January’s Grand Rapids Magazine product shot is honestly one of my favourites ever that I’ve gotten to style. This month’s theme was baking, which many of you know, I love to bake! Pulling for this was fun but also difficult!

I had to research a bunch of new stores that carried a lot of home goods. Some stores literally never got back to me and some weren’t even interested in participating. But then I had stores that were really excited to participate. You never know how stores will react. None of the stores I pulled from had a mixer so I had to do a quick run to Target to pick one up. It was a nice mixer. If it wasn’t almost $500, I would’ve kept it for myself.

The fun part of this shoot was playing with a bunch of different elements and textures. Keagan, my art director, brought flour and sugar from home so we could sprinkle it around. It’s definitely an added touch. Especially with it spilling out of one of the measuring cups. The cinnamon role from a local bakery, Nantucket Bake Co, is also helps the shot.

What do you think of January’s Grand Rapids Magazine issue?

 

BTW, Grand Rapids October

Better late than never. I want to share with you November’s issue of Grand Rapids Magazine. For November’s issue, they interviewed a bunch of different people on their favourite places in the GR area to shop, eat, etc. They took 2 of the people’s responses and had me pull items for the stores mentioned.

This was actually quite a hard shoot to pull for. I had to pull from a lot of vintage and thrift stores and trying to find specific things that are also cohesive to all the other items was a difficult task. Everything ended up working out and I love how they turned out. Funny thing is, the flat lays actually resemble the style of 2 people interviewed! I love how things like that happen. You can see what they look like on the site here.

My favourite of course is the top image. It fits a lot of my aesthetic too. The little blue perfume bottle is something that I would love to own. I actually do own a big one that is contains Britney Spears’ Curious. I used to love that scent and I got a gift set one year that had a refillable perfume bottle. Unfortunately, I could never find refills nor could I take the tops off the other bottles to put in the big one.

I also ate the 2 of the chocolate in the second image. Probably shouldn’t have but they were delicious. Also had fun trying on some of the glasses. The store I got them from had some really unique styles.

I really hope you enjoy November’s images from Grand Rapids Magazine. Which one is your favourite?

 

BTW, October Issue

Grand Rapids, Michigan is known as beer city. There are so many local breweries in the area. Most local Michigan beer is actually from the area. And with October being Oktoberfest, of course we had to make this issue of Grand Rapids Magazine brewery themed.

I pulled beer from 2 separate breweries, Brewery Vivant and Harmony Brewing Company. All of the other items are from other stores that I normally pull product from. The Beer City Candle actually smells like beer. It was interesting but not something I would buy for myself. My favourite items are definitely the Michigan themed items. Like the puzzle, bottle openers, coasters and cup. The Mexican chocolate sounded good but sadly, as many as you know, I can’t eat it because of the sugar.

Both breweries let us keep the beer. Some of the flavours actually sounded really good even though I don’t like beer. I would’ve actually tried them if I could’ve! Keagan, my assistant art director, took them all home because she loves all the local beer. She actually just told me that one of the growlers from Harmony Brewery actually exploded in her basement. Oops! Neither of us are sure how that happened! Speaking of Keagan, I would like to thank her for her help with setting this shot up. At one point we were thinking about shooting it outside against the brick building. But I’m actually glad we used this table! Gives a cool retro vibe.

 

What do you think of October’s issue of Grand Rapids Magazine?

 

BTW, D Business Exec Life

 

 

Well this is better late then never. Here is the styling work I did for September’s issue Grand Rapids Magazine. Just like August’s issue, we only shot 1 shot per issue instead of the normal 2. Usually 1 style page and 1 gear page. August and October are gear while September is style. The style theme for September is statement blacks.

I love pulling from the local stores in Grand Rapids because I find so many new brands and make great connections. The owner of Iris Boutique, actually found me on Instagram and messaged me saying she would love to be involved in future shoots. I’m so glad that I was able to use some of her products. She carries many Mellie Bianco bags which are vegan.

One of my favourite pieces is the jumpsuit! It’s from the store Adored, which only carries ethical and sustainable brands!! I love it! Last time I was there, Able was having a sale and Emily, the owner, told me that Able lets you put in boutiques names so they can get a percentage of the orders! So last time I placed an order on Able, I put in Adored’s code (Y3L7) so she could get money from my sale. I wish more stores did this so I can support more small businesses.

The sunglasses from Dear Prudence, are made from all eco friendly materials like recycled cork, rubber and plastic! I was very tempted to buy them after the shoot!

Another one of my favourite pieces is the chevron dress. It’s hard to see the details on the page but in person it was so cute! What are some of your favourites?

Exec Life

I love sharing my work with you! Being a stylist is a lot of fun but also a lot of work. Some people may think it’s glamorous but it’s not. You would be impressed the amount of bags I can carry in my arms. I also spend a lot of time on the floor, unpacking, taping shoes, etc. These exec life are from D Business Magazine. The magazine is owned by Hour just like all the other editorial work I do is from. Surprisingly, this was my first time styling for D Business.

When I got hired for the job, I immediately contacted my friend Annabel, who owns Suitably. If I can feature brands that friends own, you better bet that I will. She was so excited to send me some things. I ended up using the skirt in the first image.

I really love the setting of these images. Originally, we were going to shoot on a dark green background but when we got to set, which happens to be Martin, the photographer’s old firehouse turned home, we decided on the bricks. Personally, I’m glad that we shot on the bricks. The colour scheme goes so much better for fall fashion.

My favourite part about pulling for shoots is creating more contacts with stores and brands. I know have a contact for my local Banana Republic store that I can use for both photo and commercial shoots. When I was actually shopping for this shoot, the manager asked if I needed help and when I said I was shopping for a shoot he asked if I knew about their lending program. They prefer to lend the clothes out for things like this so when I return the large purchases, it doesn’t hurt their numbers!

Hope you enjoyed this shoot!

 

Grand Rapids Magazine August ’20

Well this better late than never. With all the Covid stuff and deadlines, it’s been hard to get the images. I finally got them and I’m excited to share them with you. These images are for the back to school August issue of Grand Rapids Magazine.

Back to School Gear

Pulling for back to school gear was actually a lot of fun. It’s also fun to find new stores that are local to the area. I used to love going back to school shopping, getting new notebooks, pens and pencils, etc. There are so many cool things that are out right now. Those Blackwing graphite and coloured pencils are so cool. I want to buy them for myself. Also, that college survival guide recipe notebook is great for kids going off to college for the first time. Fun fact- those are my Airpods in the back to school gear picture!

Cover

For the cover, we used a local college student in the Grand Rapids area. Since we weren’t crediting stores for the cover, I purchased all of the clothing from East Dane, Nordstrom and Target. Easiest pull ever! Especially since East Dane is online and I did order pickup for Nordstrom. Target was just getting a few extra things like shoes and accessories. And like the Airpods, that’s my laptop Gonzalo is using.

I hope you enjoyed the August issue of Grand Rapids Magazine

 

BTW, Grand Rapids Magazine May