Sutherland Perennials - CAMP WANNAGETAWAY

During the summer of 2020, we received a call from an incredible designer who we’d always enjoyed working with on still photography productions. He had a fun new photography project: it was to be a branded coffee table book of photographs produced at an old camp in the Adirondacks. Would we be willing to come and bring our cameras?

We agreed, of course. We’re located in Texas, and we were just entering the hottest part of the summer — and we love Upstate New York so what could be wrong with packing up and taking our production on the road to a great camp in the Adirondacks.

The project was for textile Perennials Fabrics, a manufacturer of 100% solution-dyed acrylic textiles. Perennials’ technically superior fabrics are fade-resistant, mildew- and mold-resistant, bleach cleanable, and easily maintained. In other words, they’re the ultimate fabrics for outdoor furniture. To showcase these products, our designer friend (Tom) had mocked up a book that would make any photographer drool. We were stoked just to be involved.

We prepared an estimate for Tom based on his original plan to shoot in the Adirondacks. That required hiring talent, transporting them to and from the location, and renting a great camp. While we did our best to be conservative, all these logistics pushed the costs out of budget.

Since shooting in Upstate New York wasn’t feasible, we came up with a “Plan B.” We selected a location in Broken Bow, Oklahoma — a place we never thought we’d visit. We scheduled a scouting trip, rented a few houses in the area, and developed our production plan.

We flew to Broken Bow with our crew, clients, talent (5 models), and a private chef three weeks later. What a goldmine it turned out to be! Once we arrived, we shot from dawn until dusk every day until we’d worked our way through our shot list.

The best kind of client is the one who’s completely engaged in your production. Our clients on this project were those kinds of clients. Not only was the book Tom produced visually stunning, but it was also a big success for Perennials Fabrics.

We love outcomes like this, obviously, but this shoot was memorable to us for many other reasons as well. From all the time we got to spend in the majestic outdoors to the good times we enjoyed with our friends and partners, this project was a win-win-win.