When Sydney and New Zealand-based photographer, Troy Goodall was presented with the brief for Schick Razors’ Feral Beards campaign, he was immediately intrigued. Stroking his non-existent beard for inspiration, he dived in with the creative team at Y&R NZ to capture the movement away from the Hipster beard and highlight the quality of the advertised product, Schick Razors. “The shoot was totally enjoyable especially since the talent were all hipsters who were completely in love with their beards,” says Goodall. Deciding on how to create the beards proved a challenge though.

“As a team, we looked at all the options for creating the rodent beards including taxidermy and artificial and natural furs. Then Electric Art, who were on board for retouching, suggested that they source live animals at their end and shoot the elements to match in with the portraits,” he says. Animal photographer Stephen Stewart shot the animals, matching the portrait lighting and posing the animals. “Getting the live ones was the way to go for the greatest result because all the beards are their own little characters,” says Goodall.

Photographer: Troy Goodall. Creative Director: Josh Moore, Tom Paine, Ben Coulson. Website: www.troygoodall.com. Campaign: Feral Beards. Art Director: Mark Tallis. Client: Schick NZ. Copywriter: Cameron Dowsett. Agency: Y&R NZ. Retouching: Electric Art.