On assignment shooting for high-end eyewear company Leisure Society, Vern Breitenbucher had the pleasure of photographing at a beautiful mid-century modern home in Palm Springs, and the displeasure of doing it in August on a day that spiked to 118 degrees Fahrenheit. The editorial and advertising photographer, who’s based in Southern California, had finished shooting a bunch of close-ups and product-related photos the day before; on this day, it was time for an establishing shot that had a lifestyle feel.

“The composition seemed obvious,” says Breitenbucher, as the house’s backyard and pool faced a beautiful mountain range. “The problem was no one could stay outside very long, so my assistant and I set up a Hasselblad H5D with a 50-110mm lens on a tripod composing the image with no one in the shot. We kept the models inside in the air conditioning to keep the makeup from melting off, then when everything was set, we moved everyone into place as quickly as possible.”

But by the time everyone was in place, Breitenbucher discovered that his gear went into thermal shutdown. “Even with the shade above the camera, it was just too hot to shoot,” he says, but luckily, he brought a backup. Breitenbucher quickly grabbed his Nikon D800 and 24-70mm lens and began to shoot.

“Because of the unplanned camera switch we weren’t tethered to a computer, and it was so bright that the rear-view screen was hard to see,” Breitenbucher recalls, “so knowing that the models would not last long in this heat, I decided to not review and just keep shooting, like in the days of film. Ultimately, everything worked out well. This shot turned out to be the cover of Leisure Society’s catalog and one of the lead images in their ad campaign.”

(Shot with a Nikon D800, a 24-70mm lens at 24mm and natural light with a 10 x 20 Silk for fill, just behind the camera.)

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