The Idea:
I love when my clients allow me to get creative and take ideas from just a thought in my head all the way to reality. Working with unique vehicles like the Defender always sparks my imagination, especially when the goal is to present it in a way that feels fresh and different.
Defenders are fascinating vehicles—quirky, flawed, and full of character. That’s part of what makes them so beloved. I started thinking, “What if we did a shoot that didn’t really make sense?” From there, the idea evolved: “What if this shoot wasn’t just about a car in an amazing location? What if we added a character to tell a story?”
Once the concept began to take shape, I reached out to stylist Louise Lace to bring her expertise into the mix. After some brainstorming, we nailed down the idea: a Land Rover Defender paired with a model in stunning evening wear, set against breathtaking Scottish landscapes. The juxtaposition of elegance and ruggedness would create a sense of intrigue—something that makes people stop and wonder about the story behind the images.
The Styling:
Louise took the lead on styling and shared her thoughts about the process:
“After receiving the brief, the biggest challenge was finding outfits and accessories that were visually exciting yet complemented the Defender and the dramatic landscapes. My goal was to create two distinct looks that captured different emotions and provoked curiosity.
For the first look, I chose a vibrant red evening gown from Fame & Partners paired with a faux fur cream stole and delicate gold shoes. It was bold and commanding, much like the Defender itself. The second look was more sultry—a lace Jarlo Valentia dress with a thigh split, accessorized with faux fur and metallic accents. Both outfits mirrored the contrast between elegance and adventure.”
The Shoot:
We headed to the Scottish Highlands at the end of November. The weather was unpredictable, but that only added to the adventure. Our crew stayed in a cozy log cabin near Fort William, which served as our base for the shoot.
Day 1 was all about the journey to the location. Snow started falling as we drove, so naturally, we stopped for some impromptu photos of the Defender in the snow-dusted landscape. By evening, we’d arrived at our cabin and prepped for the next day.
Day 2 began with perfect weather—crisp, cold, and clear. The first location featured stunning natural light, which I enhanced with a soft box for fill. Our model, Sophie Townend, nailed every pose, making my job as the photographer much easier. The highlight was a shot by the loch, where the sunlight reflected off the water, backlighting Sophie like a goddess. The slight dampness of her dress added a touch of realism that I love.
Later, we captured a mix of car-only shots and more dynamic images featuring Sophie. One spontaneous moment involved her walking towards the Defender in a natural light setup, which became one of my favorite images of the day.
Day 3 brought heavy rain, but we embraced it. The rough weather lent itself to raw, emotional imagery. Sophie braved the cold in the black lace dress, perfectly embodying the contrast between elegance and ruggedness. We backed the Defender into a loch for one particularly striking shot, with Sophie walking towards the camera in the rain, the red dress flowing dramatically. It was a scene full of questions and contrasts—exactly what we aimed to achieve.
Roads were salty with bits of snow at the edges. No worries when in a Defender though!
In the highlands and a quick break for more photos, quite amazing seeing the hills covered in snow.
We then went to the road used in Skyfall and took a few more shots.
Day 2: The real shoot begins, the weather is perfect, if a little cold and the location was just spot on for what we were after.
So onto the model shots, Sophie absolutely nailed the poses making life very easy for me and meaning I could focus on lighting and composition of the shot. The ideal model!
With the beautiful natural light I decided to keep things simple and only use a little bit of fill in flash (using a soft box) from the right of Sophie. It was important to me that the shot looked natural.
The next shot was a little more challenging, the sun was reflecting brightly in the loch (that’s the lake) but I wanted to work with that and use it to back light Sophie like a goddess! My Profit B1 was set to full power, again with the soft box and it just about had enough power to balance Sophie and the Defender with the background behind. The dress was a little bit wet, but to me this makes the shot more real which I love.
Of course to make it a full set of photos I took some shots of the Defenders without Sophie too. Also, I love an excuse to dip some wheels in water!
On our way to the next location… I do think the two Defenders look cool together with matching plates!
This was a bit of an impromptu, quick shot. The light was amazing so we quickly got Sophie ready and shot a fully natural light shot of her walking towards the Defender.
I was trying to get a shot of the Defender a bit off road. The below shot was the most ambitious place I tried. After thinking the risk of getting it stuck was too high I reversed back to the road and we continued to our next location.
This location was actually more suited to car only shots and the light was starting to fade with the clouds starting to come in too. Time for the second dress as it felt fitting for the scenery.
I managed to park the defender up on a raised part of the car park which made it look like we’d conquered a mountain!
And here’s a photo from Charlie of me moving the Defender back off the rock so we could head back.
Day 3: The day of the rain. Lots of rain!
I chose a different area a bit further north for the third day of shooting which was a bit of a gamble on location as it was a bit dependent on us being able to get the defenders to a spot I could see on Google Maps. We got there and went for it and it was just about okay, we got both Defenders down a very very rocky track and through a little stream to get to an amazing location for shooting. This is one of the reasons I love shooting Defenders, you can get them to and shoot them in places that wouldn’t be possible with anything else!
So first shot of the day was with Sophie in the black and white dress, I asked her to really get the emotion across of how she was actually feeling, slightly pissed off at being out in the cold!
I then wanted to contrast the previous image to really make people question what’s going on in the set. So we backed the Defender into the water a little and I asked Sophie to walk towards the camera, but I wanted her looking like she’s in a great mood and actually happy to be out in the rain with a Defender in a Loch! I chose this image as the dress falls perfectly and I think you can look at the image for ages and just keep asking questions…
After the above two photos Sophie needed a chance to warm up in the car, so this gave us a chance to take the Defender dipping in the water more…
Raining really quite hard…
Would have been rude not to dip the 90 in too!
I then saw a rock which was perfect to perch a wheel on… It had to be done!
My next location planned was near Eilean Donan Castle. Unfortunately the rain was too hard to make that location work so we got a quick photo in the car park then turned round and set back for Fort William and the Log Cabin.
On the way back though I spotted this little cut through off the side of the main road which gave us a little shelter from the rain and looked ideal for some photos.
So Louise got Sophie ready again in the red dress and we got shooting. This time with the soft box and a golf reflector to try and get Sophie’s skin to glow. I love the feeling to these last photos of the shoot.
I love the mystical feel to this image, I feel it really makes you ask more questions about what’s going on.
Of course the Recaros are perfect whatever you’re wearing.
By this point in the shoot, the dress has taken two days of abuse rubbing along the ground. Louise looks upset that a beautiful dress is ruined but we’re all really happy with the results.
I thought it’d be interesting to ask Sophie, the model, for a few words on her thoughts on the shoot. This is what she said:
I was excited to be modelling on location in Scotland rather than in a studio. The scenery was beautiful and we as a team were all very enthusiastic about the shoot ahead. Although it was cold, the stylist was helpful passing me a coat in between shots; therefore, my facial expressions and body language did not show how cold and windy it really was! Due to the wind my hair and bottom of my dress did not stay in place, all the elements of the shoot had to be right so we had to take quite a few shots in each location so we got a good one! The rain also became an issue as my hair and makeup would get ruined if it got wet, therefore we opted to use an umbrella, thankfully it worked in the shot. I enjoyed wearing the beautiful dresses amongst the magnificent landscape, it felt quite empowering. The Defenders gave the shoot an edge; it was quite different to anything I had done before which was fun to experience. I also liked being part of such a lovely team where each member was passionate about their role. When each element of the shoot is right it creates something great, so I enjoyed being a part of that.
So that was how we blended Fashion with Defenders to tell a story which didn’t make a whole lot of sense! Mission accomplished!
