Two traveling fire performers from France.
Five days without sleep.
Straight off a mad max festival in the Mojave.
A 30-minute turnaround, silk florals thrown in the car, and the Dune soundtrack on full volume.
This is how some of the best work gets made.
The Vision
I'd been dreaming about shooting on the Bonneville Salt Flats outside Salt Lake City for years. The day before this shoot, I drove through the salt flats at golden hour on a busy Sunday and spent the next twelve hours soft crying that I wasn't prepared for the tasty meal what Mother Nature was dishing out in cloud form.
Monday, it was empty. Vast. Silent. It felt like Dune, but without the worms, risk, or psychedelic sand that perhaps might have made this shoot a bit more interesting, but I digress...
I wanted to create something that matched that feeling.
Something where the beauty and the risk lived in the same frame.
The Team
Margaux & Keven perform as Wandering Artists from France, now based on Vancouver Island. They specialize in fire performance and arrived straight from Wasteland Festival, still half in mad max mode, running on zero sleep and pure creative instinct.
My close friend Gabrielle Pelligrino co-shot alongside me. Mia Merono (@athertonia) provided the silk florals. Garments by @yoshizendesign and @eleanorsbridal.
Every element was chosen with intention. Silk where nothing grows. Armor-like garments against an infinite horizon. Drapery because drapery is always a vibe.
The Moment
At the end of the shoot, once the key shots were taken, I asked if they'd be open to getting nude.
They were already undressing.
The weather felt reckless and untamed. The clouds were enormous. And I wanted to create something that matched that energy — artful, unexpected, bold. Much like love. Love asks you to be seen without armor. In that moment, on those flats, it made sense.
Afterward, I had Margaux put a lampshade on her head. Because that's the whole range — vulnerable to playful, raw to editorial, bold to ridiculous. That's what real connection looks like.
The B&W images from this session are some of my favorite work I've ever made.
What This Shoot Changed
This is where I started trusting my instincts. Where I stopped waiting for perfect conditions and started making the work anyway. Where I learned that epic landscapes don't intimidate me — they activate me.
This shoot is the reason my storytelling sessions exist. It's why couples book me for my point of view. Why every session is built around your story, not a formula.
Creating art in epic environments isn't a feature of working with me. It is the work.
This Could Be You
You don't have to be an artist or a model. You don't have to know how to pose. You just have to be willing to take a risk.
I have the rest.
If you're planning an elopement on the Bonneville Salt Flats, a sunrise ceremony in the backcountry, or something that sounds slightly unhinged to everyone except you and the person you love — that is exactly who I make work for.
I'll go anywhere. I'll bring the vision, the styling, the creative direction. You bring each other.
Let's go make something worth printing.
