Thanks guys!
Words of motivation always mean a lot, it acts like fuel and is much, much appreciated.
Thank you!
If you're curious why I'm doing this, it's the result of a series of very specific events, one after another, that lead to this point.
To make the story short, when I shot professionaly in South Brazil (a very fertile place for fashion photography), I didn't have an actual studio back then.
I've always had to shoot outdoors, and that's it.
For 8 long years, never had my own studio.
Which was a actually magnificent school, that allowed me to master the strobist style in a complete range of situations.
In 2011, I've seen a Brazillian campaign I would never forget.
This one:
https://youtu.be/96groCyhiRM
They built a forest in the studio!
How F# amazing is that!
This stuck me for years and years, I just had to do my own version no matter what.
Moving back to Sao Paulo years later, I finally got my own place.
So in October 2018, I was able to do my own version of this forest-in-the-studio thing, at last.
An idea that didn't go away for 7 years!





That was the start of it all.
Everyone was so excited with the results, that I knew we couldn't just stop there.
We needed more, better, bigger.
So I came up with the idea of shooting in the Everest's summit, in studio of course.
But how could that be possible?
To bring natural rocks into the studio would be too much of a hassle... needed fake, yet realistic rocks.
The answer came from YT, a guy showing how to create fake rocks for garden decoration out of simple materials: styrofoam, cement, stuff like that.
That was 6 months ago.
I already have my summit ready
Haven't shot it, but it's ready to go.
Once you realize you can do anything with styrofoam, glue, cement, the sky is the limit.
You can do ancient ruins, temples, an Egyptian pyramid, there's simply no limits.
It's an eye opener because these materials are cheap, and it doesn't take a master in sculpture to transform these into very cool ideas.
All it takes is a good understanding of planning, good art direction (but you can go very far just by watching movies), and tons of patience to put these together (people helping you out is essential).
I'm very excited for early 2020 as I will have 5 or 6 sets ready to shoot by March.
Will keep updating this thread
It also helps that I'm a massive movie freak, to build these sets feels like I'm stepping into my own mini Hollywood.
It feels absolutely amazing, even if it drys out every cent of my wallet.
Guys, always follow your dreams.
Best regards,
Marcio Napoli