Recharging Our Batteries, Miami Style

Every December, the end of wedding season rolls around, and we find our selves a bit....exhausted. Thrilled to have wrapped another great year of doing what we love, we use the transition to the "off season" as a chance indulge in a little relaxation, inspiration and networking. This past December, we ladies of Capture took our yearly jaunt to Miami for the incredible Art Basel.

What is Art Basel you ask? It's an international contemporary art exhibition, held every winter in Miami. It's the largest art fair in the world, and it draws an international crowd. Artists, collectors, critics, writers and gallery directors converge in South Beach for a week long immersion in the art world.

The Basel experience is like no other. If you like people watching, welcome to heaven! You might spy
Kayne West shopping for art, or catch a glimpse of Eva & Adele, the performance artists from Germany who are always rocking bald heads and outrageous matching outfits. Fashion has no boundaries here, people show up to see and be seen!

There are always A lis events in the evenings. The popular place to sneak into this year was film legend David Lynch's Club Silencio. We may or may not have spent an hour trying to convince security that we were indeed Very Important People. We soon gave up the fight in favor of a delicious midnight hamburger at Maxine's Bistro in the retro-glam Catalina Hotel. Lets be real, nothing feels more VIP than kicking off your heels and ordering whatever burger toppings your heart desires!

Good food and late night soirées were just the beginning of our recharging to-do list: our days were stuffed to the brim with art! The flagship fair, Art Basel, is where you shop for Picasso and Degas. From there, many other fairs have popped up over the years, known as "satellite fairs". Each has their own flavor: Scope, the edgy and über contemporary fair. Aqua, the intimate fair where works are displayed in empty hotel rooms and you can literally bump shoulders with the artists. Untitled is the newest fair on the block, and shout out to Richmond's own ADA gallery for exhibiting there this year!

We spent the long weekend just soaking in all of the paintings, sculptures and of course photography. Many of our favorite photographers were exhibiting work! We were so thrilled to see photos by  Cindy Sherman(infamous for her self portrait work), Seth Casteel, the underwater dog photographer everyone loves, and our beloved Julie Blackmon.  Julie is an AMAZING contemporary photographer who creates incredible narratives that blend the mundane every day with the fantastical. She's a rock star in our book, and it's always a pleasure to see her work in person.

  Art Basel brings it back to the roots. It's like a family reunion, a reminder of what pushed us to pick up the camera in the first place. We boarded the flight home with tired feet but refreshed minds and an overwhelming sense of inspiration. Bring it on, 2013!

P.S. Please excuse the quality of the photos. We left our pro cameras at home so we could give our eyes and arms a break!

The girls of Capture, Jenny & Allison, dining on Ocean side drive with artist friend Kimberly Burgess & fashion marketing guru Catrina Gunter. The photo on the right is the entrance to Design Miami!

Art inside Basel: a Woodbury type (old time photography method!) by Chuck Close, a Julie Blackmon Print, and our art  extraordinaire friend Francis getting in on a performance art mural!