I believe that you can’t just sit around and wait for your dream jobs to fall into your lap. You need to go out and make it happen; create work that speaks to you, show off what you can do, and good things will happen. That’s what we did here. Over the course of a few months in 2026, my team and I designed a spec running apparel campaign from the ground up for the brand Rabbit and shot it over the course of two days with a five-person crew.
We started with the story. I live in Albuquerque, and I’ve always loved how diverse this city is. Downtown is gritty and urban, with harsh desert sunlight peaking through big concrete buildings. But drive just 10 minutes north and there’s wide open farm land, horses, vineyards, the Rio Grande, and beautiful views of the Sandia Mountains. We knew we wanted to show off our city in this way. So we had the idea of showing two runners, a man running through urban areas at sunset, and a woman running through rural areas at sunrise. We also knew that we wanted the photos to feel intense and raw, with minimal editing and shot with available light as much as possible. So we had the idea that the two runners, who didn’t know each other, were preparing for the same race with one final intense training run. We wanted a feeling of competition and pent up nervous energy as race day approached. We cast two talented models who I’ve worked with before, Cash Simpson and Shae Guzman, and I knew they’d be perfect for these roles.
Next was location scouting. We scoured satellite views of the city and physically scouted spots across town over the course of four days, preparing ideas for each shot that we eventually captured. To add to the realism, we rented an AirBNB for the opening shots of the male runner. The idea was that he just got off work and was dedicated to getting this final run in, rain or shine. We also mapped out our locations as though they were a real running loop. Next we focused on wardrobe, purchasing color combos that would create natural color contrast: blue against the warm tones of the city for the male runner, and purple/pink against the greenery of the Bosque for the female runner.
With several weeks of planning behind us, it was time to shoot. Both days of shooting went very smoothly, with no hiccups. Our producer kept us on track with our schedule, and we methodically worked our way through the shot list, finishing the shoot in about 9 hours over the course of two days. We hope you enjoy the work. If you like what you see, contact us; we’re ready to help you with your next active lifestyle campaign.
Team —> Talent: Cash Simpson and Shae Guzman. Producer: Emily Price. Camera Assistant Nolan Winters. Photographer/Director: Yours Truly.
Thanks for reading,
Ben
