I was sent to Nantucket last November to shoot some stuff for a boutique hotel group over there. It was very cold, but charming.

I went out early for a walk before meeting the team for the shoot. Nothing was open. I doubt much was going to open either.

The end.

Some backstory…

Kapil Sehgal was making waves building & overseeing the North American & European market for Ring Jacket - a Japanese tailored clothing company. Ops were ‘streamlined’ & nimble. Kapil produced and styled (and catered!) the shoot himself, as per the previous look books we had shot together. We even walked the backdrop from Oliphant ourselves to save the $200 delivery fee. I had my savvy digi-tech-first-AD-gaff-sounding-board Joseph Blum with me, a Canon 5D mk IV with the usual bag of lenses, a Canon 1V and away we went.

The ingredients were good. Kapil booked a studio in Long Island City with a huge bank of windows along one side. I wish I could remember the name of it. It had one of those Brooklyn-y studio names like “no name studio” which doesn’t help the google search. He also booked two models we had shot previously, who each brought their unique flavor to the studio and were fun to shoot.

I’d shot Yusuke Ogasawara a few times before and would later go on to shoot some campaigns with him for other brands. Khorey McDonald had shot with us since the beginning of Ring Jacket’s international debut when Nick Ragosta was in charge. Nick had the foresight to cast him in tailored clothing (for the first time I believe) and mix things up from the usual menswear faces. He did. Khorey would later become the face of Aime Leon Dore, obviously because of the worldwide success of the Ring Jacket look books.

The day we shot I was actually shooting digital, but had my Canon 1V with me in the bag as it takes the same EOS lenses as my 5D, and two rolls of Portra 400. Unfortunately a huge storm rolled in, which was great to watch via the huge bank of windows, but not so much for the diminishing “natural light” coming through them. It wasn’t a problem for the main look book as that was all lit (2 x Profoto octobank, 1x Profoto beauty dish) but it was a bit of an issue shooting iso400 film….

The 35mm rolls were very much a side project, see-what-we-get type thing… so I didn’t even shoot every look. Only when Joseph reminded me. And we very much had to hug the windows and wrap the bounce light in order to get an exposure that was hand-holdable. 1/20th, 1/50th.. eek. Livin’ on the edge. The V-flats really came in handy and we played into the black and white sides of them to mix up the look.

Most of these were 50mm and 85mm wide open, they had to be, because of the lack of light. Hence a little softness, floating around f1.4 / f1.8… Flirting with danger, praying for something sharpish. Making Joseph laugh. Not quite the f-stop you should shoot an entire look book at, but acceptable if it’s a side-quest in my opinion. It’s a mooood.

A few of these were converted to black & white and included in the final look book that went to print and sent out to buyers etc. as accents to the ‘main’ look book. Some mood. It was a nice touch. We didn’t quite have enough of the looks for a full set, nor the detail of the fabric swatches in a way that would sell the pieces. That’s ok though -it turned out that I have just enough images for a substack post 7 years on.

Thanks for reading.

The project was on Shelter Island, which is a short $25 cash-only car ferry from Sag Harbor.

We didn’t have fresh-fresh snow but it was fresh enough and there was plenty on the ground to feel “snowy”. I knew the dusk shot would be the key to simplify / darken the twiggy-looking forest.. so we didn’t spend too long outside in the daylight but I did make sure there were plenty of angles on the carport as I had brought a prop for that…

Onto the inside…

Loved the way the sun moved around in this house.

So glad we had some sun in the living room.

My very talented friend Jessie was on set arranging things, helping style, without much need to add to what was already in place as the owner had great taste, moreso to help arrange things for photo.

No surprise we didn’t use the outside dining table for lunch.

Hard to get the tripod level in a foot of snow & frozen hands.

That was enough for now, back inside to warm up…

Guest rooms were boutique-hotel-like… so we only needed to shoot one (and a half?)… Each room had a chair moment. I liked the light on this one.

Back into the cold now that it was colder outside. . .

Felt like we were in Aspen…

Wrapped…

Back to the ferry for an eery night ride home pushing through the icebergs Titanic-style…

Thanks for reading this far.

Rivay’s Spring 26 campaign went live last week, under the title “Man & The Mojave”. Jon wrote a great little piece on the plane back to New York where he shared a lot more insight and honesty about the process than I’ve read before from any other brands. He even shared the mood board. Who does that? Read it here on the The Dispatch if you missed it. Might bring a little more context to these pictures.

