While it’s true that photo shoots for magazines happen year-round, summer is by far the busiest season for photographers and stylists who work for shelter publications. It seems just as my peonies begin to bloom, I’m cutting them fresh to tote off to a location alongside other flowers I pick up at Twin Cities Flower Exchange, a Minneapolis-based wholesaler who works with more than two dozen local farmers. As I write this, we’re only half-way into summer and my shoots have ranged from an adorable Craftsman and a historic Bauhaus home in St. Paul to a refreshing before-and-after in Omaha and a colorful poolside dream in Austin, Texas, for three different magazines.
Some cuttings from my peony bushes out front often end up making an appearance in homes that we photograph.
The crew (here and below) at our Austin, Texas, shoot, where the day we worked mostly outside shooting exteriors broke a record for the excessive heat there. Yeehaw! Thank goodness for kind homeowners, who in this case, kept us plied with pitchers of ice water that we ended up pouring over our heads.
Poolside break at our Austin location.
A perk on this shoot in Omaha, Nebraska, was working with my longtime friend and colleague, photographer Kim Cornelison (right).
Producing photo shoots encompasses everything from planning the story and how it visually should play out, working with editors and photo and art directors, prepping by lining up teams (in my case, fabulous styling assistants) and prop shopping, then the not-so-glamorous part of packing props (sometimes very carefully to ship to the location or not-so-carefully by cramming into my car for a drive), then unpacking and staging. I love this part of my job, which is a mix of stylist, writer, and editor, because I enjoy being an active part of the team responsible for visually telling the story of the home. Make no mistake though, it is work, and much of it involves laborious schlepping of objects, back and forth from shops, my prop room, and ultimately to the locations and then back again. Below are some of the not-so-pretty moments.
The homeowner in Austin captured the not-so-Texas friendly temps.
The unglam part of the job—toting flowers from Minneapolis to Omaha, then caring for them overnight in the hotel room next to the AC the day before arriving on location.
Stuffing the car with plants and props to head out for the day.
I carried in most of the expensive/borrowed props as well as the plants and flowers to spend the night in the hotel room the day prior to the shoot.
Beginning to stage in the garage for the Omaha shoot for Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
The set-up behind the scenes to provide “sparkle light” by Kim Cornelison and her husband and digital tech, Alfie.
With another half of the summer yet to come, I am looking forward to more shoots, from homes to an Airstream that is scheduled for its up-close moment just before Labor Day, an ideal bookend to the this season.
Alfie and I have also known each other for about 20 years. Now we require reading glasses. #Old
My go-to talented assistant, Abbey, only needs fun glasses because #Young! Here she is in the Austin Motel where we stayed for the week while shooting for HGTV magazine with photographer Adam Albright.
The hotel pool felt pretty, pretty good after a long hot day of work. Order up: Frozen vodka slushies and people watching.