The Arrival Behind the Scenes
When we first discussed having an arrival scene, we knew it was going to have to involve a horse - challenge number one. Danni, Michi, and I were all sitting around Danni’s kitchen table brainstorming, and I said that if we’re going to have a horse then we should dye it pink! Danni had her original concept of wanting Marie to look very innocent, fresh faced, and young - so we based our color palette, wardrobe, and mood around this theme.
We discussed the possibility of Photoshopping the horse pink, but where’s the fun in that? Who doesn’t want to hang out around a pink horse? Being that we’re in Texas, we found a sweet friend Kristine who had a beautiful Polish Arabian horse named Tiffany.
A few days before the shoot my fiancé Decker and I headed out to the ranch to dye her with special CTFA certified horse dye. Decker, Kristine, Kristine’s mother Susan, and I spent the afternoon hanging out and dyeing Tiffany - definitely not a usual way to spend an afternoon haha Being that she was previously a show horse, and 27 (which would put her in the Senior category), she never even batted an eye. After she was dyed, she pranced around the ranch - we’re pretty sure that she knew she looked fabulous ;)
We had an amazing hat made by Claudia Medina that we used for the shoot, and Danni and Sabrina were in charge of the wardrobe - with Danni being the creative director/stylist, and Sabrina doing the sewing and providing tons of great technical input. The top was from an old nightgown from Goodwill that Sabrina completely refashioned, and everything was sewn by hand with love.
On the day of the shoot we found a bunch of flowers (which I think were probably weeds) on the side of the road, and we knew the yellow would pop perfectly with the pink. So Ryan (the set designer), my assistant Gabrielle, and I hopped the barbed wire fence and borrowed their weeds and put them together in huge piles while successfully dodging bees and “cow pies”.
Because we were going to be using all natural lighting, Decker and I fashioned together a homemade skrim (to diffuse some harsh light) with piping and bed sheets. Danni and Michi had huge tupperware containers in the cars filled with anything you could image - lace, hair pieces, feathers, pearls, bows, flowers, etc. It was awesome.
While Sarah began the makeup on Sam and Michi did finishing touches on the wig - Ryan got started on dressing the set, Sabrina made last minute wardrobe touch ups, Danni was coordinating the details, and I began to set up my equipment and help Ryan out when I could.
Michi was in charge of hair but is terribly allergic to horses, so after Sarah finished the makeup they teamed up to beautifully braid and decorate Tiffany’s hair. Michi ended up forcing through her allergy in order to help the shoot. The flowers in Tiffany’s mane were leftover flowers from Sabrina’s wedding that she had saved, and the ribbon on the harness we saved and reused for most of the Marie shoots.
Being that there were no horse harnesses/reigns to fit our vision, Danni painstakingly wrapped one in white leather, and put little dots of gold poof paint to give it that little extra charm. It turned out marvelous, and I was so happy when the details translated well on camera.
When Marie Antoinette came over to France from Vienna, she had to give up her beloved dog before she was allowed to cross over into French territory. It was deemed unbefitting to have a dog’s dirty paws around a woman who had to look her best at all times. So we brought on Sabrina’s little dog Trixi, affectionately know as Piggie. Sabrina had tried to dye her purple with Kool Aid, but it didn’t stick and she licked whatever did stick off haha So instead we covered her in roses, and she napped luxuriously on a pillow for the majority of the shoot.
Danni styled everything on the shoot from the large things such as the main costume, to the most minute of details such as the exact color of bows to match the theme. They say that the details are what makes big projects, and even after hours of editing I would still notice tiny details that she had thoughtfully implemented. Nothing was store bought, everything was crafted with love, passion, and an eye for detail.
Ryan spent hours upon hours setting up one scene, rushing over to set up another while we were shooting, hanging things in trees, and working tirelessly. Since we were shooting while he was dressing the set, he had to make many executive decisions on his own. All of which turned out marvelously. Because Michi wasn’t able to be around the horse, her and her son also assisted Ryan on some of the set construction.
