I went on a workshop to Cancun Mexico put on by Jerome Hamilton. I had a great time and took some great pictures. The mentors and the models were completely awesome. I would recommend this workshop to anyone who wants to take pictures of models in swimsuits and lingerie. The workshop cost me around $2300 and included air fare, hotel, modeling fees, and food for the 5 days 4 night trip. You can click the images below to see the shots from the time that I'm discussing or click here to see the shots from the whole trip.

The Meet Up
Everyone flew down to Cancun from where ever they were from on Saturday. When I arrived at the hotel there was a live band playing Mexican Music and there were a few vendors set up in the lobby of the hotel. I met up with Jerome (the organizer of the workshop) and got checked in. I dropped my luggage in my room and went down to the lobby to listen to the music and chat with some of the other people from the workshop. Then we all got together and ate at La Piazza (an Italian Restaurant there at the hotel).

The First Morning
We got up and left the hotel at 6AM and headed to Market 28. The market was full of colorful walls and is a perfect place for taking these type of pictures. The market wasn't open for business yet while we were shooting so we didn't draw too much of a crowd. This market is a fairly good size. It's open aired, has two stories, and wide enough walkways on the main floor so we could use our telephoto lenses comfortably. Because there are two stories there are some bridges throughout the market. On the second floor the isles were narrower and had railing in some places. It also allowed us to shoot up at the models in places because of all the stairs. There were a lot of great places to shoot there. We were there about 3 hours and we could probably still find different places around the market to shoot. The weather was cloudy while we were there, but there wasn't a lot of wind so we used reflectors to get more direction of light in most of the shots. After we were done there we went back to the hotel to download our pictures and have lunch.

The First Afternoon
After lunch we headed towards Playa Del Carmen, which is another market. When we arrived there were way too many people to shoot there. So we walked around for a little bit and went to Akamul. Akamul is a private beach near a coconut farm. While we were driving it rained. When we got to the beach the rain was over for a while, but the wind was blowing pretty fierce. The beach was pretty isolated so we could do what we wanted. Part way through the shoot it started raining so we had to hurry and block our cameras so they didn't get wet. Luckily it only rained for about five minutes or so. We shot until sunset. Then we headed back to the hotel where we downloaded our pictures and had dinner at Wayne's Boots (a steakhouse). The steakhouse has a mechanical bull, but we were too late to ride it.

The Second Morning
We got up at 6:30AM and went to the beach next to the hotel. It was still cloudy and windy although not nearly as windy as it was at Akamul. My camera fogged up so Walter, the mentor, loaned me his Canon ID Mark IIn. That's the first time I have got to shoot with a camera like that. The biggest difference I saw between that camera and my Canon 20D is the image in the viewfinder appears to be bigger and you don't see all the focus points since the Mark IIn has so many of them. There is a cool staircase at the beach that we used and got some really good shots. When we were done shooting the models started walking ahead of us. We had a great perspective so we shot the models walking away from us then we made them turn around and walk to us. Then we went to La Piazza to shoot some Lingerie in and around the restaurant. We had the restaurant all to ourself. Shooting inside the restaurant was very interesting. Everything was carefully placed to either frame something or obscure it from view. There are a lot of windows in the restaurant so all we used was a reflector. Then we broke for lunch.

The Second Afternoon
After lunch we went to the marina and got on the boat and headed to Isla Mujeiras. The boat ride was a lot smoother then I thought it would be since it was windy when we were at the beach. The wind died down quite a bit by time we got there. At first glance when you look around you wouldn't think it would be a good place to shoot, but you'd be wrong. It's weird how that works. The area was hit by hurricane Wilma and the owner of the land we were shooting on didn't have enough money to rebuild it so now it's abandoned. We got some great shots of the models on the beach, next to the coconut trees, and by the abandoned pool. We shot there until Sunset then we took the boat back to the marina and ultimately the hotel. We then ate dinner at Los Gallos, a Mexican Restaurant.

The Third Morning
We met down at the pool at 6AM so we could catch the sunrise. The pool at the hotel is one of those that has an area of about ten to fifteen feet that has only a couple inches of water. There is nothing between the pool and the sunrise so it makes for a great shot right at sunrise. The clouds went away during the night so we had our first day of sun shine. We shot there for about an hour then ate a real breakfast. We then went next to Italian Restaurant to shoot the remaining outfits of Lingerie that we didn't get to yesterday for the sponsors of the event. We wanted to get this over with fairly fast so Jerome shot most of it and showed us how fast the pros shoot this type of stuff in a typical shoot. He shot them faster then the three models could keep up. Then we broke for lunch and a little rest.

The Third Afternoon
At around 2PM we met in the lobby to go to El Rey, a myan ruin. This was within walking distance so we walked over. The sun was still shining and we didn't bring any reflectors so we had to make do without them. We paid the gardener of the ruins so we could borrow his sombrero. You can see Heather with it on the left. When the place was about to close we left and took a snapshot of the models and mentors by the sign. After that a few of us cooled off in the pool. Then we ate dinner at the Seafood Restaurant.

The Last Morning
We got up around 9AM and went and had a nice breakfast. Then we packed up and headed home. It was a really great trip and I'm glad I went. I'm planning on going back next year. I would also like to thank Jerome and Walter for setting up the trip, mentoring me, and loaning me their equipment when I needed it. I would also like to thank Heather, Jillian, Nazia, Akosha, and Manuela for modeling for me and Audrea for doing the make up for the trip.