I’ve been wanting to do something more abstract recently, nothing to out there, but something a little more minimalistic. We started with a cardboard box, a bottle of sparkling grape juice, and the idea to shoot high fashion in the middle of nowhere… Not the most ideal mix of concepts, but it did produce a few cool shots and taught me a few lessons:

• When its cold, wear something warm.
• Even the smallest breeze turns an umbrella into the most amazing sail you’ve ever seen.
• It takes more than three full 32oz water bottles to hold up a light stand with an umbrella in a breeze.
• When in doubt, do something stupid unexpected. Like put a box over the models head.
• When the model is shivering, and still says she’s fine, don’t listen to her.

Looking back I think this shoot may have gone better if it had been warmer, being cold and having stiff fingers made me a bit slower and less willing to change lighting and settings. On that note it’s probably good I’m going to Southern California where I don’t think I’m going to have to worry about it being that cold. I also wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to give my model hypothermia, hospital trips are rad and all, just wasn’t feeling it that day :)

Enjoy the rest of the photos:

- Paul Rohde