I finished my second photo shoot for Value Village today. I'm so excited about these new projects! This set is all for holiday and will be going up on their site soon, I will let you know when.
Its so fun to see everything come together at the shoot and have a professional photograph them. (Armstrong Photography does amazing work and have been so great to work with on these projects.) As a photo stylist for these shoots, I learned quickly how important it is for me to be prepared for anything. The photographer needs to know you've got their back, and that you're on it before they realize that you needed to be on it (well, that's my goal anyway). I realized during the Halloween shoot that in order to be fully prepared, I needed a lot of stuff. This was the real deal. I made a big list, did a little research, and assembled a kit. Which is fantastic, because anybody that knows me knows, I love kit.I thought I'd share this because a have a hunch a few of you out there like kit too, so you would understand my geeky happiness at something like this.
This is a pretty basic photo stylist's kit. There are many versions of a kit like this, depending on what type of shoot its for...clothing, food, etc. Here's what mine contains-
a variety of tape (glossy, matte, double stick, gaffer's tape, etc), tape measure, binder clips, tacks, pushpins, and nails, sharpie pens, small needlebook with assortment of handsewing needles and some thread, business cards...
several types of scissors (paper, tiny embroidery type, fabric, wire cutters), brushes, safety pins, rubber bands, glue, more tape, matches, fabric tape measure...
(*I love the new fine tip Martha Stewart glue pen. Used it for touch ups several times today and it works great!)
foam mounting adhesive squares, adhesive type clay, super glue, lint roller, pins, lint-free cloths, hammer, artists tape, goof off, tacky wax (helps keep round things from rolling around, etc), clear acrylic squares or small things to use as inconspicuous "risers" (to slightly raise items off a table, for ex.) fishing line/monofilament and, my new best friend, a can of compressed air, which absolutely saved me today. There was glitter involved with a couple of the projects I did and, shooting in macro, every single stray piece shows up in the photo. But with compressed air, just zap zap... all gone.
In addition to all this, I bring any paint I for touch ups, the projects themselves and the extra, leftover pieces (because sometimes process shots are needed to help explain how the project is made), any props (candles, plates, food, etc.) For each of these projects I focused around a color palette that I decided on early on, then bought every extra prop with the intention of working within that palette. We are not shooting on location, so if I don't have something, chances are its there in the photography studio somewhere. Shooting on location would require a lot more stuff. But still, my goal is to come prepared.
Everything goes into a tackle-type box with a lift out tray and several compartments to keep things separated. I'm not crazy about my pink box, but I'm also not picky and I figure this will stand out in a mess.
This box (like my fabric scissors) is off limits to everyone in our house. Nothing should ever be taken out of it...glue, tape, nothing (Emma!). It gets put away, fully stocked, until the next time I need it.
Making up this box took my back to college, when we were taking our sewing classes and carried our tackle boxes of sewing essentials back and forth to class. Compartmentalized boxes really are great for carrying a lot of smallish things. I was surprised to see many of the folks on Project Runway also carry a tackle box, which made me smile to think that things like that haven't changed much.
