lagartos, and caught some boats that took us out into the reserve, that had a little Everglades feel. 
That evening Dasha had arranged for an optional event. She had arranged with a Mayan shaman to perform a traditional fire ceremony that allegedly dates back many generations. The shamanic mysticism is aligned with her new age spirituality. I decided to attend just to take in the unique cultural event. It was interesting as we placed some stuff in the fire that smoked, got a maraca, picked a stone. It was all supposed to be opening our wishes and actualizing our dreams.
If day 2 was hacienda day, then day 3 was water day. Our first shooting location of the day was in a cenote. I’ve seen pictures of them for years, but never visited one in person before. We went to Cenote Chelentun in the little town of Cuzama. It was a particularly special location as the cenote was about a mile from where we parked, and we were transported to the cenote on horse drawn rail cars. These small horses trotted along the rail line with amazing dexterity. The cenote itself was very beautiful with amazing colors in the blue green water that took on different character as the light from above changed position. The water was accessed down a somewhat sketchy steep stone staircase that went down 30 or 40 feet. The working space was fairly confined, so the 11 of us were kind of working on top of each other, but I was still able to get some interesting and beautiful shots. After two or three hours of shooting, we got some lunch and returned to our hacienda home for a little rest.
The second day of the tour was a full day of haciendas. The first one was discovered by Dasha during a trip where they were scoping out cenotes as she was trying to answer nature’s call. It was a beautiful property that was in the process of being restored. It was pretty much open to the elements, but had a beautiful layout and various interesting rooms. The laborers seemed to find plenty of excuses to be around the area where we were shooting the models.
The second shoot was in a fairly remote area down a long bumpy dirt road. The owner of Hacienda Bolontunil is trying to 
For the second time this month, I set off on another big photography related travel adventure. This was my first trip out of the country in almost 4 years, and the first time I’ve been to Mexico in more than 20 years. It was my first time traveling to the state of Yucatán, Mexico, and I was able to get a taste of the true Mexico away from the major tourist locations. I had a long travel day, leaving home at about 5 am, and arriving in Mérida after 7 pm. I hadn’t realized it, but there were three other guys on our tour that came in on the same flight I did. It took a day to get down there, and I came in a day early (as did everybody else) so I could recuperate before the tour kicked off.
I joined up with the 
Day 4 of the workshop was a much needed rest day, and we just relaxed and reviewed some of our images from the previous two days of shooting. On Day 5 we again got up early to beat the sunrise, and headed not too far from Princeville to 
The second shooting day of the workshop turned out to be a big day. We got up early do drive from our house in the north around the island to Weimea Canyon that starts towards the southwest part of the island and works its way back north. The original goal was a challenging hike that started at the Kalalau Valley overlook worked it’s way towards the ocean and the Nā Pali Coast, which Arron termed having a great bang for the buck. When we got to the top it was cold, raining hard, and foggy. So we drove back down a little way and found a nice little barricaded area that had a scenic cliff overlooking the Weimea Canyon. We shot there for a little less than an hour, which would have satisfied my needs, but then Aaron decided we should go try the original site again to see if the weather had let up. 
We returned to the house to have some lunch and rest up a bit. In the later afternoon we headed to another beach behind some cliff side apartments near where we were staying. Upon approaching the fenced cliff edge behind the apartments, we came upon the first of many signs we’d see at the start of our “paths” to our shooting locations, decrying the hazards of the way ahead. These steep trails would have been more manageable for me had my back been well, and had I not been carrying a heavy pack of camera gear. I have to say, I didn’t always feel safe and comfortable, but I made it out alive and mostly unscathed. We made our way down some sketchy paths and along rock cliffs to some nice locations on the sea cliff. 