Prop Styling
Thrift Whoring has gone down, in a BIG WAY, y'all! Here's a round-up of the latest 'liscous from my recent troll:
Wedgewood, Limoges, Italian rock crystal and shut the F&$K YOU ironstone transferware!?! Y'all won't believe what all this YUMMY set me back?
$24.87 VALUE DOLLARS! Salvation Army made me a satisfied thrift whore to-day! What's your latest score?! And YES, I do want all the steamy PICS!
Y'all it's been MORE than a minute since I've dispensed with some blog lovin'-- sorry Dazzler's-- Blog Blackout! Aside from the usual busyness of the holidays that we're all prone to, I got hit with a mild case of the social media meltdown! #socialmediameltdown Uh huh! All this 'socializing' just gets bed, bath & beyond exhausting at times! Right? In the midst of all the pinning, tweeting, posting, liking, sharing-- of which, I've actually kept pretty consistent with throughout this blog blackout (in fact, click my new Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, FB widgets to the left of this post and follow me, y'all! HOLLA IRONY!)-- I just couldn't find the energy for blogging too. But Betch is baaaaaack!
Excited to share the latest cover I styled for All You magazine:
I mean, as y'all no doubt suspect, this cover tested all my skillz as a prop stylist. The detail, the nuance...the WHITE PLATE. I mean, Shut the F$%K you with this WHITE PLATE REALNESS! Have you ever seen a more beautiful WHITE PLATE in all YOUR LIFE?! This will forever be etched in y'all's memories as the WHITE PLATE that defines white plates. I'm truly sorry for y'all b/c there will never be another white plate. Done. Period.
But in all seriousness, I thought this would be a cool example worth sharing in reference to the peeps who ask 'what is a prop stylist?' or 'what does a prop stylist do?'. So, for the cover above (shot by Kate Sears & food styled by John Bjostad...John baked & iced that scrumptious cake), I was responsible for sourcing and bringing that WHITE PLATE (and LOTS of other white plates) as well as the pink surface (and LOTS of other pink surfaces) the white plate is sitting on, to the shoot. They call these OPTIONS, in my business. I also brought other elements that might go along with the ubiquitous "generous slice of cake cut out" scene: napkins, dessert plates, tea & coffee cups, saucers, etc., b/c y'all never know what else you'll need when you finally sit down to eat that cake, right?
These additional elements can help 'seal the deal' if a shot needs a little somethin'-somethin' extra to make it pop, give it a sense of real place, or mood/energy. This is where being a prop stylist can get really fun, b/c, budget permitting, you get to be really creative and bring things to help 'tell the story' that may have never even been requested by Creative Director. And though y'all only ever end up seeing the WHITE PLATE OF YOUR DREAMS on a pink surface, here's part of what was actually brought to the shoot that day:
And
Note the Pantone chips...these colors were specified to me by the Creative Director, so we were both on the same 'color page' and I'd pull the exact shades of pink she was after. In addition to fabric as surface options, to suggest a tablecloth, for instance...I also pulled wood & plaster surfaces with pink finishes, like these:
So next time y'all see an image in a magazine, print or online, a book cover, a catalog spread, etc...don't be fooled: A LOT of time, talent and energy went into creating that moment...even if it is just a WHITE PLATE. OH and follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, FB! :)
holla: check out my latest styling work on the Nov '13 cover of All You magazine...
y'all know you want to turn some pumpkins into a centerpiece!!! GET IT!
Thrilled to share some prop styling I did for this story running in a new magazine called, Weekend Almanac:
Some other morsels, enlarged for y'all's viewing pleasure:
"Finders Fare", shot by Jacob Pritchard with food styling by Corey Belle...it was an awesome lakeside shoot, even when we had an uninvited guest bear briefly join us-- no shiot! Betch, even Bears want to eat from a stylish table too!!! The magazine is brand new, so go grab y'all-selves a copy!
in late August for All You magazine covers I'm styling today:
Get your baubles, berries & bling ready y'all...holidays are fast approaching! #wheredoestimego
One of my many 'job duties' as a prop & set stylist for photo shoots is to compose items/objects being photographed, like this:
That's an early version of a cosmetics shot that I composed for the Taigan.com 2012 holiday gift guide...it's not brain surgery here, folks, but it's a close second at least, I mean, c'mon...the beauty industry? The economy? Y'all do the math! Anyway, I digress...here's where we ended up:
A little composition love goes a LONG way, right? What started out as cute & contained grew to be fun & flirty with lots of energy and movement. Now, don't y'all just want to buy all that shiot right now? I mean, look how gorg it is, spread all across the place just beckoning, ever so tenderly...Cosmetic Confessions!
