photo styling vs. reality of life
This photo was taken in July 2014-- on a photo shoot for This Old House magazine in Chatham, MA. It is a lovely guest cottage- in the backyard of a gorgeous shingled family home.
The following photo shows what was going on in the corner of this room during the photo shoot:
This is the reality-- no photo taken for a magazine is taken 'as is'. It does not matter how beautifully the architect, interior designer, or home owner has arranged all of the amazing things that go into making a room look and feel good-- that same room has to be re-styled in order to make it look good for a photograph. I think of this as taking a 3-dimensional space and making it look good for 2-dimensions. It is not, actually, a pretty or glamorous process.
In this case the draperies had to come down, the homeowner's furniture had to be re-arranged, and many of her things needed to be removed from the shot. This is a painful process for a homeowner! I recommend that if you are ever asked to have your space photographed professionally that you spend those couple of days away from home.
The professionals will come in and create the photographs, and then put everything back afterwards-- hopefully just as you left it.
