Cover for Esquire Philippines August 2019, featuring the brother from another mother Matteo Guidicelli.

This concept had been in my bucket list maybe since the beginning of my career, but being able to shoot it for a magazine I had invested myself in and shoot someone like Matteo made it particularly special.

We shot a good number of layouts for this cover, but there were a few keywords that kept everything coherent: smoke, drama, dirt. I pegged my mood from war movies. But rather than a still from the movie, I imagined most shots as possible posters.

The lighting was majorly inspired by the marketing material of Call of Duty, with the glowing eyes and and strong shadows; I even used some as pegs! The main light was set on an octabox for a good soft spread, but close to Matteo to push for contrast. I had 2 black reflectors on either side to help lessen direct reflections from outside and increase the contrast on Matteo’s sides. There was a flash unit pointed down at a slanted white board to use as fill and as catch light for Matteo’s eyes. A smoke machine was used at the back releasing in small pulses to just fill the background (and feel like the aftermath of a shootout).

My initial lighting plan didn’t reflect the setup in the BTS shot—we ended up switching the designs with other layouts. But the frame and pegs were still the same.

Photography by Artu Nepomuceno
Produced by Clifford Olanday and Paolo Chua
Styled by David Milan
Grooming by Peps Silvestre

Read more here: https://www.esquiremag.ph/long-reads/profiles/matteo-guidicelli-scout-ranger-a1627-20190801-lfrm2