The wig was also a labor of love. Every week Michi and Sarah would meet up and work on the wigs for this series for hours upon hours. These wigs are much more than merely hair, or something you might find at a cheap Halloween store - they are more along the lines of art and sculpture. This wig alone took about 20 hours. Michi had to make sure that every curl was in place, that no flow of the hair had been set off course, and on top of all that, that it would be wearable. After each photoshoot, she would spend time massaging Sam’s head because of how sore the wigs made her scalp. Sam handled it like a champion and true professional, and never complained.
Sarah did a brilliant job on the makeup, making sure that every color was perfect, every line was crisp, and that it was modern yet still fit with the theme.
When it came down to actually begin shooting the piece, it was incredibly difficult. Massive live animals don’t care that you need them to stand a certain way, at a certain angle, and on a certain target. At points Tiffany would get bored, and try to walk off with Sam still sitting on top of her. Kristine and her mom Susan bribed Tiffany with treats though, so she was happy to comply.
Sam did an amazing job of not only modeling, but translating the character into something believable. It was just as much about acting as it was about modeling. She dealt with our neurotic tendencies with a smile, showing up to numerous fittings, wearing an extremely heavy wig for hours, and helping out in any way that should could. Having such talented, passionate, and fun models on set is paramount to a successful shoot, and we couldn’t have asked for a better model for this project.
I had originally planned to shoot this set with a large softbox to make sure everything was really crisp and consistent, but we were warned that Tiffany did not like large objects and could frighten. We wanted to definitely avoid this, so we used only natural lighting, with the exception of when the sun began to go down. We had to use a very large Octabox from far away with the strobe turned off so that Tiffany would remain chill.
When we first saw Sam on the horse with all the details in place we were giddy - what had only lived as notes in a sketchbook and reference photos in a group chat was now actually in front of us in all its grandeur. We gasped, squealed, and I definitely did a happy dance haha
The shoot lasted for around 14 hours from arrival to tear down. By the end we were taking everything down with a floodlight and our phone flashlights as our only way of seeing in the pitch black. We laughed, we had stressful times, and most of all loved what we had all worked so hard to put together.
Because of our extreme budgetary restraints, many things had to be Photoshopped to look polished and believable. This made the post processing a long and arduous process. Every gap in the leaves had to be filled in, the flowers more lush and alive after being trampled on, wardrobe colors changed to match exactly, Tiffany’s color had to be even and consistent, and numerous pieces of the set decor had to be replicated. We worked hard as a team to understand where our limitations were on set, and what we could make up for in post.
After the shoot I would send edits to Danni and Michi where we had numerous meetings on how to handle the final edits - at one point it was extremely too edited, and then on the other end of the spectrum too bare. For one of the images, it was actually shot at night and I had to completely replace the background from another photo in the same spot that was shot during the day. So they helped tremendously in keeping the edits in line with our original expectations, while also helping to exceed them.
Published in Elegant Magazine
Creative Direction: Danni Ordonez, Nico Nordström, Michi Lafary
Concept: Danni Ordonez and Michi Lafary
Photographer - Nico Nordström
Fashion Stylist - Danni Ordóñez Styling
Wig Maker - Michi Lafary
MUA/ Wig Assistant - Sarah Contey
Model - Samantha Gloor
Set - Ryan Blair
Wardrobe Assistant - Sabrina Sew and Sew
Photography Assistance- Gabrielle Nicole, Decker Derdeyn
Wig & Hair Assistance - Sarah Contey
Set Assistance and Horse Handler- Susan Conner
Set Assistance and Horse Handler- Kristine Dupuis
Hat Designer - Claudia Medina
Horse- Tiffany, Polish Arabian
Thank you tremendously to everyone involved in this project <3 It was truly a group effort, and so much love, blood, sweat and tears was put into this.
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