I imagined a vintage blue VW bus. It was parked in front of the grassy levee downtown, its owner Kelly Zoghbi frollicking around it.
Kelly had generously offered to bring the bus she and her husband were restoring to our style shoot. It was going to make for the perfect image.
Until she called me while en route to the shoot and said the bus broke down.
And if you want a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a magazine—well, that’s usually about how it goes. The wheels on the bus go round, until they don’t, and you have to keep calm and carry on.
But most creatives will tell you: Rolling with the punches is half the fun. And this time around, we loved our backup plan just as much as the original concept.
Once Kelly had gotten the bus home safely and arrived at our shoot, we photographed her in front of the levee. The new shots were simple. Nothing but brilliant blue sky and green grass in contrast to Kelly’s red hair.
We only had to look at a few frames to realize: We didn’t need the bus. Everything we needed was right there all along.
Behind every pretty picture our style crew makes each month, there is always a little chaos. We spend hours rewriting the script—changing locations and shooting angles and swapping out clothes and accessories.
Our stylist tapes the bottoms of shoes on loan from area boutiques to make sure we don’t damage them while the models move around the set. I tell the models knock-knock jokes to help them feel comfortable on camera.
And nothing ever goes quite as planned. Just last month, staff writer Kaci Yoder stuffed so many balloons into her car that she couldn’t see out the windows, and our photographer and I stepped in an ant pile on set.
The whole day is a mashup of personalities, and we don’t always agree on outfits or backdrops. But we reconfigure things until we are all happy.
It is exhausting and invigorating, and we leave feeling tired but inspired by what we just made together.
This month’s shoot was supposed to be a celebration of the women we featured. But by the end of the day, I felt just as appreciative of the women who worked behind the scenes to actually make it happen.
Stylist Elle Marie is like that friend who you wish could pick out your outfits for you each morning—or at least on special occasions. Hairstylist CeKeisha Williams can do things with hair I never knew possible, and our makeup team somehow always finds the right balance of subtle and stunning. Then there’s photographer Jordan Hefler, who always makes me want to cry when she turns her photos in because they are so good.
This shoot started off with a hitch. But VW bus or not, it turned out to be one of my favorite days at work ever.
Just when we thought we had crafted our best shot of the day, the next image was better. Each new photo brought a chorus of “yassses” from our team. It felt like we floated through the day, like we were truly making something magical.
It reminded me of my first style shoot at my first magazine job eight years ago, which was also one of my favorite days at work ever.
My editor had to be out of town, and she asked if I would be comfortable leading it by myself. I had never worked with models or stylists before, but I nervously said yes.
OK, she told me, this shoot is a really big deal. “You are going to be GREAT,” she said, but what she meant was, “Don’t screw it up.”
That day ended up being full of those “Is this real life?” moments, from the designer-filled wardrobe to the gorgeous model we shot poolside to the down-to-earth photographers who kept cracking jokes all day long. When the story printed, I was stunned by what we’d made.
Dozens of style shoots later, I’m still sticking to that motto: “You are going to be GREAT, but don’t screw it up.”
But with one caveat: Now I know that sometimes things have to get a little messy to get you to the place you were meant to be all along.
This article was originally published in the June 2018 issue of 225 Magazine.
