It has literally taken me three days to recover from the weekend, and not for any of the usual reasons. (haha) This past Saturday we shot the video for my thesis install of Horse Power. I couldn’t have asked for better weather, it was a bit chilly, but we had sun, and more importantly we had snow. Had I pushed the shoot back to this weekend, that would not have been the case. The shoot went amazingly well. The UW-Hoofers Riding Club was so accommodating. Whatever we needed they were right there to do.

“I think we need a gray horse for this shot.”

“Okay! I’ll be right back I just have to go run out in the pasture and catch one.”

“Could you take off all the blankets and halters and name plates from the stalls, we need less visual stimulation for this shot.”

“Sure, no problem!”

I don’t think I was too demanding, I’m not JLo, but they were so gracious, and sincerely happy to do whatever they could. I can’t say enough nice things about those girls.

I was able to collaborate with my friend Leah Lindsley, and amazing painter who I went to undergrad with, who now works in cosmetology. She did a beautiful job with hair and make up, not only for my two models, but also all five riders that we used for the night scene in the arena. The greatest thing about this collection continues to be the collaborations I’ve been able to set up. Aaron Granat, my videographer is a perfect example. Because he’s a lecturer he was able to borrow all of the equipment that we needed for the shoot from school. He rolled in with over 50k worth of lights, cameras, tripods, and rigs. It was incredible! He brought his own crew, and they were so amazing. Perfectionists, all three of them, which helped put my mind at ease so I could worry about the things that I needed to do, like creative direction, styling, catering, horse petting, etc.

We got tons of great footage outside in the morning, with the vistas up on the hill it looked like we were on top of the world. Absolutely incredible. After lunch we shot the fashion show through the barn. The lighting scenario in there was a little tricky because we had so much back light coming in from the barn door, but I ended up really liking how the models looked in silhouette, revealing the looks as they moved closer to camera. I think when we project them in the gallery and I turn my space into a never ending barn, the effect will be super cool.

By far the most chills-down-your-back/I-can’t-believe-this-is-real moment came at night when we moved into the indoor arena. The lighting in here was a real nightmare, they basically blew out the light they wanted to use because we didn’t have enough juice. We had planned to plug into the overhead arena lights, the only problem was in order to do that we needed to unplug all of them, which meant taking a very tall ladder around to each one and that just wasn’t going to happen. We ended up running an extension cord out to the center of the arena and covering it with a pvc pipe that the horses were used to running over in lessons and shows. (thank god) In the end we used two lights, and the effect was nothing short of magical. The scene is breathtakingly gorgeous with five mounted riders walking around the perimeter as model slowly emerges from darkness, once the model is passed their trail they break into a canter filling the frame with so much actual horse power it’s impossible not to get caught up in the moment. I’m so excited for this video to be edited and see how it looks projected large scale!

I’ve been waiting, for basically five years to work with my friend Taylor O’Brien. He and I went to Stout together and he has since become one of the most talented fashion photographers I know, and I’m putting him in the company of people like Steve Meisel and Terry Richardson. He is just so incredibly talented and the photos are better than I could ever have imagined. I will share one on here, which isn’t even edited, but the rest are top secret until I release them as the show approaches. I was so lucky to find two models not signed to an agency. I paid them in boots (Dr. Martin’s) that I am getting at wholesale price from The Shoe Box in Black Earth, WI. They made everything look good, but if I do say so myself, the clothes are pretty great. I’m very proud of this collection.

Okay, I have to go teach.