Behind the Scenes – Everyday Elevated Photo Shoot
This season we were lucky enough to take an adventure across the Atlantic, partnering with Visit Utah for the ultimate American road trip, and to put our new styles to the test!
We started our journey in Southern Utah, in the picturesque town of Escalante, close to the amazing Grand-Staircase, this small ranching town is surrounded by iconic red rock slot canyons and rock formations, straight from a Western film. This area of outstanding national beauty has to be seen to be believed, with the national parks of Capitol Reef and Bryce Canyon, rivalling the views of the Grand Canyon.
Basing ourselves at the very cool location called Ofland Escalante, in between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, our accommodation ranged from cosy cabins to vintage Airstreams, nestled into the great western landscape.
We enjoyed outdoor showers, firepits, a swimming pool, and especially, the drive-in cinema complete, with vintage cars! We could grab ourselves some popcorn and then fight over which Cadillac or pickup truck we were going to get to sit in to enjoy the nightly film.
This home for a few nights was the perfect place to shoot some of our newest WF range, which teamed beautifully with the silver of the airstreams, and pops of colour from the vintage cars all teamed with the dramatic landscapes.
Not far from here, we also ventured to the other-worldly ‘Devil’s Garden’ which was full of ancient and unusual red rock formations, many of which looked like animals and faces, the perfect playground for a location shoot.
Moving into the countryside, we headed to Wild Rose Ranch to shoot, where we were welcomed by Harmony, Dustin and their 6 daughters who were wonderful hosts. Comprising 180 acres of land between Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon, this stunning ranch has a 6,000sq foot lodge filled with hand-crafted furniture and antiques, this amazing place can sleep up to 36 and hosts weddings as well as cowboy experiences. Here the family look after the cattle, horses, and the ranch, which was originally owned by their great, great-grandfather, Jonathan Heaton.
At Wild Rose, our models (and the team) got to try their hand at being cowboys for the afternoon, with four beautiful horses, and really putting our new clothing to the test! We were amazed by the youngest cowgirl on the ranch who showed us her horse riding skills (only 4 years old!) before we were treated to a delicious feast, including beef reared on the farm itself.
Lunch came at the perfect time as our sunny day was hit by thunder, lightning, rain and a huge hail storm. After the storm passed, we cleared off all the ice that had landed, and shot into the evening, with the beautiful ranch grounds as a backdrop.
The next day we began our 7-hour long road trip all the way north to Park City. With thanks to our driver and tour guide Steve From Southwest Adventure Tours, who safely drove us in the very comfy van all along the Veterans Memorial Highway, I-15. He imparted some great knowledge of the areas we were driving through and stopped us off at some fab places to eat, and rest stops for us to buy souvenirs and get our fix of American snacks. Did someone say Jerky?!
Park City is East of Salt Lake City, and is surrounded by the Wasatch Mountain Range. With the Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort ski slopes and the Utah Olympic Park nearby, we were spoilt for choice on scenic views and places to find snow, for the winter element of our Winter photo shoot. We didn’t need to worry about finding snow as we woke up every morning to a fresh blanket of the stuff! Our accommodation was situated on the top of the hill looking down into Park City, giving us a great view of the whole area.
The city itself is full of fantastic bars and eateries, with iconic drinking holes like the No Name Saloon and The Spur Bar & Grill and if you’re after a cowboy hat, cowboy boots and a Western belt, this is the place for you.
We loved shooting along Main Street of the city, with the backdrop of wood-clad, colourful buildings, and quaint shopfronts. We would also recommend the café Harvest where we ate nearly every day.
For our final day of shooting, we headed to Victory Ranch, where the team were so accommodating. It was a beautifully presented location built around a golf course and full of so many activities including archery, tennis, fishing and shooting, plus a whole host of different cabins and lodges to stay all surrounded by beautiful lakes and rivers. While the heavy snow fell, we shot inside their sumptuous communal spaces, around the roaring fire, and once the sun had come out again, we roamed around a small part of the 6,250 acres, finding amazing backdrops and locations to try out our Autumn/Winter range.
We thoroughly enjoyed this shoot and want to say a big thank you to everyone involved. Our production team, photography team and all our models. A special thank you to Stephen our fixer, Southwest Adventure Tours, and Visit Utah, who made all of this possible.
We hope you enjoy our Autumn/Winter range, we are really excited by this one with some fantastic new styles we know you are going to love!
