The Magazine Photo Shoot

For todays post I am going to share some of the images I took while on a recent photo shoot with Style at Home magazine.  I can only post selected images of the actual process as they want to be the first to publish the finished images of the house. 

You're probably wondering how this all came about... Back in May I was contacted by the magazine to be the guest writer for their Shopping Etc page.  It was during our conversations that I mentioned we were just finishing up the interior design of a fabulous beach house on PEI.  Would they be interested in seeing it?  Yes there were and I was asked to send along some preliminary images of the project to the design editorial staff.

 

I firmly believe in the above fortune so much so that I carry it around with me in my wallet as a daily reminder to myself.  However, and this is big, I also realize that you have to find your own opportunities and if I have to do the knocking so be it. 

 Meet Margot Austin.  Margot is the Senior Design Editor for Style at Home magazine.  Margot is also a big fan of PEI and has family roots here.  Margot also has her own website and blog at   http://www.margotaustin.ca/

After seeing various images of the house they decided it was a good fit for the magazine.  Can you imagine how thrilled I was when the photo shoot was firmly booked for Sept 2 and 3?  Excited doesn't even cover it.  Every interior designer wants their work in magazines.

Day 1, Margot and I enjoyed an early breakfast at Number One Grafton http://www.onegrafton.ca/ and then headed out to the house.  After scouting the house in the morning to choose extra accessories and props we stopped for a little walk along the beach.  I have to mention that on both days of the photo shoot the weather was sunny and hot.  In fact, it was very hot.  I think those were the hottest days all summer with temps hovering around the 33 degree mark and humidex at 43.  Luckily the house has air conditioning.

It was a beautiful day and Margot looked pretty happy to be here.  With the tide out we were able to enjoy a few minutes of relaxation before getting down to some extra shopping and detail planning.  Margot came to my shop and chose a few extra things to enhance the house.  We then went and checked on the flowers, had a late lunch, and she left to prepare for the day of the photo shoot.

Day 2.  The photo shoot.  The team for the day was Margot Austin, Stacey Haines, Stacey's assistant Lea, myself and Anita.  We started at 9am Friday morning and finished up 12 hours later. 

First things first, all the pretty flowers were brought in before anything else so they would survive the day.  There were blue hydrangas, green hydrangas, yellow snap dragons, pink roses, blue delphiniums and a few other ones that I can't remember their names.  As you can see there were lots to choose from.  I love flowers.

The photographer was Stacey Haines and this was her equipment.  See more of her beautiful work here.
 http://www.staceyhaines.com/ 

The first room to get styled and photographed was the kitchen.  And I am so sorry but I promised not to take any pictures of the finished rooms.  This is Margot starting to style the kitchen deciding which items would make the shot.

After dozens of images are taken Margot and Stacey carefully review them.  Here, Stacey just finished photographing the kitchen.  She took 2 different angles showing both sides of the room.  The set up time for each room was aproximately 45 minutes and after each room is photographed they review all the shots.

If required changes are made to the room and it is rephotographed and/or restyled so that each shot comes out just picture perfect.

Next up was getting the great room camera ready.  The shelves were the first to be styled and then the furniture was moved a bit to accomodate the camera angles and then layered with more pillows, throws and flowers. 

The shots in this room were of the built-in shelving and then the room itself. They actually had me in one of them but whether I make it to the magazine, I won't know until it is produced.

I did take a couple of pictures.
 

 
 I couldn't help myself.
 

 
However, I didn't take any pictures of the entire finished and styled rooms. That will remain a surprise.

After working on the kitchen and great room we had a well deserved lunch break using up many of the food props that were used in the kitchen shots.  By this point we were all starving!!!

Lea made this healthy feast for us and it was absolutely delish...  

After lunch it was on to more rooms.  This is Stacey moving her camera to a new location with Lea following closely behind with the computer.  

 

Margot told me this was going to be a big spread, perhaps as many as 10 pages. The rooms are the kitchen, the diningroom, the great room, the sunroom, the master bedroom, one of the girls bedrooms, a bathroom, the laundry room and two exterior shots.  Along with those rooms several vignettes of close ups were also photographed. 

I don't have any more images to share as my camera battery died on me halfway through the day.  This was such a fabulous experience for me and one I will never forget.  I learned alot from it, met some wonderful people and will have the thrill of having one of my favorite projects available for all the readers of Style at Home to enjoy.

Once the photo shoot was over last week I was able to concentrate this week on my next new and very exciting project.  This is the main floor of 98 Fitzroy Street.  A brand new building office building in downtown Charlottetown.

If you look closely you can see a for lease sign in the window. 

That sign is about to be replaced as it is now fully leased.  To me.  This is the new home for Moving Designz Home & Cottage.  I've been working and planning on moving my shop from Summerside to Charlottetown for the better part of this year.  Early last week I finalized the deal. 

 

I finally found the perfect location and picked up my keys last week.  Do I look happy?  Yes I am, very! 

Our plan is to be open by October 12.  I feel lucky that  both Anita and Ashley are following me and helping with all the advance planning.  There certainly is alot of work and planning for us to do.

I'm so looking forward to this new endeavor and bringing our style of furniture and home decor to Charlottetown.  

Thanks for reading.  Have a great week!

Susan