Who would’ve thought that amidst a whirlwind of chaos, we’d find ourselves dreaming up sun-soaked, beachy escapades? Let’s face it, producing tropical, vacation-ready content in the middle of a cyclone was probably not at the top of our bucket lists. Still, it’s true, we would happily go wherever the sunny Summer Somewhere takes us with their next vacation edit. 

While scouting locations, we traversed our way around Mumbai and places nearby. However, the client wanted to encapsulate more of a French vibe for her new collection ‘Vacances’ which took us to the sunny and old-timey town of Pondicherry. The beaches and old colonial town, which were lined with beautiful architecture significant to the French influence, were everything we needed to bring forward the vision. 

In the brainstorming phase, our remote team scattered across the country brainstormed numerous creative avenues to capture the essence of ‘Vacances’ even though we couldn’t physically scout locations to pinpoint the exact approach. Our trip to Pondicherry for the shoot took us through two avenues- the beach and the old French town. What ideally would’ve been a mini getaway to the city turned into bringing sunlight in the middle of a cyclone- not metaphorically. Nearing the shoot days, our team in Chennai alerted us about the incoming cyclone that caused floods all over. Despite strong apprehensions, we made our journey from Chennai to Pondicherry which lucky for us was completely untouched by the storm. 

Intending to wrap up the shoot in one day, our shoot morning started as early as 3 am to not only photograph the stunning sunrise but also to get the essence of knowing how to go about capturing the entire city. We walked around town, finding picturesque spots around the city and finally stumbled upon a gorgeous French villa which became our final destination for the evening. This not only embodied the aesthetic of the collection but all 3 spots intertwined seamlessly. 

This experience was truly one-of-a-kind because, unlike any other shoot, we got to explore the city as we were going about the shoot and get creative and get innovative solutions- whether it was in terms of finding areas for the shoot or even just figuring out outfit changes in the middle of the city.  

With a film-like aesthetic in mind, we transformed every detail of the visual language that was achieved in the post-production process and all the beautiful content captured fell into place for ‘Vacances’ by Summer Somewhere.