If we can persuade a female icon to take leave from the Paris Fashion
shows, and then take three flights with a combined 16 hours flying time,
only to then arrive in a Mars like desert with no accommodation other
than tents, we better have a good plan when she reaches her tent. We did
have a plan, but when Cara arrived in Namibia the weather was so windy
and stormy that we could not even hold a glass of water in our hands. It
hadn’t properly rained in this part of the Kanaan Desert for two years,
but the day we arrived for one of our most ambitious productions, it
started to properly rain. You could not make this shit up. But this poor
weather created an opportunity not a threat, as it always does.
Although the storm cleared through the night, it was still unseasonably
cold and when we arrived at the top of the sand dunes at dawn, the
distant mountains were enveloped in low cloud. This is most unusual and
added a whole new element to what I already knew was a visually
intoxicating location. The wind had also left new textural patterns in
the sand. The positioning of Cara and the cheetah on the ridge of the
dunes lends a pleasing compositional balance to the picture. It was not
all down to fortune and I could not have done this without the help of
the Naankuse team in Namibia and in particular Rudi and Marlice Van
Vuuren. It also helps that I know the dunes well; any filmmaker must
make decisions quickly at sunrise in the desert. The light I needed to
amplify the beauty of the content is only gifted for a brief period. The
real credit goes to Cara Delevingne though, what a force of nature she
is and a total professional. It is not easy walking naked in those dunes
with a cheetah watching your every move. The best pictures are
authentic and can never be taken again. I think this raw and elemental
picture ticks those boxes. It is a glimpse of our beautiful world.