Cottage Style Photo Shoot

The photo shoot for Better Homes and Gardens

New Cottage Style is now a wrap so let me give you 

a quick peek behind the scenes of how it played out.

Two large boxes arrived the day before the shoot

filled with pillows, throws and a few accessories.

On the morning of the shoot, photographer Michael Partenio arrived with his assistant David McCaughan.  As they unloaded and began setting up their equipment, stylist Stacy Kunstel arrived in a second truck with flowers, plants and other props.   

Because most of the house was being photographed, I set a table up in the shower which became the prop room.  This was an out-of-way place for props and where flower arrangements could be set up.

Photographing began upstairs.  Michael's camera outputs its images to a large monitor making it really easy to see the details of each shot.   It's a pretty cool setup.  I want one.

After setting up each shot, Michael takes a few test shots.  Once he's happy with the basic frame of the shot, Stacy steps in and "styles" each shot. This might involves moving a few pillows, adding flowers, etc.  Here, Michael and Stacy are reviewing their image before taking the final shots.

For more about Stacy and Michael, see this post.

As each shot is taken, Dave is on standby to adjust lighting and/or grab more equipment.

Each shot could take up to an hour so one or more of the cats inevitably wandered in to participate.  Dave acted as the cats' personal photographer.

Cat's photos are by David McCaughan.

Angus was a little camera shy so Stacy stepped in to see if we could get him to sit down for this kitchen shot.

On Day 2, they finished up the kitchen and began working on the dining room.

Two cameras were set up in the kitchen at the same time and Michael went back and forth between close-up shots of the kitchen shelves and dining room.

Zazu tried hard to get in every shot.  

This is the final shot of the dining room that appears in the

Cottage Style Book.

Shooting finished up with photos of the living room and the exterior of the house.  I was lucky to get a parking spot immediately in front of the house the day before so I could back out of the shot when they were ready to take it.  

It was an exciting two days.  The Cottage Style team was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  I was so impressed with their talent.  I learned A LOT and will share the details over the next few posts.  After a few months of getting ready, particularly in the last week, I'm exhausted.  So while I rest and catch up on my sleep, I get to enjoy all of these flowers.

Thank you to all of you for your congratulations.  This has been an incredible experience and I feel very lucky to have been involved in the New Cottage Style book project.  I truly feel like I won the lottery.