I was on the train last week attempting to hunt down this blog post to show someone a particular image, only to realize I hadn’t shared it yet!

To be fair, I intentionally held off on sharing *any* of the images until Wendy’s book, Life Whimsy, came out. And I DID blog about her book release + launch party! But in all the excitement about Wendy’s gorgeous book being out into the world, I forgot to share the final session we did to help complete the project!

Wendy’s first shoot was what I call “a clean slate session,” where we dream up and create a library photographs that tell the whole body picture of the brand- she’s a chair stylist with the most fun, colorful design taste of anyone I’ve ever met. And dang, did we crush that one! A few months later, Wendy had the opportunity to work on a collaboration with her favorite fashion house, France Valentine, so for her second session we photographed the design process + the final chairs in context at a nearby venue.

She’d mentioned wanting to work on a book a few times over our hours together, and when Wendy says she’s going to do something, she does it. As she got into the weeds of planning and designing, she realized that even with the library of photographs from our first two sessions, there were still some holes in the book, visuals-wise. So we planned a third session, a full-day shoot, that focused exclusively on meeting the specific page needs of her book.

I *love* working on campaign-specific sessions like this, where the objective is super clear-cut. For example, Wendy needed professional images of the rooms she’d recently redecorated- those wouldn’t necessarily be on the docket for a “clean slate” session, but we knew there was a page in Chapter 4 where we needed more photographs of Wendy’s home. And I knew, after seeing the first draft of the design, that there was an iPhone photograph in Chapter 6 that I wanted to replace with something a bit more polished (scroll to see which one it is- it’s my favorite shot from the entire session!).

THIS is why I love working with returning clients- the product gets better and better, and we’re able to get creative about communicating similar concepts with fresh visuals! I love that I get to know my clients’ brands inside & out, and the trust that comes from that kind of close working relationship (again, see below 🙂 ).

Wendy, thank you for being one of the most inspiring people I know. Working with you is a privilege and sheer joy, all wrapped into one. Thank you for trusting my crazy ideas and for having SO many of your own, and for reminding me over and over again that I don’t have to wait for permission before I go out and do big things.

Psst- y’all can order Wendy’s book here!

There’s a section in the book that walks you through an antique chair makeover, and while I’d photographed Wendy’s process in sessions past, we needed a photo for each of the 24 steps required to take a chair from the version on the left to the final piece on the right.

The photo that ended up on the cover of the book! Read the story on why this is actually a re-do from a photo I took a year before!

This one!! Ok, so in the initial draft of the book, there was an iPhone photo of Wendy being silly to accompany the chapter on “Playing more creatively.” I Voxed Wendy and said “hey… what would you think about getting one of those like, vintage floral caps that people used to wear for synchronized swimming… and then wear that with your swimsuit for a shot in the pool?” It’s a credit to Wendy’s trusting nature that she agreed.

And dangit, if it didn’t turn out to be one of my favorite photos of her I’ve ever taken :). Look at how darling she looks!

And would you know it, this one ended up on the back cover of the book! Love you, Wendy!