What would you do if you only had 12 hours in London?

London is a huge city. I’ve been here for six years and have barely skimmed the surface of what it has to offer, so to do it in 12 hours is a mean feat. One worthy of being shot by photographer Valerie Phillips. Who, after coming across model Sara Cummings on Instagram, knew she had discovered something special. Taking that and running with it/getting Cummings on a plane to London, the pair planned to meet up to shoot a series of photos over ten days. Instead, Cummings had issues with her visa and was contained for eight hours in customs before being released into Phillips’ custody for the night. “It was a bit like falling in love with the idea of somebody and then having them walk out of that ‘idea’ into real life and it being exactly the same,” recalls Phillips of their first meeting. While the pair have seen each other since, Phillips is releasing the images of that night in her new book you left your ring on the floor of my bedroom as an ode to their English adventure. Below, we catch up with the dynamic duo.

How did you both meet?

Valerie Phillips: In tears at Heathrow after spending eight hours at arrivals waiting to see if they would let Sara into the country.

Sara Cummings: We met in person when I was finally let out of a little back room in the airport where they had me for hours and hours. We saw each other when I came out of arrivals and burst into tears. I think Valerie found me on instagram – that’s how all this started.

What made you want to shoot the images?

Valerie Phillips: I had seen a picture of Sara a few weeks before. I Skyped her and said I wanted to fly her to London to take pictures. Luckily she was into it. I had been kicking around ideas for my next book, and then Sara blasted to the top of the ‘urgent’ list.

Sara Cummings: Valerie invited me to London to shoot with her and after being held in some kind of unexpected captivity at the airport, I just wanted to run free and jump around in the street and go crazy.

“We saw each other when I came out of arrivals and burst into tears” – Sara Cummings

What drew you to each other?

Valerie Phillips: Instinct, first. Her face, second. I had a feeling we needed to know each other and I was right.

Sara Cummings: I liked her pictures, she made me laugh on Skype and I thought it would be fun to hang out with her in London. I’m also super instinctive.

I know there were some troubles with your visa, Sara. What did you both have in mind when you thought you might be able to stay for longer?

Valerie Phillips: I had a bunch of adventures planned in and out of London over ten days or so. Loose plans though, as I don’t like rigid parameters around my book projects. Usually I make my books in the girl’s own environment, so this was already a strange and unique starting point for me –  in my house and outside on my street.

Sara Cummings: I didn’t really know the plan, I just loved Valerie’s books and thought it would be fun do a project with her.

What did you get up to instead?

Valerie Phillips: Sara wanted to stay up all night and put on every single piece of clothing and jewellery in her suitcase and make a book. Since we were pretty much told at the airport we couldn’t do this project, the night was infused with a frantic energy and we felt a little like fugitives on the run in Kentish Town.

Sara Cummings: We bought beer, massive bars of Cadburys chocolate and HP sauce (I’m obsessed) at the store on Valerie’s corner. Then we stayed up all night and made a book. I think I slept for 20 minutes on some ‘superhero’ sheets.

What do you both feel about the finished book?

Valerie Phillips: For me, it’s a document of a magical life changing August night, spiked with a mania impossible to recreate. So it’s a million times better and more special than anything we would have made over a longer period of time, in my opinion.

Sara Cummings: I can’t really be objective about it because it was such a crazy intense night, which bonded me and Valerie for life and I wouldn’t trade it for having made work over a longer period.

Was there anything memorable that happened that night?

Valerie Phillips: After I brought Sara back to Heathrow (about 12 hours since we met there the previous day) I stopped into Mario’s my local cafe and met some friends who asked me if Sara had arrived yet and how the project was going. I told them she’d already been and gone in a night. Then I started to think that maybe I’d gone crazy and it was all a dream. I was totally spaced out from staying up all night and the drama of the whole airport thing. When I went home from the cafe I found a ring that Sara had left on the floor of my bedroom and I knew that she had actually been here.

Sara Cummings: Every single minute of all of it was a beautiful crazy adventure.

Have you both managed to meet up again since?

Valerie Phillips: We’ve met up a few times since – the first being in LA where we made a zine Sara Superhero (released in April). Sara also stayed with me earlier this summer when she was in London shooting a Diesel campaign. This month we’re in Tokyo (our fave city) to launch the book together. I miss her too much if we’re separated for too long.

Sara Cummings: We meet as often as we can wherever we are in the world. We’re addicted, I guess.

you left your ring on the floor of my bedroom – published by Longer Moon Farther – is available from 1 October. See more of Phillips’ work here