The Ascend Washington campaign was one of the more challenging and rewarding productions I’ve led. The goal from the start was to elevate the brand and place it in an environment that reflected its identity while pushing us creatively beyond more accessible or conventional locations.

Working closely with Olympic National Park service members, I developed a production plan that spanned multiple environments across the region. Pre-production involved coordinating permits and protected land restrictions, casting talent with familiarity in outdoor recreation, and building a schedule that could support a five-day shoot across hundreds of miles of terrain, including mountains, remote beaches, and rainforests.

Given the scale and unpredictability of the Pacific Northwest, adaptability was necessary and expected. Weather and tide conditions often differed from our initial scouting, requiring constant adjustments in our approach. Rather than limiting the production, these shifts allowed us to capture a broader range of conditions. The variety of rain and fog gave us an opportunity to capture a library of imagery that could span multiple seasons.

After the shoot, photo and video assets have been utilized across catalogs, commercial campaigns, paid media, social, and retail signage throughout the United States and Canada. The campaign continues to be one of the most widely used and downloaded Ascend campaigns to date.