Posed on top of the rock, this shows the pose in graphic outline against the blue sky.
Tucson was beautiful in winter, and while there I did a shoot with Rachel Rose. We themed the shoot as a yoga/fitness shoot. A yoga shoot made sense because she’s in the process of opening a new store with a fitness and nutrition theme. The shots should be of use when publicizing the business.
We did the actual shoot in the Dragoon Mountains. They are located south of Tucson and even a bit south of Tombstone. Since we were nearly in Mexico, it was 70 degrees in January, and we had lovely late afternoon light. We had to hurry since the light would not last long, but we took advantage of the light that was available and got our shots.
These big boulders were a great backdrop and some had lichen streaking that added a touch of color.
In hindsight I was fortunate to shoot with Rachel since I was just traveling through. It turns out that she only does 2 or 3 photo sessions a year. She liked the portfolio and the project in the Dragoons captured her interest, so we were on. When you see the rugged peaks of the Dragoons which are situated within a large reef of rock along that border, it is very hard to imagine Donald’s Wall will add anything to security if lives are risked building it here. We didn’t witness any illegals rappelling to freedom over these mountains.
The Dragoons are also of historic importance. This is the site where tribes gathered in a natural amphitheater and this was home to Cochise, a well known chief of the Chiricahua Apache Tribe. Key meetings were held and he lived his older years in this area also known as his stronghold. So the strength required in yoga fits right in with history here. There is even a large petroglyph panel and I took a casual shot of Rachel standing around by the rock art.
The shadow play was interesting and Rachel had amazing extension. She held poses rock solid.
The rocks in the Dragoons are very photogenic, as was Rachel. I need more time there, at least a full day with good light. It is mostly an afternoon light situation. There were massive boulders and rounded chunks (dells) and one cube of immense proportions. The photo of Rachel with the strong shadow is taken in front of that free standing cube. I could not show the mass of the rock without diminishing her to a little speck in the photo, so this was a yoga shoot. Another time I will have to shoot this for landscape.
Rachel is just sightseeing in this casual snapshot, but it shows the history of the site to see petroglyphs of this nature.
For my eye, yoga poses vary between graceful like ballet to contorted and unnatural. For purposes of photos, I was more interested in graceful poses and that’s what you see. She certainly could do the pretzel poses well, though. The yoga shoot was very easily done with Rachel.
A balanced rock with a balanced person, and all balanced by a lovely blue Yucca rostrata. Ohmmmm.