This Arizona editorial shoot got sparked in my brain when my family and I were traveling up to northern Arizona and I spotted acres of black fields where wild fires had once torn through on one side of the highway and then theses lush, tall grasses on the other side of the highway. And the sheer contrast of the dark, destitute acres and acres of rolling hills beside the bright, tall grasses moving in front of the strong mountains made me hope to do some type of shoot there. After much dreaming, I came up with the vision for this editorial photo shoot. Of course I planned it for late summer when Arizona is experiencing 115 degree days on the regular- so that was a bit tough- but because of that extreme heat we also got that amazing golden light. The dress that I ordered ended up coming in as a shade of pink when I was planning for it to come in as off-white. Because of this I had to reimagine the whole shoot from a muted palette where I’d really play off the contrast of the two different locations to making this more colorful. I chose to go with some more pops of coral and maroon to mimic the colors of flames- inspiration taken from the flames that tore through the now ash covered field. I added in coral earrings, some flowers with a bit more color, and then a fruit basket for just a couple shots to show those deep reds and pinks.
I got to work with some of Arizona’s finest professionals to make this Arizona editorial shoot come to life. The amazing Randi of Carte Blanche Floral created this organic looking, muted color palette bouquet and then created the flower hat (as you can see from this shoot– I’m slightly obsessed with hats) with similar flowers and lots of dried flowers that were just perfect. To me, the hair made the shoot, and I have Heather Van Houten & Artists to thank for both the edgy hair and the flawless makeup. And the gorgeous woman that modeled for us is Aiesha of The Style Gypsy who was just a joy to work with and though I have mostly serious shots of her, her smile is just beautiful.