Either way, here’s a handful of my favorites from the shoot…

Credits first -
Talent in front: Spencer Hill
Talent behind: Kristina Boiano (stylist), Jon Ruti, Katie Boiano

Needed some sun, stat, so we found this dirt road away from the tourists and did some solid observing.

Moved on to shoot between some boulders & hunt some new texture that wouldn’t distract from the clothing...

Wrapped by about 4pm and made it out of the park before closing time.

Shoot’s not over til it’s over. Caught this sign at the lights just out of town.

So there I was, one week out from wheels-up with Rivay, with slightly more than half a roll of Ferrania “Italian race car” film stock in the 1V and no idea how my “test shots” had turned out. Time to burn through it.

Last frame… these guys hovering the corner 1 block from Colorhouse each with multiple heavyweight Leica’s slung from their necks.

Test roll done.

“a high-contrast film with low red sensitivity, just like the panchromatic stocks of the 1950s. Beautiful, powerful, and unique but not for everyone. It’s like a race car: demanding in everyday use, challenging on the track, but capable of results others can only dream of.

I am definitely no race car driver so this needed testing. What better way to test it than a drive to Meadow Lane on a crisp blue sky snow day. Roads were clear enough.

I purchased 10 rolls of Ferrania P30 in 2019. I gave a few away, I made a moody b+w print series with a handful of them and somehow I’ve still got 4 rolls of it left. Motivated by my quest to finish all loose rolls this year I knew I had to shoot this in bright light… I also had in the back of my mind that I might want to shoot a roll of this in Joshua Tree with Rivay, but needed a test with it to remind myself how to (and how not to) shoot this so I don’t waste valuable time on set firing rolls of nothingness.

I (literally) dusted off my old 24-70mm 2.8 and put it on my Canon 1V but it refused to fire. It would open the shutter, or sound like it did, and then close with error code 03. Film hadn’t rolled on. Thankfully not the “death code”.. It just didn’t like the zoom lens anymore I guess. It used to work fine years ago. This meant I’d have to keep it simple and keep the 50mm 1.2L (great lens) on the 1V, unless I was willing to wait 30seconds for the 85mm 1.2L to find some focus. So 50mm it is.

I was running out of spots to shoot with the variation I wanted to capture and didn’t want to waste it so after a quick driveway takeover I headed home. I would have to finish the film later in the week.

A few more of my fave BTS shots here, shot on iPhone or Ricoh GRIII…

Rivay Spring ‘26 Campaign coming soon.

So out we went for a little midweek 996 / 997 vacation…

I don’t think I shot any film last year. I was clearing out some things in January and I found about 10-15 rolls of various film types across 10-15 various locations in the house. So it’s now become a 2026 thing to try and burn through it all. I’ve got a few rolls of Ferrania (a temperamental iso80 Italian B+W) that I bought years ago, maybe 5 years ? it’s been in the fridge. Probably expired. This roll of portra was found rolling around the external pocket of my Billingham bag which I don’t really use anymore due the ease of a roller bag through the airport.

After the ‘minimal’ and extremely windy parking lot scenario we headed for the dock. I didn’t intend on driving on the dock, but before I knew it I was following Geoff right up there, front row, bewildered by a sudden bout of boldness as he reversed into place.

Portra400 really warms things up... I’ve never shot cars on film, I was inspired by Aryton Cinco’s 996 photos he shoots all the time. I think I need to find a film stock that doesn’t warm things up too much. Warm is nice, but, glacier white looks more like carrara white if I’m going to be particularly car-nerd about it. I think I have a roll of fuji-something here somewhere.

Shot a lot at f8 which is a little “off brand” for me apparently but the 50mm 1.2 is still really nice even when it’s not wide open. I keep telling myself that. I’m finding that I’m liking a little more depth in film too instead of mooshing it out too much. I want to see a bit more if the scene is worth seeing.

After the dock we were hungry. I didn’t want to overshoot it. Great selection of gluten free / vegan / dairy free bakery treats at Naturally Good for those wondering. Perfect excuse for a drive that’s far enough but not too far.

That was our day. I did end up going out a few days later to finish the roll. Was extremely cold out, went to southampton solo. Prefer the digital ones I took on my Ricoh to be honest…..

NB. This is not a guarantee or a pre-cursor that suggests that I will write this much ever again, but I have been reading substacks and finding them more interesting than instagram so that’s why I’m here. Shout out Michael Williams and John Peabody for the inspiration.