Curious, do people prefer when the model wears sunglasses? I find it really takes away from the atmosphere, not being able to see her eyes. But maybe I'm the minority? Just wondering.

Personally I think it adds style to scenes if eyewear is sometimes used, and I do know there are people who prefer models wearing glasses, that's come up before.

In this case though it was either sunglasses or no shoot. While the North is of course famous for cooler temperatures and a shorter outdoor sploshing season than locations further south, when high summer does come it often brings blazing heat and even more blazing light. This particular day the sun was absolutely blasting down from a cloudless blue sky, this scene was done during the hottest part of the day, and of course because such weather is relatively rarer here our people aren't as used to it. A few years before Felicity actually got sunstroke doing mud shoots in that kind of weather, plus if its too bright people end up keeping their eyes mostly shut in compensation, which can kind of spoil the look. Plus of course the wet mud surface and the river both reflect sunlight back from the ground, a bit like snow can do, which is why people wear sunglasses when skiing.

If someone is finding the sun is too much on a bright day, I'm happy for them to wear sunglasses rather than be squinting against the glare.