Behind the Scenes: An Interiors Photoshoot

I recently finished a project in Cambridge, Mass.  A lovely Victorian home on one of the most historic streets in the city.  The homeowners lean towards a Colonial aesthetic, and it's been a wonderfully challenging project to settle their decades-worth of furniture, art and collectibles into this architectural masterpiece of a home. 

When it was time to photograph the house, I sought out the services of Lara Kimmerer, who is seriously the most delightful woman in Massachusetts.  We met at the house last Monday, and we shot nearly 20 different vignettes in 5 hours. Lara was so calm & thorough and I enjoyed working with her immensely.  She was open to all my wacky ideas and never balked at my nitpicky styling issues.

So, at 8am on this rainy Monday morning I went to good ol' Whole Foods for my floral sourcing.  Whole Foods always has fresh, highly-seasonal flowers at pretty reasonable prices. 

Despite the date stamp on my photos, it was the 13th. I stink with cameras. Hence, hiring a professional.



Loaded up with fresh flowers and one very perfect orchid. 

Flowers in the house and into many different vessels. Yep, that's a Gurgling Cod pitcher.

Once we started shooting, I stood back and watched Lara do her crazy camera magic.  Our shot in the kitchen was fun.  The family had left the kitchen table earlier that morning with a newspaper, a teapot and some honeydew on a plate, so I used their leftovers as styling pieces!  How authentic!  I even boiled another pot of water so that the teacup would have some 'steam action.'  Fun.



Lara setting up the shot.  I stood behind the island and gawked at all the fancy equipment.

 

My attempt at shooting this space

Lara's final result*

Just following our shot in the kitchen, there was a mishap.  The family's wonderful & lovely babysitter was about to run out for an errand when her car wouldn't start.  But wonderful Lara had jumper cables [thankfully, since I didn't] and the problem was fixed in less than 5 minutes!  Lara FTW!



Drama averted.


The home's Dining Room is an homage to fabric. A historic toile, to be exact.  The walls are padded and upholstered and we shot 3 very specific spaces in the room.

Lara sets up a shot on one of the tall buffets



Final result*

In the Living Room, we shot a corner featuring some of the beautiful fine art and artifacts collected by my clients on their worldwide travels.  Setting up for this shot, Lara and I moved the rug underfoot because the fringe strip was distracting to the composition of the shot.  As much as I love my client's antique rugs, we saw that by pulling the rug out of the shot we were highlighting the house's flooring.  Hardwood floors FTW!



Setting it up



Final result*

It was a long day, but Lara and I (well, mostly Lara) worked tirelessly and cheerfully. Lara's a blogger, too! Check out her photography adventures HERE.    

I drove back to NYC late that afternoon, and stopped at a gas station along the Mass Pike where I saw this weird but funny set of stickers on a trash can.  The 'corrupt NY' sticker made me laugh out loud, as this was 2 weeks into the texting scandal with NY Congressman Weiner (ick).  The Chicken/Rat one, I'm not sure (ew).
 

Nevertheless, it was a great and productive trip to Cambridge and a funny & weird ride back home to NY.  Corrupt as it might be ; )

All photos with * by Lara Kimmerer. All images in this post property Whitney Interior Design.  There will be more photos from our shoot of this lovely house posted to my website in the coming days. 

If you're in the market for a photographer, check out Lara's site and her services.  She does beautiful interiors photography and, since she is so delightfully personable, is a genius people photog.  Weddings, engagements, fmaily portraits, etc.

Cheers,

Whitney