I know this sounds ridiculously cliched and I feel like a bit of a dick just saying this, but being contacted to have your home featured in a magazine is an amazing honour. (See? What a total dick.)
Right, at the risk of continuing to sound like a complete and utter wanker, Iβll attempt to explain.
Itβs just that itβs rather strange if you are just a simple blogger like myself. Iβm not an Interior Designer. Iβve never gone to school to study interiors and Iβve never worked for an Interior Design firm or really had any practical training whatsoever. I just read a lot, take in a LOT of inspiration from all over and apply what I think I can in my home within a pretty tight budget that works for us both. I think in the process of decorating this house, Iβve learned loads, made plenty of mistakes but somehow, continue to keep excited and inspired. Regardless, itβs by no means a show home, itβs just a place we feel happy and comfortable in.
So when you get contacted by a national magazine, itβs a total crazy mindf**k. Itβs exciting, like seriously exciting. And itβs also nerve wracking. Just knowing that someone somewhere saw the pictures of my home and felt it was worthy enough to appear in their magazine is pretty crazy. I started off exhilarated and flattered and on Cloud 9. And then I checked out the magazine with different eyes, perusing over the homes they show. Big huge houses where people have had architectural firms gut them, change layouts and materials and add extensions. And then I experienced total crushing self doubt. What if they come here and think the house doesnβt measure up? What if they think my taste is weird? What if theyβve made a huge mistake? What if they notice with horror all the things we havenβt yet done?
And when the realisation hits that actual people are actually coming over to take actual pictures of your actual rooms, the panic REALLY hits and the race to get each room in the entire house up to some standard (where the measurement is so arbitrary, I can only rely on instinct and my shoddy budget) really begins. Iβve been lucky in that both times Iβve had a photoshoot now (the last time was for Heart Home), the people whom Iβve welcomed into my home have been lovely. For 25 Beautiful Homes, they sent a photographer from North Manchester, Haydn Rydings and his lovely assistant Laura, but no stylist. He was ultra polite and very professional, didnβt really move anything around at all and there was no styling whatsoever except what Iβd already done.
Happily, the morning of the shoot, the skies were starting to brighten and after a while, the sun actually came out! In Manchester!! I know, I was as surprised as you.
After introductions and a tour, Haydn and Laura got to work. They started in the bedroom because early in the day, that room gets the best light. Regardless, because the room is black and the bedding is white, Haydn explained to me why taking pictures in Manual is far better than relying on Automatic (as I do so often β but Iβm working on it! Thus the questions). He said that the camera tries to balance the extremes β the black walls, the bright light coming from the windows and the bright white bedding. Because the camera doesnβt know what you want to focus on, when itβs on Auto, it will try to balance everything out β your black walls will look sludgy, the white bedding blown out. With Manual, you get so much more flexibility to decide what the camera β and ultimately what the viewer β gets to see and what gets the focus. It makes sense, no?
Because I was asking so many questions and because Haydn was so nice in answering them, I felt it best to excuse myself for a while and let them get on with the shoot! So they shot the bedroom and dressing room (which is tiny so the less bodies the better) without me present and then they moved to the living room. With this room, Haydn used a large reflective disk that kind of looked like those things you put in a car windscreen to keep the sun from boiling your car in the summer time. It reflected light from the window to the alcove.
I found it interesting as well that he shot everything in RAW format in black and white with his Canon. He told me the file format saves all the colour but viewing the image in black and white helped him to see exactly where the light hit in the image. He showed me a couple of images heβd shot and they actually looked rather amazing in black and white. It was easy to see the textures and the contrasts between the blacks and whites and exactly where the brightest parts of the pic were and so he could make adjustments more easily when viewing the images like this. Fascinating, no?
Lesson over, Haydn then moved to the dining roomβ¦
And finally the kitchenβ¦
They were in the house from 9am until 2pm. He told me that 25 Beautiful Homes required about 50 decent images of which they would choose about 25 for the final feature. Because there is so much detail (and THINGS) in my home, he told me that he could have easily filled that requirement in just two rooms! So making decisions as to what would make the best pics was important.
Senna, as always, remained completely unimpressed.
The most nerve wracking of all of them were the βowner shotsβ where I had to pretend to look at a magazine or be on my laptop while he took pictures of me! Dear god, how embarrassing. I only hope that the pics come out okay but I pretty much never like pictures of myself. In fact, I didnβt even ask to look at the pictures because I would have surely made him delete every single one of them. Thatβs pretty normal, right? Iβm trying not to think about that to be honest.
I had my interview for the piece on Sunday over the phone. Itβs funny because the Red Magazine interview which I did the previous Friday, was really focused more on the interior design of the place and lasted more than an hour. For 25 Beautiful Homes, the journalist focused more on the work weβd done in the home and the conversation lasted about 45 minutes. So itβs nice that each article will focus on a different side of our journey so far.
