Why we still can't get over this 'Twilight' photo shoot, 15 years later

• Vanity Fair immortalized the young cast of "Twilight" in a 2008  photo shoot that's burned into fans' brains.
• The shoot featured Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart striking semi-awkward poses in a field.
• Photographer Peggy Sirota looks back on her day on set with the stars.

On September 13, 2008, a month before the release of the "Twilight" movie adaptation would take the world by storm, photographer Peggy Sirota gathered the cast at Ventura Farms in Thousand Oaks, California, for a photo shoot that Twi-hards would later deem as immortal as the franchise's leading vampire, Edward Cullen.

The photos, which ran in the December 2008 issue of Vanity Fair, showcased the actors' enviable beauty, to be sure — but they were also a little awkward in the way only teens new to fame posing for a splashy magazine spread can be.

Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan), dangled herself back-first from a rope swing into the arms of Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) wearing a frilly black dress and Converse. Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) seemingly insisted on keeping the hood of his strangely low-cut sweatshirt just barely on in nearly every shot. Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen) was, for some reason, shirtless and holding a football among his fully clothed castmates. It was a sight to behold: like seeing the popular kids before they knew exactly how to command the cafeteria.

"I just love the purity of what we were able to capture and deliver together," Sirota told Business Insider of the photo shoot. "It's real."

After the movie hit theaters on November 21, the cast would become mega-stars as the era of the sexy vampire swept the nation. They were swarmed by paparazzi; rumors swirled of feuds with other stars and romances in equal measure. Summit Entertainment swiftly announced that a sequel, "New Moon," was in the works.

More than a decade later, the cast members' paths have diverged. Stewart is an Oscar nominee. Pattinson is Batman. Lautner is doing backflips at Taylor Swift shows. Cast reunions are few and far between, and typically don't involve the main trio of stars.

They may no longer be those kids running around a California field, posing for a major magazine as if it were their high-school yearbook, but the shoot lives on: in fans' collective consciousness, and of course, on TikTok.

Below, Sirota shares her memories from that famed photo shoot.

Sirota purposely went into the photo shoot with minimal information about the cast

Sirota, whose celebrity portraits have appeared in publications like Rolling Stone, GQ, and Variety, wasn't familiar with "Twilight" when she got the assignment from Vanity Fair, and used that to her advantage. "This is a moment in time, and I don't want to preconceive anything," Sirota explained of her shooting style. "If I'm too choreographed, it goes against the grain."

Though she got a briefing on the series before the shoot, she wanted to go into the job otherwise unbiased, with a blank slate to facilitate creativity.

"I didn't want to be persuaded by anybody's character or their social persona," Sirota said. "I wanted to just meet them and see who they were as people and see who was willing to play."

The cast of 'Twilight' put their personalities on display for Sirota

Twelve actors participated in the photo shoot: Stewart, Pattinson, Lautner, Peter Facinelli (Dr. Carlisle Cullen), Elizabeth Reaser (Esme Cullen), Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen), Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale), Nikki Reed (Rosalie Hale), Kellan Lutz (Emmett Cullen), Cam Gigandet (James), Edi Gathegi (Laurent), and Rachelle Lefevre (Victoria).

The setting was simple, yet effective: A farm with plenty of grassy land for the actors to roam, throw around a football, dangle from a wooden swing, and embrace the playfulness.

While her memory is fuzzy 15 years later, Sirota said she was likely inspired by the location's natural sunlight and wanted to capitalize on it.

"I probably just wanted to do something really pure and natural with them," she said. "That's the way I light a lot of stuff, where the light feels kind of soft and beautiful and not too hard."

The stars also didn't wear heavy makeup or elaborate outfits that rendered them unrecognizable. Instead, many of them opted for jeans and basic neutral-colored tops. Stewart paired her black dress with her signature black Converse sneakers. Lutz even ditched his shirt.

Aside from a few props, the cast members mainly played off their affection for each other. Reed kissed Stewart on the side of her forehead. Greene and Rathbone channeled their on-screen counterparts as they held on to each other, and the rest leaned on each others' bodies with candid smiles.

Sirota said that she played off the costars' genuine reactions to reuniting on the day of the photo shoot.

"It was really fun," she recalled. "At that point, everybody hadn't seen each other in a little bit. I think maybe they were on other projects and they came back together."

"There was some kind of excitement in the air, and I think you can feel that," Sirota said. "I try to bring that out and help people feel comfortable enough to just have fun in front of the camera instead of posing," Sirota said.

The cast was also game to take her suggestions.

"They were really open young actors like, 'OK, what do you want me to do?' And that's the most beautiful experience as a photographer," Sirota added. "You can get in there and inspire something within people that can project, and they were totally open and willing subjects."

Many of the photos focused on Stewart and Pattinson, given their roles as the stars of the movie. At the time, they weren't publicly dating, but people speculated about whether or not their on-screen chemistry bled into real life.

During the photo shoot, the two stars appeared uninhibited — a stark contrast to the more polished and reserved demeanor they'd present later on, after they'd been dating for a few years and became A-listers. Stewart playfully grabbed Pattinson's chin, they held hands as they leaped in the air, and struck quirky, endearing poses. Sirota said that the photos of the two stars were a result of their natural connection.

"If there's some kind of connection there, then it'll come out," she said. "But it's not like I'm asking them to embrace. So, that built upon what we were doing."

The photos still resonate with fans because the actors feel genuine and relatable, Sirota said

The Vanity Fair shoot may have been one of the first for the cast, but it was far from the last. Four "Twilight" sequels meant plenty more joint cover stories and photo shoots throughout the years.

Yet of all these, fans still return to Sirota's 2008 photo shoot more than a decade later. One user on X (formerly Twitter) even said they bookmarked the shots of Stewart and Pattinson as inspiration for their engagement photos.

"i have to post pics from this twilight photoshoot every fall or it isn't fall sorry," wrote one X user.

"I had these photos as wallpapers for a year," wrote another.

"These pictures are amazing!!! I love how close they all look to each other. Seeing these makes me want to rewatch Twilight again," a third person wrote on Reddit.

"It's innocent," Sirota said of why the photo shoot is still ingrained in people's minds. "Everybody's so concerned about their image out there and people always just wanting to look perfect. And, I don't know, all of that is somewhat unrelatable, to be honest."

"Generally most of us stop and look at moments that are real because they touch you. You relate to them. I always think I've done my job well when I am able to actually capture that."

As a perfectionist with over three decades of experience shooting celebrities like Taylor Swift and Dwayne Johnson, Sirota said she'd jump at the chance to redo some of her past work. But the "Twilight" photo shoot was different. It was perfect then, and perfect now.

"I actually really love all the images," she said. "It's just win-win all the way around."