A few months after we wrapped the shoot, Cheri, one of Far North Spirits’ co-founders, told me something I still think about.
At Whiskey Washback in New York City, people were walking up to their booth just because of the photos. They didn’t know the distillery. They didn’t know the whiskey. They saw the imagery and wanted to know what this place was all about.
That’s the WHOLE point of a brand campaign. And honestly?
It’s the best compliment I could have asked for.
One of the most iconic images from the shoot was of Ashten, one of our models, sitting in the middle of a rye field in a golden dress that matched her hair. Every color and tone in the frame blended right into the grain around her. Literally, a master colorist in NYC couldn't have done it better.
That shot is still one of the visuals that lives rent-free in my mind.
But here’s what most people don’t know: this campaign almost looked COMPLETELY different.
Our original idea was a sauna-themed shoot in middle of Minnesota winter. Instead, we ended up on the sixth-generation family farm roughly ten miles from the Canadian border that’s home to Far North - with twelve models, two eight-hour shoot days, and a setup so simple you might not even believe me when I tell you what it was.
That single shoot became the anchor for a full website refresh, a martini bar campaign, a live events strategy, AND social media content that’s still going strong nine months later.
It also involved a gust of wind, a soaked tablecloth, a dead lighting set-up, and an iPhone flashlight saving the day (thank goodness!).
But more on that later.
So how did a one-woman setup pull all of that off? Let me take you back to the farm, from the exact gear in my bag to the scene that almost didn’t happen.
Behind the Scenes
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