Chasing Light in…
Santa Fe, New Mexico
by Shanyn Fiske
The pandemic has been difficult for so many people around the globe and uniquely so for the restless among us – those for whom experiencing new places on a regular basis seems entirely necessary for keeping open the windows of what some might call the soul. I am one of these. With travel restrictions forcing the cancellation of numerous plans in the past year and half, I was starting to feel my creative energy drain away and claustrophobia set in.
So when I received a sudden invitation to go to Santa Fe for a shoot last month, I rearranged everything to make it happen, wedging open 72 hours between two full days of work at home. Had the invitation been to anywhere else, I would have thought twice, given my overcommitment to the various occupations in my life: between shooting, teaching, horse care, and parenting a teenager, I barely had time to eat or sleep. But New Mexico in general and Santa Fe in particular have had a magical pull on me ever since I first visited in 2006. The open desert expanses and wide mesas; the mahogany earth; the way the light seems eternally golden; the tall, pale grasses that catch the wind and reflect the sun … all these things call to me in the way of a siren song, especially when my spirit feels cramped and weary.
The invitation came from a stylist – Laura Nero – whom I had met at a shoot in Massachusetts in May. At the conclusion of that shoot, Laura had briefly mentioned the possibility of working together again in Santa Fe, where her father lives. I immediately said yes, but I also knew that in this industry and during these times, most plans tend to remain in the planning indefinitely and rarely come to fruition.
But on November 10, Laura texted me the invitation and three hours later, my flight was booked for December 2. We would have one full day to shoot. It would be a whirlwind trip made on an impulse but everything in me told me it was the right thing to do.
Having shot mostly in Philadelphia and New York City, I had not anticipated the difficulty of putting together a team in New Mexico, where the modeling and fashion scene is much smaller. Luckily, one agency in Albuquerque and another in neighboring Arizona were able to offer us three models collectively who would fit our concept: a clean, bright editorial shot in natural light that would accentuate the openness and freedom of the Santa Fe landscape. Sourcing a makeup artist was equally challenging, especially as I’m extremely picky about makeup. In my experience, bad makeup (foundation that is caked on or harsh eyeliner, for example) is nearly impossible to fix in post-processing. At home, I rely on two makeup artists whom I trust to do a clean, natural, dewy look that both preserves skin texture and responds to subtle changes of light. Researching online, I found that most of the makeup artists in New Mexico specialize in wedding makeup, which is a very different kind of application than makeup for fashion / editorial shoots. But I messaged two muas whose work seemed the most aligned with our purposes, and one was available. Sometimes, circumstances force us to take risks and we must cross our fingers and hope for the best.
I flew into Albuquerque on Thursday afternoon, rented a car, and set out for Santa Fe along one of my favorite roadways in the world: Route 14, better known as the “Turquoise Trail” – a two-lane highway that winds through small towns (some too small to have a post office) scattered through the foothills and high deserts of northern New Mexico. As I drove my little rental car toward the Sandia Range and into the deepening afternoon light, all the stress and anxiety that had been causing my body to ache for the past many months seemed to lift, as if each balletic curve of the highway were unwinding an intricate knot in my chest. I realized I had not taken a deep breath in over a year.
Laura and I spent the remainder of the afternoon scouting our locations for the next day, reviewing the call sheet, and going through the outfits she had brought for each model. Since she had only arrived a day earlier, she had brought most of the wardrobe from her home in Maine, pulling from local designers and vintage stores near her. Most people don’t understand the amount of work that goes into planning a shoot since the resulting photos – if they are successful – should seem effortless. From location scouting to sourcing wardrobe for the exact dimensions of each model to planning a schedule that allows sufficient time for makeup, hair, styling, and traveling to / from different locations, the preparation often takes three times as long as the shoot itself. If a shoot goes off without too much of a hitch, it’s largely thanks to the hours and days of planning that went into it long before the shoot day. As we drove from location to location, discussing the right time to catch light at each place and planning looks for each model, I felt extremely fortunate that Laura and I work together so well.
After a restful sleep at Laura’s father’s house, we woke to a bright, cold morning without a cloud in the sky. The makeup artist (Jackie) arrived early and our first model (Hannah) came shortly after. Most of the time, I only see models in person when they show up on the day of the shoot, and I’m always a bit anxious about how accurately models will match their online portfolios. Luckily all three of our models – Hannah, Dale, and Sydney – exceeded our expectations. Just as importantly, Jackie applied a clean, luminous face on each model, setting aside my dread of a bad makeup job. I often think makeup artists don’t get the appreciation they deserve. From my experience as a photographer, I can say two things with certainty: that a clean, natural, makeup look is one of the hardest applications to master and that no matter how good the model or photographer, the shoot will not be successful without good makeup.
We had three locations in mind for the day. The first was a beautiful glass and adobe house that Laura’s father (an artist and contractor) had built right around the corner from his house. The owners of the house were currently living in New York City and graciously allowed us to use the house in their absence. The adobe walls and the desert surroundings – with snow-tipped mountains in the distance – made for the set of my dreams, and each model beautifully and uniquely brought her own personality to the location. The light shot as beautifully as I had hoped both outside and within the bright interior. In my limited experience, architecture of the southwest is integrated into the landscape in such a way that the threshold between inside and outside seems not so stark as in other places. This fluidity of space creates, for me, a sense of both freedom and safety that I hoped to convey in the shots taken at this location.
Our second location was Lamy train station, located just outside of Santa Fe. The historic structures of the station date back to 1909, when it was built by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. When Laura and I scouted the day before, we saw an adobe church on the same road, and we wanted to incorporate it into the shots as well. At this location, we played a bit with color – both the contrast between the deep red of Sydney’s coat and the color matching of beige outfits against adobe. Looking back at the images we got, I also think we succeeded in extending the interwoven themes of sanctuary (church) and freedom (train station) that we established at the first location. Before we left, Laura had an idea to shoot each of the models in the middle of the road, and though we had to scramble out of the way of a few passing cars, we got some great shots of Dale and Sydney lying on the yellow dividing line. Perhaps these shots could represent the precarious balance between safety and risk? I’ll have to leave that to the viewer to decipher.
We ended the day at Galisteo Basin Preserve – a 10,000-acre expanse of arroyos, sandstone, and savannah grasslands just down the road from Lamy. Once the sun decides to sink this time of year, the light disappears very quickly, and though it was only 3:30pm when arrived at the Preserve, we had to rush to catch the last of the light. We had two very specific shots in mind for this location: one of two models holding hands in the golden hour light of the desert sunset and one of each model clothed in a black feather collar that Laura had fashioned. Laura had showed me the collar the night before, and I thought it was both a nice high-fashion touch and a nod to the wildness of the land where we were shooting. Could they be a symbol of flight? Transformation? The allure of the unknown? As the evening closed in, we found ourselves running down the dirt road through the desert to chase the last of the light. We finished shooting just as the coyotes started their evening song, their chorus of yips and whoops echoing across the vastness of the savanna as we headed back to our cars.
I think we lose pieces of ourselves in the grind of daily life, and sometimes we are not conscious of the loss until we find them again in unexpected places. New Mexico has always been restorative for me. As I drove back to the airport the next day, I was already looking forward to coming back.
Many thanks to J.C. Nero Construction and NAK Interiors for use of the first location.
Shanyn Fiske is a writer and photographer based in Philadelphia, PA and NYC.
Instagram:
@shanynfiske