Original subtitles

Hi Patreons! We are at Cuatrociénegas desert.

One more video, a very special "making-of".

This time it was a casual session

for Bianca and Marcelo.

Marcelo is a photographer from Monterrey.

He gets married in January of next year

in the beautiful city of Mérida.

He asked me to be his photographer

and when you take pictures of another photographer, it's very scary

and exciting at the same time

because the pressure increases...

You know they know what you are doing (or trying to).

So, getting nervous is very easy.

And, to make it not so easy,

Marcelo told me: "Let's go to Cuatrociénegas,

...I really like that location".

He knows how to dress, he is very fashion,

he is very fashion trend.

So, I knew I would have very good material with them.

I didn't know Bianca.

But we had 3 and a half hours to go from Monterrey to Cuatrociénegas

and we made a stopover to eat.

To be honest, sometimes I despise that time;

the part of having some time with my clients before.

Like I'm a little selfish

and I prefer to be with my family and rest a little.

But I think good thinks came up

from having that opportunity

instead of meeting them the same day.

And yes, your portfolio will help you have more freedom,

but it gave us a little more to know each other a little.

The idea was to go to two locations:

First to the part of the dunes,

which are beautiful dunes in the middle of nowhere.

It is amazing.

And about the second location... it used to be a marble factory.

Marble / Quarry... well, whatever.

I didn't study that but, they are rocks, at the end.

And we had the opportunity to agree on the dress code.

I asked them to use solid colors.

That also helps us a lot.

I don't tell them like: "Please use this brand, this other no..."

Everyone chooses what they want.

But... I don't know if you have had shootings where

the couple is amazing, the location is amazing

and the guy is wearing a shirt that says: Polo

or Ralph Lauren, or whatever.

And, it makes you lose your breath a little

because of the appearance.

Confession:

When at weddings the groom wears a tuxedo,

with penguin tail,

automatically gives me a downturn.

I say: "Fuck!"

I wanted a fitted suit, more sport.

I always have to struggle when grooms come as "penguins".

It is very hard for me.

But in this location it was amazing.

We leave in the morning.

We talked for a while. We talk about the photography business.

Marcelo has been in this for many years.

I think we are more or less the same. Between 10 and 15 years doing this.

So, there was a lot to talk about.

Bianca has a great lighting store.

Lamps, lanterns, candlesticks.

Amazing things.

When you go to a magical place, it's always hard to know where to start.

It's like: "Wow, all this!. WTF am I going to do here"?.

So, I always try to isolate myself a little

and start seeing the patterns that I need to create.

I liked the first image because

although it was part of a dune

it was more like a sand rock submerged in a little canyon.

And it was a very smooth background.

There was nothing in their way,

there was only a small bush on the right side.

And for me, a rock, a monolith, a smooth wall...

this is what tells me: there is where you will frame them.

And he just hugged her from behind.

The light was very intense.

So, in this session (although it doesn't seem)

I worked a lot with a backlight

and then the clouds arrived

and it gave us this "soft box" or this light box

very beautiful for much of the afternoon.

So, this first picture was just like:

hug each other, feel each other.

It was something very simple, very relaxed too.

I loved the colors. Bianca's clothes.

I think that in this session, much of the work was done by the clothes.

These same pictures, with normal clothes,

I think they would have taken the strength off the photo.

So, their sleight of hand...

how they hug, how they feel each other,

that made the first picture.

Look, man! I will place you right here.

Does it feel weird to be on the other side?

The idea is to go down there to avoid marking the sand.

I am using a 25mm lens and a 55mm lens.

That's what we are going to use in this session.

It's magic.

We have two hours.

I am wearing these sunglasses that have integrated music.

I recommend it.

It helps to be inspired by what you are doing and forget about the environment.

A low volume fills you with a lot of inspiration.

Hug her from behind. As if it was cold, bro.

Then we try to do something on the move

something walking.

And I felt that I was saturating my frame a lot.

So, I asked them to stop

using the shadow that the image was giving us.

I asked Bianca to give Marcelo a kiss.

She stood on tiptoe.

Something very beautiful and very subtle turned out.

Watch this: This is a lesson for your clients too.

They can go to a store, like H&M, Zara...

they can buy the clothes, use it for the session

and they can return it the next day. Didn't like it.

So, that is a fact that many times we do not use

but in this case it helped us a lot

for them to be dressed so f*cing awesome.

I always try to find the elements of my location

to make them part of the session.

This next image was just grab some of the sand we had there,

start playing with it and let it go.

The sand was a big, big mess.

We ended up like shaking fish because of all the sand.

You will see that in the video.

We had to close our eyes and not know where we were.

But we use it in a more poetic way.

Simply letting go the sand from their hands.

It was very subtle and simple

that I really liked how it turned out.

Put your hands closer.

In these next two images

We found a rise (or a descent, depending on where you are).

The first image is something very cliché:

carry your girl and spin her around.

This image reminded me why I choose certain photos and not others.

If we turned this image

it was going to be a very cliché, romantic and corny image.

But in this one, where their faces are not seen

that you can only see Marcelo's strength, lifting her...

For me, it is these images that have a bit of

magical realism.

When we don't show faces but still feel the image.

This is a concept that I want to develop more

and that is in my extensive list of post-its

of things I have to learn to do more

is to study about magical realism.

If someone hasn't checked it, I recommend it,

also surrealism.

These two aspects of literature or art

I think they can help us a lot to create

regarding portraits.

Get a little out of reality

to see something beyond

and bring together two aspects that will create magic when we see them.

In this one, I will move away a little more, you guys.

Can we do it again, please?.

F*cking sand...

And the next image was also

to jump, fall and the sand will sprinkle and spread.

And these two images were images that I think that

they can look great in your home,

in a large enlargement

and your face will not look like: "There I am.!"

I really like to play with that...

with these images in which we see our characters more as actors

or as rock stars of a music video.

Like, yes, they are in love because they are kissing each other

but we also got a bit out of the script,

we go "off script"

of how is a couple in dreams

I mean, returning to surrealism or magical realism.

It is an interpretation of what is in front of us.

In our images we can capture what it feels like to be there.

We can capture what we see around us.

And another is: an artistic interpretation of where we are.

And for me, these images indicate that.

It doesn't matter if you fall close to me.

Fuck, yeah!.