As time approaches closer to the wedding date, restricted time schedules kept us from getting together much less an engagement session. We finally reached a time in which Margie (his fiancé), Mauricio and myself could get together Tuesday of last week. That day came and we prepared to head out to New Mexico just south of Old Mesilla. We traveled about 5 miles before we encountered a rain storm heading in from the south…which is unusual because we rarely get rain. Back at the house we set up to meet last Thursday in the morning.

We met up at the house that morning and before we could travel 5 blocks, we were graced with more rain. Mauricio continued to travel towards the mountain in hope of catching a break.

Even though it was just sprinkling, it was enough to make the roads slick, and bring down the temperature. Margie didn’t even bother getting out of the car…I don’t blame her. So we headed back to the house.

Photo by: Sammy Espinoza

We waited for Sunday in hope of some cooperative weather. There’s something about Sundays that brings great riding weather for most motorcycle riders. The clear skies and warm sun made for a pleasant journey to the pecan groves south of Old Mesilla.

Once there, I set up two flash rigs on the pick up with the use of some PocketWizards. The first rig was set up hanging out of the passenger window, facing what would be the ideal bike spot. I originally was not planing on placing the first rig out the passenger window, but we were short one driver.

The other rig was more a fill flash than anything else. Assuming that I wanted to use the sun as a hair light and have the sun behind them, I wanted to compensate by adding a fill flash perpendicular to the sun. The rig was fastened on a Justin Clamp, then zip tied for security.

At last, we cruised up and down the two mile stretch of pecan trees, where the limbs hang over the road making one get the impression of driving thru a tunnel. I made minor adjustments increasing the power of the flashes, and reducing the speed of the shutter slower and slower.

I’m glad the photo shoot went well and that the weather cooperated. I didn’t have any glitches with the flash rigs or the pocketwizards. At the end of the shoot, we went out for some lunch in Old Mesilla and Mauricio was pretty happy to find out that lunch was on him.

So yesterday we got together around noon, and began our set up process. The tunnel system we found was pitch black, so I had complete lighting control.

After the bike was in place, my next hurdle was to figure out what I was going to with Brandy. Where was she going to stand? What was she going to do? I had a general idea of how I wanted to light it and what lens’ I wanted to use. I’m just glad the Nikon had no problem focusing with almost no light.

This environment allowed me to use the Nikon CLS without a flaw. Though I had pocketwizards with me, being able to control my light ratios from my commander lets me work faster. Brandy had her hair done and looked great, so I wanted to give her lighting that would compliment her face while capturing the clash of the location.

When I first saw Brandy stunt in person, it was hard to believe the technicality of her stunts coming from such a shy, sweet person. She takes stunting very seriously and works very hard on keeping her bikes together. Naturally I wanted Brandy to show me her game face when standing in front of one her stunt bikes. But it would a crime to not get a shot of her smiling, since that really shows her personality.

Overall, its a real treat to get to know such a talented girl especially in a male dominated sport. There is no doubt that Brandy will get very far in her career, she has definitely come a long way. Good job Brandy.

The ride results in a splash projecting a wall of water for the riders and anyone standing on the walkway. Rising temperatures make this ride a favorite for the majority of all park guest.

Kids line up along the fence at the chance of getting pummeled by wall of water. Some embrace the chilling water face first.

Other kids, rather not see what’s about to hit them…

It was interesting to see how the children reacted differently. This young girl stood as close as possible at a chance to cool off from the rising heat. It wasn’t until the water kept rising, forming a 5 story wall of fear that this girl realized what she was in for.

Though I give the little girl credit, instead of running away she just closed her eyes and braced herself.

As the water got closer, I could see her take a deep breath as she tightened her grip on the fence.

I wasn’t paying attention to the amount of riders on the water ride cart, but there must have been a heavy load because the little girl disappeared.

I was glad to see parents let their kids be kids and have fun as they stood just beyond the point of getting wet. In one case, there was a guardian that was using a kid as a shield.

It is safe to say the kid was not pleased.

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Matachines provide visitors from Utah and Georgia a feel for the culture of the area as they arrive at the Sun Bowl Fan Fiesta Friday at the Judson F. Williams Convention Center. Matachines, Spanish for matachín, or religious dancer, are bands who wander and dance from village to village or from house to house. They are found in northern Mexico especially in La Laguna Region (Coahuila and Durango), Sinaloa, Monterrey, and Chihuahua.

As soon as I parked the car, I approached a set of people that caught my immediate attention. They had on custom made clothes, masks, and if that’s not enough to catch my eye, they had swords!

Turns out they were practicing rapier fencing, which consist of a slender, sharply pointed sword, ideally for thrusting attacks, used mainly in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. After a few words, Carlos (the one on the left), said they meet there almost every Saturday. Looks like this is enough for me to go back soon.

I walked a few more paces and came across an high school cheerleader team going over some drills. I must say that being propelled into to the air by your peers must take an immense amount of trust.

I continued to move across the park where kids were playing flag football. It must have been a little league tournament since I counted about 8 different teams.

There was only a couple of kids using the skate park…

…So preceded to the baseball diamond, where there was a little league team taking in some practice.

Even the wildlife were spectating.

Glad to see families using the park despite the cold weather.

It was time well spent, walking around the park with camera in hand. I had to leave for my next assignment and for some coffee, after all it was still cold out.

Approximately over 4000 Thousands of luminarias were lit along Scenic Drive on Saturday in the event sponsored by Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe.

For those of you not from El Paso, Scenic Drive over looks the majority of the city, mainly downtown.

As a photojournalist, I try not to get in the way, but this is Santa Claus. So asked him a couple of questions, like who is on his naughty list? He gave me a HO HO HO and continued to work. Merry Christmas everyone.

During an assignment, I was passing by a few cotton fields. I went ahead and pulled over to test the camera on my new Motorola Droid Razr. I unfortunately spilled coffee on my last phone. Making it useless, I was forced to upgrade my phone. I had already read about the iPhone 4s, and the new Razr. As much as I would love to have an iPhone, I could not see myself only utilizing 3g on a 4g network. Though the camera is better on the iPhone, I like the Android system. Perhaps next year when the iPhone 5 is released, then sure.

I like to think that there are times that it’s ok not to wash your car on your own. Since it sprinkled 6 hours after I washed my SUV, I waited another week for me to consider a rinse off. So here I am..arty the car wash.

Plays the blues...

As soon as he took to the stage, he made his presence known.

On stage.

The icon and his guitar.