What Happens During an Interior Design Photoshoot
While it is always our goal to photograph our full-service projects once everything has been installed and styled, sometimes it doesn't work like that, especially when there are furniture delays outside of our control.
Project: Winnetka Historical | Service: Full Service Renovation Design & Furnishing Design | Fun Fact: This was our first photoshoot ever!
When timing does work, it’s magical to capture a space in all its glory and remember how far a room has come. For our full-service clients, we handle all the pre-shoot, day of, and post-shoot prep so they don’t have to do a thing (except being out of the house on photoshoot day). Note: Our Designer for a Day service does not include photography, HOWEVER, we always love when our Designer for a Day clients send us photos of their progress once they’ve implemented their design.
PREPPING FOR A PHOTOSHOOT
Once orders have been placed, work has been scheduled, and we have tentative timelines from our vendors, our team starts to look ahead at possible installation dates and photoshoot dates. We like to do these on the same day or as close together as possible so our clients aren’t inconvenienced multiple times. Sometimes with full-day or multi-day installations, it can be difficult to line up the timing, especially because install day in and of itself can sometimes present challenges we couldn’t have anticipated.
Once we have an estimated date lined up for the installation and the photoshoot, we confirm the dates with our client and the photographer and start planning for the accessories, styling, plants, and shots we want. As the date gets closer and once we know our furniture is actually arriving (thanks shipping delays!), we’ll start to firm up all the details like start time and end time, and communicate those with our client.
In some cases, we might have a scouting day with our photographer to check the light, put together a shot list, and get ideas for the shoot.
ON PHOTOSHOOT DAY
Sometimes it’s not possible for our clients to be out of the house, and in that case, we simply ask them to be in another room. While the photos will capture a beautifully finished space, there are often stacks of items, baskets of props, and tons of miscellaneous items off-camera being moved from room to room to make each space look perfect. In other words: it can look like a disaster and we don’t want our clients to be stressed!
We have a handful of professional interior photographers we work with, and we get to the house in advance of our photographer arriving. Sometimes our photographer will have a team with them, sometimes they won’t. This depends on the size of the shoot.
Before the photographer arrives, we like to get a head start on putting all the finishing touches on the rooms being photographed. This often means we’re bringing in fresh flowers and greenery, food and drinks for styling, and additional accessories.
When the photographer arrives, they set up their camera and equipment and begin taking test shots to check lighting. We’ll then work with our photographer in each room to get the shots we need in each space. Typically this means our team splits so part of the team will move ahead to the next room to complete any styling while the other part of the team will stay with the photographer to make sure we get the shots we want and that styling and details in each shot are perfect.
Project: Lake Geneva Blue & White | Service: Full Service New Build Design & Furnishing Design
We come to shoot day equipped with our install day bag that has everything we might need. Most often on shoot day, we’re dusting, zip-tying cords to table legs so they don’t show in photos, steaming curtains, and fluffing pillows. We also remove any of our clients’ personal items to keep their details private (don’t worry! We put everything back when the shoot is finished!).
Project: Lake Geneva Family Getaway | Service: Full Service Renovation Design & Furnishing Design
AFTER THE PHOTOSHOOT
When the shoot is done, our clients LOVE coming home and seeing the additional layer of styling we’ve added to their space. While we typically style each project on installation day, photoshoot day is a little different in that we use much more greenery and food props, and we create more vignettes. It is always fun for our clients to see what we’ve done in their space so they know how to create these little moments on their own. Sometimes this means our clients shop the rooms and keep some of the accessories we’ve placed. And we always love leaving fresh flowers for our clients (we always love when our favorite florist is available to make something special for each shoot).
Once the shoot wraps, we pack up our items, put everything back in its place, and thank our clients for letting us take over their home for the day/week.
When the photos come back in, we always LOVE sharing them with our clients and give sneak peeks of before and afters. Sometimes a client has completely forgotten what the room used to look like and seeing the striking difference in a before and after is always exciting.
With recent Covid delays, it’s been much harder to photograph our projects than it used to be but we are hopeful we’ll be back to installing projects in one day and photographing them shortly thereafter. Until then, be sure to check out our portfolio page for more of our work or follow us on Instagram where we share our new projects first.
