I went behind the scenes with Untouched World.

Esther Cronin being shot at Piha.

Remember a couple of months ago I was helping cast models for the Untouched World S/S 2012-13 campaign? No? Well, I did, and shortly after that, I accompanied the chosen models to the shoot, which was held over a full, weather-crazy day at the end of April.

It started in the dark, at 5:15am, in a conference room in The Hilton hotel downtown, with hair and makeup (by Stacy Lee Ghin). By 7:00am we were ready to shoot in the pissing (excuse my French) rain. Esther Cronin (Nova), was a trooper. As well as having to brave the elements in no more than a men’s shirt and socks, she had to endure the gaze of dozens of early-rising onlooking tourists and businessmen eating their breakfasts on the other side of the glass doors. It wasn’t an easy morning.

By 2:00pm the day was actually turning out to be a stunner. Auckland weather, right? Right. I was on my way to Piha. We had been to four different locations by then and wow is it astonishing how much you can get done if you wake up early. (Or in my case, don’t go to bed and work right through.) Also, can I just say, holy hell Piha can be beautiful on a semi-overcast day! The light was pretty incredible. We worked right through until it started to bucket down at around 6:00pm. Long day, but I got some great shots that I can’t show you yet… Until then, here are some from behind the scenes: