What a Trip: Cover Story

Photography by Paul Buceta  @paulbuceta
Hair & Makeup by Monica Kalra @monicakalra
Videography by Josue Gomez
Models: Bunny Azzopardi, Tanya Geisinger, Alejandra Valdes, Angie Wilson, Rebekah Sneed, Tara Kareta, Anna Fife, Natalie Astren, Deirdre Slattery, Drea, Haley Chakalos, and Monica Kalra

It’s November 30^th.  It’s been a whirlwind five weeks! I am packing the last of my things. In the morning I’m headed to Punta Cana for Paul Buceta’s Caribbean photo shoot. A vacation that will undoubtedly be an experience of a lifetime!

We arrive at the resort as strangers. The common denominator is Paul, Monica and Josue. Many have shot with Paul Buceta at least once, and had booked this trip solely on how much they loved their shooting experience.

To be honest, the idea of hanging out in an all-inclusive resort for a week sounds boring to me. It’s really about the company you keep that makes the experience worthwhile. This isn’t my first Paul Buceta destination shoot, each trip is a different but I always come home buzzing with crazy stories to tell. I never know what to expect, but it’s alone on these trips that I’ve met strong, supportive, kick ass women looking to have some fun!
The group of us connected on WhatsApp weeks prior to the trip. I won’t repeat what was said but it was evident from the get go, this group was going to be Crazy Fun, and that I’d better think of my Safety Word!

It didn’t take us long to bond. Looking through my photos, you can see on the first night how we sat around the patio politely getting to know each other. The next night, a series of shots where we’re laughing our Asses off, leading to some of us doing tequila shots from Trishy’s cleavage. Later that night we end up running into the ocean for an impromptu photo shoot under the full moon. It’s this spontaneous, adventurous fun that I love. Zero judgment.

While some of us like to call it in early, #teamnosleep were just getting warmed up.  They lived in the moment with the craziest stories to tell and awesome pictures to help them remember, the next morning. With their Bluetooth speaker on hand, they brought the party wherever they went. Tiesto’s “Boom” had become The anthem for our trip reminding me of late night laughs, dance parties on the beach and hanging out late-eating all the nacho’s and mozza sticks we could handle. 

We were quickly known around the resort as ‘The Models”. Original… I know.

Sweet nonetheless. We’d travel in small groups, some of us hitting the gym before sun tanning, drinks by the pool, riding mechanical bulls, jumping on trampolines and kicking ass in the “Iron man competition”. We caused quite a stir the day when all 14 of us showed up for our shoot in swimwear and white Captains hats.

We gladly took photos with guests including the woman who asked if it was okay for her husband to pose with us for a Once in a lifetime thing! Haha, he was so nervous (he didn’t know where to put his hands). You can imagine everyone’s confusion when we later, put on fake mustaches for the sexy beast look and continued to rock our shoot. Priceless!  

We arrived as strangers. We left as friends.

Everyday was a reason to smile. This trip, another escape and adventure that leaves me inspired and recharged! Beautifully captured by the best. I’m left with memories I’ll cherish for a lifetime. I regret nothing! Until the next time.
Love you guys!

-Tanya

I won the trip. Who would’ve thought! I feel blessed, and you can bet I’ll be on the other trips too as it’s basically a vacation with perks!

Let me paint you a picture if I may.

Day 1: Travel was intense… but so worth it. Right away I had beautiful Anna come up and greet me, we had a coffee and sat at the buffet together before I checked my bags at 3pm. Afterwards I met everyone poolside and they were all so welcoming! This crew is so sweet and caring, the vibe is pure love. Poolside chilling, group pics, meals and getting acquainted.

Day 2: I had a full 12 hour catch up nap from all my travels and rolled out of bed just in time for makeup with Monica. She is amazing and the girls and I in her room all joked about how we seriously need to clone this woman! Of course being dolled up is always fun but it definitely helps when she is SO skilled, cool, funny and not to mention completely adorable! A huge thanks to her for all that she does.

Shoots were paired so we had the option of doing duo shots which I and Natalie Astren completely took advantage of. It was pure magic. Not to mention we completely helped each other feel and look sexy af for our own shoots. Needless to say we celebrated afterwards (and during)!! We were having so much fun that we forgot to bring along Bunny with us who so sweetly offered to do some  “behind the scenes” for us, haha silly us.

Paul Buceta is one of a kind. He is funny, professional, helpful, very easy to work with, gives great direction and above all extremely talented and gifted. All of my images are amazing and he had them to me in no time. It’s true also that they really don’t need editing. I’ve honestly never shot with someone so talented. A huge (the biggest) thank you goes out to him. 

Another huge thank you to one of the best dancing and adventure partners goes to Mr. Josue who is completely swamped with behind the scenes footage and editing as I type this. The unedited stuff looked fabulous already so I’m sure I’ll be raving about his work even more than I can imagine.

To be honest, the days somewhat blurred together after my shoot because then it was pretty much just straight vacation and party time. I needed it. Life gets crazy. This experience has given me a new outlook on life. I got to meet a dozen other women who have amazing personalities whom I am so blessed to call my friends and I got to know almost everyone on a personal level. We shared stories and pictures of our families and talked life lessons and of course modelling etc. It’s amazing what a week of a team of like minded people can do. So much love and laughter.

I really enjoyed bonding with the team and having little adventures of our own that weren’t on the main schedule. Shout outs to Rebekah and Trish for last minute magic. We even cultivated a crew #teamnosleep – anyone was welcome but the main members were  of course myself, my sexy shoot partner Natalie Astren, beautiful miss Alejandra and our talented and fun videographer Josue. We sure danced circles around each other.

Day 3, 4 and 5: Working on our tans and chit chatting poolside was so relaxing. Be Live Resort constantly had events like iron man, beer drinking, bull riding and bikini competitions. We had a blast at night dancing on the beaches, attending the all white party on the resort beach and partying at the night club.

I made sure to take lots of videos and pictures to share with the group and reminisce over for later times… I found myself laughing and smiling my ass off whenever I looked at them! Most of the time the guys had their cameras and we shot candids and themed group shoots!! These seemed silly (and some were actually even sillier than I thought) which made it all that much more fun and fabulous! I never had expected to laugh so much. I think my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much at least once a day. My smiling muscles got more of a workout than I did in the gym, which the lovely Deidra motivated me to join her. Don’t get me wrong, I was dripping in sweat and was sore the next day too, so you can imagine how much my smiling happened on this trip. All in all it was quite eventful and nothing short of “amasing” as the Dominican locals say. There may have been the odd pillow fight too! 

Day 6: I was sad to see my new “amasing” friends go… I got in, and left a day late. Even though I was late to the party, I did have the chance to see everyone off. My heart was so sad to say so long to my new found friends, but I’m forever grateful and blessed to have the absolute gift of not only winning this trip but actually experiencing all that I could during my time away from home. I could not have ever even asked for more and am looking forward to seeing my new friends on future shoot events. I honestly felt like these perfect strangers had my back no matter what, and I theirs as well … it’s true what they say – your vibe attracts your tribe.

My trip home was filled with smiles and laughter while sharing everything I captured with the group and writing this article.

I hope you enjoyed this write up enough to be a part of one of these amazing opportunities and that I see all the familiar faces I’ve grown to know and love on future similar endeavours.

-Love, Drea