Louis Vuitton World Cup Project (Final images)

Hunter & Tara Woodhall

I got to work on a really fun project with Hunter and Tara Woodhall.

They were asked by UNICEF — who’s partnering with Louis Vuitton — to create images with the Louis Vuitton World Cup soccer ball featuring influential athletes. The concept was simple: photograph the ball in their home environment. So I went with them to shoot in their new home gym.

Here’s how it came together.

The SPACE

Everything is easier with Hunter and Tara. They both have great style, which makes planning simple. You’re not fighting wardrobe. You’re not forcing a concept.

Their home gym was awesome — but it was also completely black. And black gyms just eat light.

Before I saw the space in person, I knew from images I had received from Hunter that we were going to benefit from a bigger light source, for the space and for capturing the two of them together.

When we scouted the space, we saw these big garage doors. My first thought was to diffuse them — soften the incoming light, reduce the grid pattern from the windows, and knock down harsh shadows. We rigged up a 12x12 half grid cloth in anticipation of direct sun.

Ironically, it ended up being overcast that day. So the diffusion wasn’t as necessary as I expected — but I’d rather plan for control and not need it than the other way around.

Lighting Approach

We added a 7’ umbrella just to the right of them as our key light. The diffused daylight became more of a fill.

I shot on a 24mm lens. I like what that focal length does in a space like this — it gives context and feels immersive. But when you’re shooting two athletes together, especially with that lens, you have to think carefully about positioning and interaction.

Hunter is obviously very tall. I knew I wanted Tara standing to balance that visually. But there was another factor: skin tone and exposure.

With the umbrella close to them — trying to make it feel like a larger source — the exposure difference between Hunter and Tara was more noticeable than I expected. Hunter was popping brighter, especially early on when he was wearing white.

We adjusted wardrobe pretty quickly after reviewing test shots. Tara actually caught it first. We shifted toward a more analogous palette — greens and blues — and started thinking more intentionally about how everything related to the Louis Vuitton ball.

The ball has that rich brown tone. The complementary color to that leans royal blue. Tara ended up wearing an awesome Nike set that played right into that. Once we made that shift, the color palette locked in.

From there, I subtly brought Hunter down in exposure so he didn’t overpower the frame, and everything started to balance.

The Result

We shot for about an hour. We honestly ran out of light faster than I thought (over the house), so there wasn’t much time to experiment beyond what we needed to get. But sometimes that’s not a bad thing. It forces decisions.

Overall, I’m really happy with how they turned out.

And working with people like Hunter and Tara always makes projects like this feel easy and fun.