Monday, July 30, 2012

Photo shoot at Cathy's house

This is the photo that appeared on the cover of Blackfly magazine.
Nice, huh? Notice the tent in the background?
(Credit: Bev McMullen)

I was watching The Devil Wears Prada again last night. It's one of my favourite movies, not just because Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway are fabulous and I love the song that opens up the movie, but because it perfectly portrays what my life is like working for magazines here in Muskoka. Glamourous models, exotic photo shoots, oh yes, it's exactly like that.

Just a few weeks back my own front yard became the location for the cover shoot of a new magazine. It was an impromptu affair – I nailed down two reporters from work to volunteer as models, I shanghaied our company's best photographer to drop by in her spare time and I begged Dave to leave work early to help set up the tent.

The theme for the shoot was glamping, which is a high-end spin on low-end camping. It means bringing your fanciest china, your best bedding and your stash of caviar and champagne to your camp site. Apparently it's the latest thing.

My idea for the cover was to have two models dressed to the hilt with fancy accessories in front of a tent. A contrast of upscale and way down-scale. We set it up in no time flat. Photographer Bev McMullen and I went to the dollar store and bought all kinds of tacky jewellery. I dug my old Big Pink Nightmare dress out of my closet (which was so big on model Jennifer that we had to pin it on her using clothes pegs.) Roland drove home and picked up his suit. Bev picked lilies and wildflowers from our garden. I opened a bottle of wine and Dave set up our tent in front of the river.

One important note: Dave didn't peg the tent to the ground. He figured, why bother? The shoot was only going to take a half an hour, and it certainly wasn't windy. That's what he was thinking, anyway...

The shoot went well. Jennifer and Roland looked awesome and were such good sports. Bev is a true professional – an award-winning photographer who has travelled the world taking pictures – and she came through with flying colours. We were having such a good time.

When suddenly the wind picked up ...

Wha? Is that supposed to happen?

Should the show go on? Do tents float?

Dave Webster! To the rescue! And no, apparently tents do not float.

Meanwhile, Bev keeps shooting. She's a true professional!

And models Roland and Jen really had something to laugh about!

34 comments:

  1. Looks like you were having fun. Hope Bev's pix turn out well.

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    1. We always have fun, Rob!! What's the point otherwise?!!!

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  2. Note to self....always peg the tent down before you have the bubbly.

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    1. When you have bubbly and you have love, who needs practicalities like tent pegs? (Oh wait. You're right. We do....)

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  3. I am in love with this post!!! jean yates!

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  4. one should always be prepared while glamping. Tent stakes are a must have.

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  5. Diamond-plated silver tent stakes, of course. How funny! Did they get to drink the wine, too? Good job you got that first photo before things got hairy. :)

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    1. Of course they drank the wine! That's the main reason Roland showed up... he kept slurping pinot grigio on his tie and mumbling something like "deadline, schmeadline..."

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  6. This was hilarious ... a "blooper" with a real life spin to it ! Thanks Cathy, I will be belly laughing about this one all day long ...

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    1. Don't you love bloopers? Sometimes they're better than the actual thing.

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  7. Love love love the pics of the tent in the river with Dave retrieving it! To bad you weren't filming it! Would have been a winner for sure in Funniest home video's! Very entertaining pics!

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    1. Thanks, Buzz! Love the picture of Spam on your blog today, btw.

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  9. Wicked. Just lovely. I like your take on life Cathy.

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    1. Aw gee, thanks Sarah! And here I am wishing mine was just half as exotic as yours.

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  10. The tent in the water shots are awesome! Too funny. The one for the cover turned out great, Cathy. Good idea.

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  11. That is so funny and such a great idea! Btw, my daughter's favorite saying is "I'm hearing this (hand talking) when I want to be hearing this (hand shut)"

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    1. My kids love that, too! It's funny for about five minutes then I just wanna smack 'em. (kidding!)

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  12. I'm laughing. This is historical. Wait, it's histerical. I went camping like this--china, wine, nice food--in a camper van. Parking brake was all that was needed.

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    1. I think a camper van is the way I want to go some day when the kids are grown up. Tents are, um, all wet, wouldn't you agree?

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  13. Oh, man! That sucks! Did the tent survive? Can they recover from something like that?

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    1. Oh yeah, no problem! We dragged it into a sunny spot and pegged it down. A day later it was dry as a bone again!

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  14. Very very clever shoot! I really love the pics of the tent in the water and your friend wading out to get it. Love 'behind the scenes' outtakes. Being the non-outdoorsy person that I am, the first thing I thought of was, 'ew I bet the bottom of that pond is muddy and full of leeches.' lol

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  15. Give 'em a glass of wine and everything's hilarious. Gorgeous shoot, gorgeous pics.

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  16. Wind is Mother Nature laughing. ;) Love this post and love the idea of glamping. Totally impractical! Hooray for silliness!

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  17. Cool! I learned about Glamping from the educational show entitled "The Real Housewives of Orange County."

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  18. Very funny! Glamping sounds like it might be lots of fun!

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  19. How amazing. Huge and loud smiles from here. Thank you. Lots.

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    1. I am still chuckling over the tent blowing into the water. Definitely Murphy's law.

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