Photo Shoots and Furry Friends

The last few days have been fun filled and very busy!  Wednesday I got to watch Fifi O'Neill in action once again while she styled a home for Cottage Style Magazine and another for Country Sampler Magazine.

There is so much that goes in to styling, and it really is an art!  If you've ever tried taking a photo of one of your rooms and then realized that it doesn't look anything like you see in a magazine that is because a lot of time and effort goes in to making a room look that beautiful.

Of course the stylists and photographers can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, as my grandmother would say, but they can take a beautiful home and make it even more beautiful!

And one of the ways they do that is to bring in beautiful flowers, fresh fruit, and yummy food to place in some of the shots!

I've been lucky enough to do a few shoots of my own lately, nothing compared to the major magazine spreads, but some where I needed to add a little something to make the shots a bit more attractive and special and let me tell you, it's not as easy as you might think!

Fifi always comes well prepared for each house she plans to style, but there are always those last minute flowers or pieces of fruit that you need to get once you are on location.  So for the second shoot on Thursday, which was for Country Sampler Magazine, I ran out to a local Mennonite farm and picked up some fresh fruit and a few flowers.

While I was there getting things for Fifi, I picked up a few bouquets for myself and for my own shoots.  When I woke up on Thursday morning to head to the second shoot, my house looked like a flower shop...and it smelled SO good in my kitchen!

The other key component of a successful magazine shoot besides a talented stylist is a fabulous photographer.  For both of the shoots the photographer was Mark Lohman.  Mark's accolades read like a who's who list of some of my favorite magazines!

And he's pretty darn funny too, just beware the hazardous conditions he'll put you in that involve plugging and unplugging lights!  Yup, yours truly has been known to help move furniture and wield an extension cord when called upon!

Watching a stylist like Fifi and photographer like Mark work together really is amazing.  It's such a collaboration borne of trust, and the end result is always spectacular as witnessed by the wonderful magazine spreads we drool over each time our favorite magazine arrives in the mail!

And speaking of trust, the homeowner's kitty cats weren't sure they could trust us, but there is a lot of trust on the part of the homeowners who open up their homes too.  We had two great sets of homeowners that not only trusted Fifi and Mark, but also helped to make the shoots so successful.

Opening your home up to perfect strangers, no matter how wonderful they are, isn't easy.  So it's always nice when you see a shot come together and the look on the homeowner's faces when they see the home they love and cherish looking picture perfect!

After a short while, even the kitty cats decided maybe these strange people weren't so bad after all!

During part of the shoot, I snuck out back and took some pictures of the beautiful waterfront setting of my friend Susan's home to share with all of you!

Not only is the interior of her home beautiful, but so are the views and the wonderful seaside touches she has incorporated into her yard!  I just love how she ringed this tree with shells!

Even with the hot weather, there is almost always a breeze on the water, so the waves were crashing along the shoreline.

You can see what a few storms, high tides, and erosion can do to the trees that are close to the shore!

And the Osprey love to build nests atop these old torpedo sighting towers left over from WWII.  They were circling all around it, making sure I didn't get too close!

Both of the shoots were so much fun and will result in truly wonderful spreads in their respective magazines, and I know those of you that read Country Sampler and Cottage Style will love seeing these two gorgeous homes!

After a yummy meal filled with great conversation and wonderful company we all hugged and parted ways.  Fifi and Mark were headed to Florida to shoot Fifi's guest house for her book!

Sometimes I pinch myself and wonder if I really do get to work with such great people and generous homeowners!  And I know that I appreciate every photo I see, whether it's in a catalog or a magazine, because they truly are works of art...each and every one of them!