Letter: 004
List: Early Islanders
Status: Shoot Note
Origin: Tenerife

ATTACHMENT: 001
FILE: TENERIFE-FIELD-TEST-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE

ISLA NOIR Tenerife field test

Planned in London, shot in Tenerife, April 2026.

Shoot Notes 001

Tenerife

The first test shoot, one roll of 35mm Kodak film, and the images that started shaping the Isla Noir world.

TO: EARLY ISLANDERS
FROM: the field – Tenerife
DATE: April 2026

Dear Islander,

After the first samples were finalised, I had one made for my cousin Alma in Tenerife.

She wore it, sent me a voice note, and very quickly the idea of a test shoot started forming between London and the island.

This was the first time the pieces were going to be seen properly.

AUDIO ARCHIVE / ALMA
FILE: VOICE-NOTE-001.M4A
SOURCE: TENERIFE FIELD TEST

Translated from Alma’s voice note:

“I loved it, especially for hiking… I was surprised it didn’t smell bad, considering how fitted the shirt was.”

“And then for the water, I loved it… Aside from the fact that it looked aesthetically beautiful… it didn’t move, it didn’t ride up or down, it didn’t shift.”

“I was super comfortable. I didn’t even notice I was wearing something new, you know?”

We planned the shoot in about a week: me in London, Alma in Tenerife.

There was no big campaign. No full size run. No perfect production plan. Just two sample sizes and a PDF moodboard.

The idea was simple: fly over for three days, with one full day to shoot, and see what happened when the pieces left the sample stage.

I bought extra 35mm Kodak film. Alma got a few friends on board to shoot for fun, so we could make the first visuals and quietly see how the samples felt on other people too.

01 / PLANNED IN LONDON
ATTACHMENT: 002
FILE: TENERIFE-MOODBOARD-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE
ISLA NOIR Tenerife moodboard

The world in my head, before the first shoot.

I flew over from London very last minute.

Then, of course, the island decided to be dramatic.

Tenerife was cloudy, windy, with a late-notice storm rolling in. The shoot had been planned around spring light, beach scenes, movement, and that slightly sun-worn island feeling I had been building in the moodboards.

02 / THE FIRST LOCATION
ATTACHMENT: 003
FILE: TENERIFE-NORTH-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE
Tenerife first location image 1 Tenerife first location image 2
Tenerife first location image 3 Tenerife first location image 4

The first location, before the storm changed the plan.

The first location gave us a few beautiful moments, but the weather kept shifting.

It was April, still cold, and everyone was helping as a favour. I could not exactly ask the girls to get in the sea and pretend it was high summer.

So the shoot became less about perfect wet product shots and more about feeling: how the pieces looked on the body, how they moved, how they photographed, and whether the Isla Noir world could actually show up on camera.

By the time we were ready for the second location, it had become too windy and cloudy; so we changed the plan.

We stopped for a quick coffee, then drove south.

Because in Tenerife, when the north becomes moody, the south usually has the sun waiting somewhere.

03 / SOUTH FOR THE SUN
ATTACHMENT: 004
FILE: TENERIFE-SOUTH-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE
Tenerife south image 1 Tenerife south image 2
Tenerife south image 3 Tenerife south image 4

Down south, the island gave us the light.

Down south, everything softened.

We decided to catch the sunset and go after the grungier shots from my moodboards: less polished swimwear campaign, more island girls after the water. Sun lowering, hair messy from the sea, pieces being worn like part of the day rather than saved for a perfect shoot.

The photos started turning out better than I could have imagined.

Not because everything went to plan.

Because it did not.

04 / FIELD OBJECTS
ATTACHMENT: 005
FILE: SURFBOARD-FINS-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE
Tenerife borrowed objects image 1 Tenerife borrowed objects image 2
Tenerife borrowed objects image 3 Tenerife borrowed objects image 4

A Channel Islands surfboard, freediving fins, and the first signs of the world becoming real.

The surfboard came together at the last minute. Alma somehow managed to find a Channel Islands board a couple of nights before the shoot.

The girls had freediving fins, so they became part of the photos too.

It was all very makeshift in the best way. A surfboard. A pair of fins. Two sample sizes. One roll of 35mm Kodak film. Friends helping for the love of it. A storm in the background. A sunset we had to chase.

And somewhere in the middle of that, the first Isla Noir images started to appear.

05 / THE FIRST VISUAL MOOD
ATTACHMENT: 006
FILE: TENERIFE-LOOKBOOK-001.JPG
SOURCE: ISLA NOIR ARCHIVE
Tenerife lookbook image 1 Tenerife lookbook image 2
Tenerife lookbook image 3 Tenerife lookbook image 4

The first shoot that made the world visible.

This was the first time Isla Noir started to look like something outside my head: island light, surf girls, old film, imperfect weather, and pieces made to move between the water and everything after.

Not finished.

Not polished.

But visible.

I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes from this shoot on the website, with a visual diary for each shoot we create.

From the field,

Alexandra

P.S. I created a vlog with the behind-the-scenes footage from this shoot on TikTok — the stormy start, the last-minute location switch, the Channel Islands surfboard, and the little moments that became part of the first Isla Noir archive.

BTS NOTE / TENERIFE
FILE: SHOOT-BTS-001 / 002
SOURCE: FROM THE FIELD
Watch BTS Part 1
Watch BTS Part 2

FOLLOW THE BUILD ON TIKTOK

Island Letters / Shoot Notes / Last updated July 2026