Have you ever seen a Mayan Ritual performed at a wedding??? I for sure hadn't until my last wedding! I got this set of keepers at one of my last gigs in the Riviera Maya.... My 11/17/07 bride totally surprised her guests with an entertainment performance that I must admit, was absolutely unbelievable! I was getting ready to photograph one of the most insanely exotic sequences of images I have ever captured during a day of matrimony... I was aware there would be evening entertainment, but 12 ornately dressed Mayan warriors with head dresses that will give you nightmares......uuhhh, na. didn't quite visualize that! So howa bout on the spot thinking of "what the hell do I do to make these images dramatic" type thinking... well, I put on my cap of creative flash how too... and came up with these images... Actually, I didn't have time to think, i just started shooting. I shot almost 100 frames of this 30 minute dance... here are a few of my fav's... Camera and flash settings: 5d, 1250 ISO, 1/30th, 2.8! If you have ever read any other of my posts, this would be old news to you. Slave flash set to 1/64th.... again, old news. I did occasionally boost the flash to FULL power... can you guess which ones? Is this SICK or what??? at this point, I was becoming a Mayan Warrior myself.... These guys were flying around at MACH speed, going in circles, jumping in the air, screaming death chants! I was trying my best to move with the wolf pack until this guy got in my face (i think he was the leader of the pack)... but anyway, he literally looked at me and belted this whoooaaaaaaahhhhhh scream in my face, which I must admit, intimidated me.... Here he is again, keeping an eye on me... This is one of my FAV's from the sequence. I wanted to backlight this crew to showcase the layers of this madness. Fill with on camera 580... here is a sneak peek at our setup... (only 1 slave speedlight) and the grand finish...(this appeared to be a kill, one warriors strength over another) I just thought I'd post this to help you out for the next time you encounter Mayan warriors..... insane eh? Thoughts? Cheerios, mateo PS: ***Update*** I thought I'd give you a little heads up as to why it is that FF gets updated SO lamely... I'm just plain busy. 14 weddings in the month of November..no thanksgiving yum yum for this turkey! Both Sol & I and our Associate shooter are working our ARSSES off so its difficult to keep up with this blog. Just give me a break if you come back to see we haven't updated this thing. Almost 100 weddings in 2007... whewwww.... I need a break! 2008 isnt any different... we already have 50 weddings booked up to MAY! What the hell is wrong with me????