Baby, It's Cold Outside... (Creating Fall/Winter in July)

In the wonderful world of retail, you're almost always shooting in the opposite season from what you're aiming for. Holiday in July, spring in January. The weather is always out of your control and almost never what you'd hoped it would be. But the best photographers and creative teams won't let that hold them back.

Last summer I was tasked with art directing an outerwear-focused editorial on "dressing for the weather." We knew we wanted water, we knew we wanted mood, we hoped for the typical coastal morning fog that Northern California is known for, even in the summer. The day of our shoot in Inverness, there was not a cloud in the sky.

Our Creative Director, our talented photographer Chad Riley and I quickly had to shift gears and land upon a lighting direction that would capture the mood and direction we were after without the mystical fog's help. What we landed on made for some truly stunning images, highlighting the product beautifully and capturing a sense of "could be California... or the Adirondaks" which was perfect for our National audience. It has a remained a favorite shoot amongst not only our creative team, but the merchandisers, buyers and even our CEO.

Sometimes when you don't get what you want, you end up with something even better.

See the full details here.