STORIES FROM THE SET: PAST & PRESENT

When it comes to creating a catalog, it’s a massive undertaking of time, energy, and resources, so we’re always diligent and extremely particular about our setting. But when it came to capturing the essence of Past & Present, it felt like it needed to be about both the aesthetic as well as a bit of honor and homage.

“Working with Maura Allen on this collection really added an element of reverence for Mother Earth and the spirit of the land and how everything that came before shaped everything that exists now,” Cheryl said. “And so, how better to visually tell that story than against a setting where you can literally see thousands of years of evolution in a single rock, or cliff or cavern.”

We chose to photograph this collection in Abiquiu, New Mexico (which happens to be homebase for Maura Allen) at a place called Ghost Ranch. While it was pretty remote, it was exceptionally beautiful and hospitable – and we’re not the first folks to think so, you might recognize a few spots from the 2007 flick ‘3:10 to Yuma’.

“It was a really great location,” shared Mitchell. “A big shoutout to our guides, David and Andie Manzanares, who made it accessible for us. I mean, I made the models climb to the top of a cliff to get a shot because the setting just had so much to offer. And Maura got to be on set for basically all of it; she was a trouper with the long hours, it was very cool to check out her Leica camera and watch how she captured scenes in her own way.”

But, let’s not forget we were in the desert; we had to deal with some wild weather. It would be cold in the morning and at night, and then it would get sunny and hot, so you’re peeling layers and putting on shades. And then came the rain.

“Oh man, the rain,” said Mitchell. “We’re not talking a little Texas shower that shows a little love and moves on an hour later, we’re talking days of rain. We had no choice but to shoot in it. We’d have one umbrella over me, one over the model, and just make it work. It did result in some cool shots of the Stars at Night suit, where you can kind of see it coming down in the background.”

The other major component we couldn’t control: the sun.

“It was important to Cheryl to get a night shoot,” shared Mitchell. “Which essentially meant we were trying to outrun the sun on both ends of the day. I think one call time was at 4 a.m. and the next one was at 3 a.m., and then we’d shoot late into the night. It was a lot to ask of our team and our models, but everyone showed up spectacularly.”

Truth be told, we were all remarkably pleased with this shoot – Mother Nature’s shenanigans and all.

“You know, when we were all trying to compile our notes and recollections from the photoshoot for what might make fun tidbits, we realized ‘these stories used to be entertaining because of all our mayhem and mishaps, all the comedy of errors, and we just don’t have that many anymore. Are we… are we getting good at this?!’” laughed Mitchell.

“It’s funny, but it’s not wrong,” Audrey added. “We’ve got a great team, we’ve found our groove, our models ‘get’ us so there’s a sense of shorthand there, and we’ve got a lot of years of learning curve under our belt. I’d say we’re better at over-preparing and anticipating what could go wrong, so that when it inevitably does, it’s more of a hiccup than a hill, which is nice. But it does seem like the better we get at it, the bigger these catalogs keep getting – I’ve been referring to this one as a coffee table book! (laughing)”

“Cheryl actually said this is one of her favorites,” Mitchell added. “Which, I feel like she says that a lot, but it’s never a bad thing!”