In terms of when the 25 Beautiful Homes piece will be out β Iβm not entirely sure yet. I was told by the journalist when I had the interview part of it on Sunday that she was going to be letting me know. I believe the Red Magazine article will be out in May but Iβm waiting for confirmation on that. So when I find out, Iβll let you know! And of course, Iβll be scanning the articles and sharing them here with you!
The crazy thing is, at work, we had a reader question for Beautiful Kitchens Magazine and they asked me to answer the question (it was about recommending a range cooker from our line) and send in a head shot to be shown as an βexpertβ on their panel. The issue should be coming out in May for that too.
So over a 6 month time span, I will have appeared in some form or another in 4 different magazines β Heart Home, Red, 25 Beautiful Homes and Beautiful Kitchens. My brain may just explode.
Wow, yes it must be pretty nerve-wracking and exciting to have all this happening β especially in such a short amount of time. I'm exactly the same, I would have asked lots of questions and made them delete every single picture of me and re-take them until I'm happy. I hate pictures of myself (that's why I could NEVER be a fashion blogger) and am extremely critical when I see them. I
How exciting! It's always nice meet professional photographers and to get to know some handy tips. Interesting, that thing about shooting in black & white! I need to try that. For this sneak peak I know that the feature will be super!<br />// Emelie
This is so freaking awesome Kimberly!!!!! So chuffed for you, 4 mags in 6 months??! Crazy beans. Fascinating seeing the behind the scenes pics, and all the photography info too. And no you do not sound like a dick. Well only a little bit anyway, haHAAAA just kidding⦠No, seriously am super duper psyched to see the finished articles, can't wait!!xx
So exciting watching all your adventuresβ¦.and also so genuinely pleased for you. <br />Definitely want to hear every last detail! <br /><br />Sarah Xx <br />
fantastic⦠power to you! can't wait to see them all, especially those owner shots (cause i'm evil like that!)⦠huge congratulations!!!
Honesty doesn´t make you a dick. At least, not a limp one. But I also can understand your excitement and the thrill during these, what..? Six months, that your life got wings to fly. And what a trip it has been! For the sound and look of things⦠don´t expect to be landing any time soon.<br /><br />Also, I have to have your chairs. I´m sure you´ll understand. I Have to!
You're obvi a badass!!! 4 diff magazines!!! So proud of your accomplishments love! And your amazing home. <br /><br />xo. Patience
so exciting!! fingers crossed that this happens to me someday⦠:)
What an honour and well deserved too. No need to feel anything wrong with being 'over the moon' proud! Love all the photography lessons he gave you. What a charming man.<br />I especially love the last photo with your gorgeous ginger cat on the windowsill watching everything. He must be a personality cat :)<br />I hope you will show the final pics in due course. Very exciting.<br /><br
Thanks so much Melissa! He was so patient with all my questions, a very nice man indeed! My ginger kitty is a 'she' but she's most definitely a bit of a diva!! Lots of personality that one ;) xxx
Can I get an autograph before you become too famous for us little people? I'm so stinkin proud of you. I might as well have designed those gorgeous rooms myself, because that's how proud I am. I can't wait to tell everyone I know you. <br />
so let it explode! it's exciting and very very cool. and to think it kinda started with a blog. what's next? your own magazine? editor of a magazine? i love seeing all of your thoughtfulness and efforts and sweat pay off like this. not surprised at all!<br /><br />love to you.<br /><br />michele<br /><br />p.s.<br />raising a glass to you, my friend.
Wow, so thrilling and well deserved. You'll get some great shots for your portfolio when you decide to become an interior designer, which you definitely should by the way. Can't wait to see the articles.
I love that you are sharing this and I want even more details. Love all the behind the scenes info!!!
I think I responded to everyone personally but I just wanted to say again, you guys are the BESTEST. Thanks so much for your encouragement and not thinking I was TOO much of a dick ;) x
Just got back from a few days away to read this awesome post. I can understand the panic and stress preparing for this must have caused you, I would've been up all night tweeking. But, as ever, the place looks amazing and I'm sure you will too (that is the bit I would hate, having my pic taken.) <br />I'm sure I would've been bombarding him with questions too β great tips he gave
KImberly, Congratulations! This is fantastic but I'm sure your house is going to look so great. Seeing all the behind the scenes shots was so interesting. I look forward to seeing it in the magazines. xD
Glad you got some behind-the-scenes photos this time. I would love to watch a real interiors photographer work. There are job postings at an Amazon.com office near me for a photographer, photo assistant, stylist, styling assistant, and a "Studio Ops Associate" (basically, a runner and overall assistant to the process). While I don't qualify for any of the official photog or stylist
Just wanted to let you know that you have a big fan out here in Colorado. Don't change a thing (with the way you do the blog I mean, not with your house)!