The MEGA Experience with Kim Jones is magical, mystical, and certainly more than just your average holiday tour. Set at the breathtakingly beautiful slot canyons of Arizona, USA, it is certainly worth singing about.
Related: Makeup Artist Xeng Zulueta On How To Get Kim Jones’ Beauty Look
Digital Creative
All MEGA shoots are, at their hearts, creative collaborations. A team of artists put their heads together to create a concept and execute it. The model plays a significant role, taking a character, a story, and playing it out for the camera. Kim Jones, with her inimitable style and passion for creative expression, takes her role as the camera’s muse one step further. During her cover shoot she also served as creative director. She oversaw everything from makeup to lighting, styling and even the photos’ final incarnations in the magazine.
The Climb
Like most creative endeavors, the MEGA Experience with Kim Jones was a challenging shoot. Not only was the team and Jones out of their comfort zones, but it was also a logistical nightmare. They are flying in several people from different locations and having to time everything down to the last minute. Arizona’s ancient and hallowed slot canyons also put the team and the shoot at the mercy of nature’s caprice. And just as luck would have it, the weather decided to go awry at the start of the shoot. It wasn’t just light rain or a gentle snowfall, but a snowstorm. It grounded flights and blanketed entire landscapes in inches of glistening white ice. Jones, her team from The Fore, and a lean MEGA team had only a few hours—two to be exact—to shoot a cover. One that had to be as iconic as the other MEGA shoots in the past.
Wildest Dreams
Artists know that creating art takes one to unexpected places. And as unsexy as it may sound, planning is key –along with an adaptable and open mindset, and a determination to “get a cover-worthy shot”. Thankfully, Jones and company were all up to the task, Murphy’s Law be damned. The team trooped in and out of the canyons, up other rock formations in inclement weather. This MEGA Experience defied the non-ideal creative environment, resulting in a cover and a shoot that exceeded their wildest expectations.