Shout out to the uber-talented photographer dynamo, Emily J Anderson, and Ellie Sommerville McNevin, who art directed beyond belief! Trebbie! We had a great time together and I think we served up one sassy gift guide...check it here. So now, none of y'all have ANY excuses for last-minute holiday shopping scrambles, OK?!
A lot of times when I tell people about my work as a prop stylist, they go all 'deer in headlights' and usually say something like, 'what's that?', 'huh?', 'you do hair?' Here's what a prop stylist does:
What in hell is that, y'all ask? It's a chianti bottle and it's having candle wax dripped on it for a photograph that will eventually make it's way on a page in a major magazine...they'll be some clever service point to you telling y'all how to take your chianti bottle & reuse it as a candleholder when y'all set that effortless dinner table for your festive holiday party!
Oh, wait...y'all didn't think that those gorgeous shots of rooms/homes/people/parties just happened to be that way, naturally and a photographer just snapped a pic of it? Not always, but you're seeing smoke & mirrors, my friends...or in my case, from my shoot yesterday...bottles and candlewax...
This lovely moment was actually executed by the uber-talented, Andrea Greco, aka Candy, who's a crafting fiend!
So next time y'all are thumbing through the pages of your favorite magazine, wondering if people really live/eat/entertain like that, all the time? The answer might just be no...a prop stylist made it look that way!!!
July just keeps on giving up bounty y'all! Check out my latest prop styling in this month's Prevention Magazine featuring Ms. Jackson, if you're NASTY, which I certainly AM. Shot by the amazing and effervescent John Kernick! I was also privileged to get to work again with the incomparable food maestro, Lori Powell, whom I first met and worked with back at Real Simple...she's tearing it up as the Food Director at Prevention now! Tear Lori! And of course this shoot wouldn't have been nearly as zany without Prevention's spitfire Photography Director, Marybeth Dulany, who changed all of our lives forever by singing One Direction's, 'What Makes You Beautiful'...check out these highlights:
Go out and grab yourselves a copy! Also, HUGE shout out to the REAL Nasty Girls on set, Andrea Greco and Nidia Cueva without whom I couldn't have done this story!!!
Y'all, believe it or not, Thanksgiving is just around the corner...and it's not too soon to begin your planning to avoid last-minute manic panic...might I recommend this amazing article in the November 2011 issue of Essence magazine? Yes, considering I styled AND am giving style tips in it, I just might! Get yourselves a copy & get ready for yummy, y'all:
Y’all, just when I thought an already amazing day spent shopping with Disa couldn’t get any better, I returned home yesterday to find the Feb. 2011 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine in my mailbox!
I don’t normally get so worked up about my magazines, but this one took me there b/c I co-produced the cover story, ‘Color is Refreshing’! Along with the amazingly talented Style Director, Stephen Perfetto, we turned it out, y’all. Of course, I’m a little bit biased, but I really think the story is not only beautiful, but filled with lots of yummy ideas about how to get & live with color. Shot by the incredible Kim Cornelison, get yourselves a copy and get some color in your lives!
Y'all one of my ABSOLUTE favorite things to do is hit the thrift stores for treasures! And no time is more perfect for hunting than over the holidays, especially when my holiday travels take me to exotic destinations, such as Birmingham, AL! Birm-a-dazzle, y'all! In general, when thrifting, you never know what you'll find, but it's even more unpredictable when you shop in stores in a town that you're visiting. In these scenarios, it's that much more thrilling b/c you have no way of knowing which stores will yield amazing bounty. So, all this uncharted territory makes for some incredible finds. Take these items pictured here, scored at the Goodwill
All of these things I picked up primarily for use on prop styling gigs, but I'll put that super-cute recipe binder to good use right away, especially since it cost me all of sixty-five cents!! Oh bargain Holla!! And that little metal black tray (which is part of a set of three) will take me there as a seventy-five cents triptych in our kitchen!!! So, y'all, don't forget no matter where your travels take you, there's plenty of bargain treasures to be had at the thrift stores!
Y'all, design*sponge has struck again and taken us there! So this past summer, I got to work with the very talented Photographer (and friend) David Land. He has two adorable friends, Mike and Emma, who have an even more adorable brownstone in Brooklyn. It’s cuteness personified y’all! I jumped at the chance when he asked me to style the place for a photo shoot of their home. And now y’all can see this photo and style goodness featured here on design*sponge! Mmmm spongy!
