In October 2009, we rushed home from fall Quilt Market to finish another big project.
I had spent the better part of the year designing, drafting, and writing our upcoming book, Oliver + S Little Things to Sew. The projects had all been tested, the samples were sewn, and we were in the final stages of completing the manuscript. Now it was time to shoot the photos.
The photo shoot was held right in our neighborhood only three blocks from our home, upstairs from the amazing folks at Edelkoort, who run a forecasting service and who rented us their third-floor space.
The photographer we had selected for the book, Laurie Frankel, flew in from San Francisco with case upon case of equipment. When she arrived at the shoot location, we met her cab downstairs. A giant truck delivered the rest of the equipment, which we unloaded and carried all the way upstairs.
We quickly filled the large, light-filled space with all the props and tools we needed for a three-day shoot. All the shots had been worked out beforehand and Diane, the stylist, had spent days gathering materials, renting props, and purchasing items we would need, plus a bunch of extra materials in case the first ideas didn’t work out.
This is Markus, who was in charge of props but who also proved to be an excellent kid wrangler.
Diane, the stylist, has a great eye, amazing ideas, and even more ideas in case her first ones don’t work out.
Richard, Laurie’s assistant for the shoot, was in charge of lighting and making sure all the equipment was working properly. His adorable son also makes an appearance in the book.
And Laurie, our astonishingly talented photographer, must be the most patient person I’ve ever met. She has an easy and relaxed way with kids, allowing them to be themselves while she magically takes the most engaging photos of them. There were a few instances where I truly didn’t believe we had anything useful at the end of a shoot, and inevitably those sittings (wrong word–in most cases no sitting was done by anyone on the premises) ended up being my favorite photos.
The kids all stayed busy while they awaited their turn. We staggered arrival times and days to keep things running smoothly. S had a great time entertaining her friends, and they were wonderful to work with. We had loads of fun with all the kids. The finished book feels even more personal to me because all the models are S’s friends and classmates from the neighborhood. Looking back at the photos now, I can already see how much they’ve grown since the photos were taken a year and a quarter ago.
Gift bags were waiting for the models after they finished their work.
And then many, many hours of preparing, styling, and shooting ensued.
I’ll show you some of the resulting photos and a few projects from the book over the next couple of weeks. Stay tuned.