Shooting a light filled summer looking cover for a magazine is harder than it sounds.
The problem is, we have to shoot in April, winters end, when the light often still gloomy, for the magazine to be published the following months (Spring, Summer market different editions Worldwide).
But the April’s light quality rarely lives up to the expectations of a brilliant blue high summer in July.
The reality is that the timing of the furniture fair in Milan ( Salone del Mobile ) dictates an April shoot. But the light quality just isn’t available.
I’ve had this problem to solve a few times for “Madame Figaro ». They wanted to lift a cover from reportage realised in the southern hemisphere, and insert product for the northern hemisphere, too difficult to transport, and undefined in terms of the clients buying their advertising space.
The key here is to go shoot those covers in a southern hemisphere country, where is the light is just perfect for summery pictures.
We usually shoot the landscape 3 weeks before the « Salone del Mobile ». I’ve been to Salvador, Brazil and Los Angeles among other locations to achieve those summer covers.
Afterwards, I shoot the furniture in a studio in Paris, and I integrate all the pictures I shot in order to get a good looking cover.
See the different stages below:
