Below Freezing with Marie Love (Patreon)

If you’ve ever wondered what it actually takes to make photos like this happen… here’s the truth: it was 18 degrees out in Upstate New York when Marie and I shot this. And not a “comfortable” 18 — I mean the kind where the air stings your face, your fingers stop listening to you, and every breath feels like it freezes on the way out.

These winter sets always look calm, clean, and effortless in the final photos — but the reality is the exact opposite. Shoots like this are small, fast, and genuinely dangerous. When you’re working with snow, ice, frozen waterfalls, and barely any clothing, you have a window of minutes before things cross from uncomfortable into straight-up unsafe. You’re literally fighting off hypothermia while trying to make something beautiful.

Marie absolutely crushed it. Most people would never even consider stepping into a location like this, let alone posing confidently on snow-covered logs and ice while the wind slices through the canyon. But she didn’t hesitate once. We had to work fast — in, shoot, out — because even though she makes it look chill, this stuff takes a toll on your body almost immediately.

But that’s what makes these images special. They’re honest. They’re raw. They’re made in real environments, with real cold, real breath in the air, and real risk behind every frame. No studio tricks. No fake snow. Just a frozen waterfall, a wild location, and Marie powering through one of the toughest kinds of shoots we do.

These winter sets are short, but they’re always some of my favorites. There’s something about the mix of harsh landscapes and soft skin tones that feels unreal — like nature shouldn’t look this dramatic and still let us create something this bold.

Thank you for supporting these kinds of shoots. They take a lot physically, but they’re the ones I’ll always remember.