The thought process that led to this image from Norway was to be long of
parody and playful. The camera should dive into the pages of a Polar
explorer storybook for 95% of the image and then dive into the pages of
Vogue for our lead - Brooks Nader. Brooks recently appeared on the front
cover of the 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition and I knew that
she was perfect for this role. Her default position is to have fun and
get into character which makes her easy to direct and the camera loves
her. It was a long way for her to come for a one-day shoot, but she
approaches every job with sensibility and gusto. To juxtapose a Sports
Illustrated Swimwear model next to some frosty and unrefined explorers
from bygone days is a risk conceptually if there is no wider context. In
these ideas, there is every chance the result can be a bit one
dimensional and gratuitous. I am paranoid of the mundane which means we
tend to give these ideas a great deal of
thought. In this case, the
structural background was helpful and I think the fire and the falling
snow were necessary extras to give the story a broader narrative. We
tend to work almost always in monochrome, but we do think that this
photograph works well in colour as well because of the limited colour
range and the sense of warmth offered from the fire and its glow.