Inspired by wedding gown designer Rue De Seine, Seattle-based photographer Brittany Carvalho of Blue Rose Photography wanted to bring together gorgeous golden light and soft sand dunes for a fashion series. Carvalho chose to shoot in Palm Springs, California—she had never been before—but when she got to the desert city, she was a little dismayed with what she found.

“The only sand dunes are over an hour away,” Carvalho says, but she made the most of the environment regardless, finding a unique backdrop along the side of a highway to bring her slightly modified vision to life, ultimately earning a first-place honor in Rangefinder’s 2018 Wedding Competition.

“I kept telling the model to ‘become one with the sand,’ which actually got a good laugh and also helped to let her know what I wanted,” Carvalho says. “I wanted a connection between her and the desert elements.” And while the picturesque sand dunes may have been absent from this shoot, Carvalho says she still lucked out with the golden light. “Being from Seattle, it is such a treat to get a chance to shoot anything in such pure, golden, unfiltered light. I was in heaven.”

(Captured using a Contax 645 medium-format camera with an 80mm Zeiss lens. Printed on 120mm Kodak Porta 160 film, scanned on a Frontier scanner at Photovision in Salem, Oregon. Hair and makeup @beautybymelina, model @cassandraranae, florals @laura_instyleblooms, dress @ruedeseinebridal.)

© Blue Rose Photography

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