our sofa photoshoot | behind the scenes

As some of you may already know, we recently took to the road to shoot our first in-house sofa collection.  Now this is no easy feat.

The sheer size and enormity of moving around sofas is quite literally a challenge. It took two luton vans to get everything to the studio and whilst we had selected a large warehouse space it still resembled a military operation to unpack, sort and designate areas for props and set build. With the styling sheets on the wall we were ready to start shooting, a nifty 2 hours after arriving.

We’d spent a fair bit of time prepping for the day; creating mood boards, colour schemes and a shot list so myself, the stylist and photographer knew what we needed to achieve and this helped set a pace for the day.

  

Our vision was very much a pared back approach. We wanted bare shots of the sofas ‘undressed’ without any props and then a living room lifestyle shot of each sofa to showcase our lighting and home accessory categories.  We had a loose rule that each shot should have no more than 5-6 props.  The sofa had to be the hero piece and well, we are minimalists at heart after all.

Once we had selected the angle, camera position and lighting setting we got underway.  The bare shots were relatively straightforward but it is really important to build in lots of time for the dressed shots.  Never underestimate the amount of effort required to position the cushions in just the right way, comb the rug tassels, hang the artwork and ‘throw’ the throw onto the sofa so it falls with just the right level of ripple and folds.

 

Thankfully we had a team of movers and lifters (my Dad, husband and our local intern Jamie) who took their role as ‘packers and breakdown managers’ very seriously.  So as each shot was complete, this handy trio would move in pack away the props and re-wrap the sofas, meaning we had room to start on the next shot and we kept on top of the clearing away.  I did mention it was a military operation didn’t I?

Even though I was nervous about the day, concerned that one of the trucks wouldn’t turn up (which one didn’t) that it would rain (which it did) I have to say the shoot day itself takes its place as one of the highlights of the business so far.  To work so well as a team, see your product on display dressed with other beautiful pieces, capture your brand vision and have your husband and Dad in tow to share in the glory is quite frankly an unbeatable experience.