Creating an Ocean for Liz Ad

Well here it goes. The client needed a shot of a model sitting on the white sand beach facing the ocean for a Liz Claiborne ad. They were going to have somebody in Florida shoot it but there were weather problems so they asked us if we had a white sand beach in Texas. I said I was sure I could find one, and told them to go ahead and send merch down. There was a short deadline. This was a Thursday and they needed the photo on their desk Monday morning (film).

First thing we did was to make arrangements to do the photo shoot at Lake Lewisville, because there’s a lot of water, and we like the beach there, although it wasn't white sand. With the beach reserved, staff went out to find 1000 lbs. of white sand, and a couple of drop cloths. We called the modeling agencies and found out Shannon Elizabeth was in town and was available for the shoot on Friday afternoon, so we booked her.

We were set to shoot on Friday at five pm, the only thing we were waiting for was the swimsuit and layout to arrive. They showed up on Friday morning and we were set. The staff went to the location about 3 o'clock. They put the drop cloths down, started spreading the sand about 2 to 3 inches deep. We used drop cloths because we wanted to take the sand back with us. Also we weren't sure if Lewisville would be happy that we left white sand on their beach. We showed up, she showed up. On some of the shots there was a jet ski making ocean like waves. Shot this with a Hasselblad and a 350 lens.

Photos and text ©John Wehlage