The Wild Edge

New Zealand’s dramatic scenery is the backdrop for an 11-day “fall” fashion shoot in the latest issue of National Geographic Adventure, which takes the writer/photographer and his models from Auckland to Te Anau. “This is the country whose most famous and revered citizen Sir Edmund Hillary, was a mountaineer,” Steve Casimiro explains, “where they invented jet boats, commercialised bungee-jumping and turned helicopters into backcountry taxis … Facts which reflect the distinctly Kiwi spirit: clear-headed determination, ingenuity born of extraordinary isolation, and an unbridled and creative approach to adventure.” “And of course, there’s the land. Whether it’s the Maori earth-spirit influence or the simple fact that the country is home to the full gamut of Lord of the Rings landscapes, geography is a fixation that trumps even religion.”