It is a necessary evil, Gentle Readers. Photographing projects. As the designer Celerie Kemble says (I’m paraphrasing): if you don’t photograph a project, it’s as though it didn’t happen. Too true, too true. Reality in the form of time and budgetary limitations prevents me from photographing every single project, but I do try and capture the bigger ones.
But here’s the thing. Photo shoots are STRESSFUL. I know, I know: you can’t imagine me in anything but total and complete control of a situation.
I jest. But I am at my tensest and snippiest on photo shoot days. I warn (and apologize to) my team and the photographer in advance; I arm myself with plenty of caffeine and snacks; I bring a thoughtful shot list; and I have combed our storage unit, my house, my team’s house, my neighbor’s house, and my neighbor’s garden for greenery and cool-looking objects.
I like to say that there is always more than one right answer in decorating, and that extends to styling.
So I shouldn’t stress out, right? But I have to lay out a preliminary plan for every surface so that I make sure to bring the right (and enough) objects. I hesitate to say “props,” but it’s not an inaccurate word.
And then I have to take a deep breath…and know that on photo shoot day, the best-laid plans will fly out the window. There is just no way to predict how something will look in the frame of a camera, how it will look on that actual tray, on that actual table, in the actual room.
This is the space we’re photographing, and here’s my initial thinking:
And so on for many more shots. It’s a big room ;)
I’ll let you know how it turns out, Gentle Readers. Just send me good, sane, creative vibes next Tuesday.
Annie Elliott Design is based in Washington, DC, with offices in St. Michaels, Maryland and Middlebury, Vermont. Annie is an expert on wallpaper, mixing styles, and telling people what to do in the nicest way possible.