JACKSON HOLE, WYO – Production crews from a nationally-known outdoor retail clothing company brought plenty of snow and ice with them as they transformed July into a very convincing December look at the historic Miller House.
LL Bean used the Refuge’s iconic homestead as one of its backdrops this week, with images scheduled to appear later this year in the renowned company’s Christmas catalog.
According to senior photo producer Melissa Klein, the company has a narrow window in which to capture images of new products. Goods are first designed, fabricated, run through a product testing lab, then field tested by third-party vendors before getting the thumbs up to go public. Considering the production time needed to create a catalog, photos of the new items often need to be shot out of season.
“It’s not ideal,” Klein admitted, “but it’s the timeline that works.”
That’s where creativity and a special effects crew come into play.
To make the scene appear fitting for the season, a production crew busied themselves this week making environmentally-friendly artificial snow for the shoot. Several techniques were used on location, including the application of a watersculpt snow batting to create a winter-like ground cover. An array of props including icicles, a wreath, wrapped packages, and an ornament-laden tree added a convincing element to the look.
No sneak peak photos were available from the Refuge. The catalog will out in November.
By the way, LL Bean was founded in 1912, the same year the National Elk Refuge was established.
