“Nature always wears the colors of the spirit”
At the beginning of 2018, my colleague and I set out to find a desert scene in-between Dallas and El Paso. We came across Monohan Sandhills State Park where you can soar through peaks and valleys by way of plastic discs. The warm hues and dusty textures against the boundless washed blue sky inspired us to photograph each other for the portrayal of a winter season look-book. We aspired to explore the gap shown by brands that portray their cool-season garments, often in settings of snow, cabins, bonfires, and forestry. Reds oranges and contrasting deep blue tones mirrored with sharp crisp textures are usually prominent in these types of editorials as well. But what happens when the brisk night falls upon those of us in the southern regions? Dark layers of wool, denim, and cotton were used to contrast the light and airy color scheme displayed. We utilized a curated list of brands that included; Oak and Fort, Loeil, and Vagabond to create outwear looks that mimicked western expeditions.
In this instance, we conducted some prior research before finding our selected landscape but, often intriguing scenes for photography shoots appear to me in uncanny ways. Examples can be a striking parking lot that I've overlooked on routes to and from work, abandoned hotel exteriors, and office buildings or leveled fields of grass surrounded by shrubbery and specimens of native plants.
The success of our shoot resulted in a feature in Austere Magazine, which happened to be their final issue after producing content for 6-years. Natasha Brito, Austere's founder, opted to create a coffee table photo book for the last edition. Our images at the Monohan San Dunes were also accepted to a curated show at CICA Museum in Gimpo Korea. The exhibition was titled, "What We Eat and Wear" and transpired to be my first international representation.