Behind the scenes

Every campaign has a story behind it, and this one had a few more twists than expected. It all started with the snow… It's been an average ski season on the slopes, and our original location at Garston Hut turned out to be bone dry. We held out as long as we could for a decent dump of snow, but eventually had to cut our losses and change locations. Plan B took us to the Otago ski hut at Coronet Peak, which had a bit more white stuff on the ground - though "a bit" is doing some heavy lifting there. As tempting as it was to reach for AI and add a little extra snow, we decided against it. What you're seeing in these images is the real thing, slush and all.

Snow wasn't the only thing running late. Our models' retro ski outfits didn't arrive in time for the shoot, which had us scrambling for a plan B on the wardrobe front too. Thankfully, our photographer's next-door neighbour happens to work in the film wardrobe department and had an incredible costume collection sitting right there. She saved the shoot with a rack of genuinely epic 70s/80s retro ski gear - and we were completely obsessed with the bright yellow ski suit that stole the show.

Props weren't on our side either… Vintage wooden skis turned out to be tricky to track down - it didn't take long to discover we weren't the only ones after them. We even tried our luck at Wanaka's Wastebusters recycle shop, with no success. Thankfully, Queenstown local legend Phil pulled through with a stunning pair of antique wooden skis.

The real star of the show, though, was the car - the old Spitfire convertible we hired from Phil the local legend , who insisted on driving it up the ski field himself. Snow chains were, of course, essential. Despite icy conditions on the way up, the old girl made it to the top without a worry, much to our relief.

Between the ice, the slush, and the last-minute wardrobe swap, nothing about this shoot went entirely to plan. But somehow, it all came together - and we couldn't be happier with how it turned out.