Scooping up the award for the ‘Best use of Photography’ at The Magazine Publishing Association Awards was acclaimed fashion photographer Stephen Tilley, whose outstanding work on a shoot in Los Angeles for Fashion Quarterly magazine, resulted in a series of images the judges agreed were, New Zealand's finest over the last year.
The prize winning shoot was shot at an abandoned film set 90 minutes out of Los Angeles coupled with the combination of a scorched desert, and the endless sky.
"The set had a very David Lynch feel, and even had an old toothless janitor who drove a ford pickup truck and fit every cliché of the small town America," recalls Tilley. "I knew from the moment we pulled off that dusty highway, on the edge of the Mojave desert that we were going to create something special,
The shoot’s omens were good from the start, with model Marissa Machado defying the profession’s frail archetype, telling Tilley that she free-dived with great white sharks for fun in her spare time. Her exuberance, coupled with the energy of a bunch of Kiwis making the most of their time in California, lead to an unforgettable outcome for Fashion Quarterly.
The Magazine Publishing Association Awards honor magazines that demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, journalistic enterprise, and innovative techniques to support the titles, creativity and commercial success.
Photography: Stephen Tilley