Clay Cook

Behind the scenes from our production for KMAC Couture and their 2026 campaign. This year centered on the idea of “ancestor”—asking us to look both backward and forward at once. The result leans into something ghostlike: layered, suspended, and placeless. Let’s break it down.

Initially, the setup was simple and straightforward. To achieve the “angelic” look, most of the light was projected from behind the model. We set up three Profoto D2s behind a Matthews Studio Equipment, Inc. 1-stop silk, creating a silky rim light that wrapped around the subject. A white seamless paper was placed on the floor to maintain a complete whiteout.

For Fill, we boomed a Profoto D2 behind an Avenger Grip 8×8 frame with a Matthews 1-stop silk. This added just a kiss of soft light, helping to gently lift the model and the wardrobe without breaking the ethereal feel.

We then pushed the image further with plastic wrap and Scotch tape over the lens, creating a distinctly dreamy quality. To echo the wardrobe, we introduced a splash of royal blue by aiming a Profoto B10 gelled with a Rosco blue sheet toward the lens (and the plastic wrap). This produced blue highlights along the edges of the model. Diffusion paper placed beneath the lens bounced light back upward, creating a soft gradient along the bottom edge of the frame.

Lastly, I wanted to introduce an added sense of motion using rear-curtain sync. Rear-curtain sync is a flash setting that fires just before the shutter closes, rather than when it opens. As the model moved dynamically through various poses, I pushed and pulled the lens zoom and intentionally shook the camera in different directions, building the ghostlike, layered effect directly in-camera.

All video village and crew monitors were powered through a Teradeck Ace 750 wireless system and ran entirely on portable, battery-powered setups using Anker batteries. We typically run two to three ViewSonic monitors for the crew, along with one large client monitor, all positioned within a few hundred feet of our Inovativ DIT workstation.

Behind the scenes of our project with Tequila Herradura. The creative ask was a big one—requiring extensive pre-production and an eye for detail. We didn’t just need to recreate a location in a studio—we had to make it feel real. That meant carefully coordinating talent, wardrobe, food, cocktails, props, and lighting to bring the environment to life. Thankfully, I had the A-team. Now, let’s get technical: we used a total of 7 strobes, each placed with intention to add subtle layers of light and depth throughout the scene.

* The key light was a Profoto D2 bare bulb modified with an 1/4-stop CTO through a wood Matthews Cucoloris. This light provided the majority of the hard light in the scene.
* The fill light was a D2 modified with an 1/4-stop CTO bouncing into a Matthews 12x12 ultrabounce. This filled the entire scene with soft light.
* We placed a Profoto D2 modified with an 1/4-stop CTO in front of the Cucoloris. This provided an additional push of hard light on the product.
* We placed two Profoto B10s set at low power modified with a 5º Honeycomb Grid. This kissed the front of cocktails and bottle with light.
* We placed a Profoto D2 modified with an 1/4-stop CTO into a 4x4 1/2 Grid Diffusion behind the set. This light raked our stock city background fabric and push light through the window slats onto the interior wall. Yes, you can see the city background through the window slats.
* We also ran various plants, bounce cards, v-flats, floppys and flags to shape and control all our light and composition.

On our second set, we flipped the lighting approach—shifting from full backlight to hard light in a more simplified setup. All images were captured using a Phase One medium format camera paired with a Schneider-Kreuznach LS 40-80mm f/4-5.6 lens. For video village and crew monitors, we relied on a fully wireless setup powered by the Teradek Ace 750 system, running entirely on portable Anker batteries. Our crew typically has access to three ViewSonic monitors, with a larger monitor reserved for the client—all positioned within a few hundred feet of our Inovativ DIT workstation. Check out the final images in my feed!