Blogged by Margo Arrick
My day started out early on Friday morning, with a loaded car full of tools and supplies. After fueling up with a large sweet tea from Sonic, I headed down the road to meet up with Heather and
Theresa Cano for the Texas shoot. Where in Texas you ask??? Well It's a big state and it could have been anywhere, you'll just have to wait till February to find out. Let's just say it was a "fer bit" down the road.
I arrived at the location around 9:00 and immediately got to work. But first a quick tour... jaw dropping beautiful junk everywhere you turn, inside and out. The homeowners have a real eye for great pieces. No time to visit just yet though...
My job was "go-fer", I'm not going to put any kind of fancy title on it, like production assistant etc... I was a "go-fer" as in "I go-fer this and I go-fer that". I was prepared for this ahead of time and was ready to watch, work, and observe.
The first thing I observed was that there was a big wasp issue at the location. I think it was Heather running, screaming and waving her arms around that was my first clue. So I became the official wasp spotter and killer. Quite by accident we discovered that Windex works real well as a repellent and when we had nothing else we would aim that blue bottle at the pesky critters and they would dash away.
At one point one of them did get the best of me though. As I was cleaning one area there was a nest hidden up under something. I guess one of them brushed past my hand just barely catching me with a stinger. It was not a bad sting, just enough to get my attention. I quickly asked the homeowner for a bag of ice and kept right on working. The offending wasp was soon beaten down with a broom, as I grinned sheepishly.
One of the best pieces of equipment we had on this location was a huge fan that belonged to the homeowner.
Similar to the one in the picture below, but without the wheels.Let me say we made good use of that fan, it's one of those heavy duty industrial fans that is about 4' wide. You could often see one of us standing in front of it as we were waiting for instructions, it was the best seat in the house. At one point we had to move the fan, Heather grabbed one side and I grabbed the other and off we go. However this time, I lost my footing on a short ledge, twisting my ankle and landing with a thud, crashing this massive fan. I think my pride was hurt more than anything else, after all, it's hard to fall gracefully with a 50 pound fan in your hands. Twist, Thud, Crash!!!!
Heather was not immune to clumsy antics either. We had a citronella candle sitting on the ground outside, in an attempt to repel the wasps. Heather, focusing on something else, tripped right over it, hot wax flying all over her leg and jeans. We joked with her that was one way to get a cheap waxing.
By far the most painful injury for me was when I hit my head on a heavy metal object hanging from above. I don't know why I didn't look above me, I guess I was just focused on what I was doing, but when I stood up, BANG, went my head strait into this monstrosity, clanking my noggin really hard. This blow actually slowed me down for a bit (imagine a loony-toons cartoon with the birdies flying around my head and a red knot shooting up before your eyes.) Tweet-Tweet-Tweet Boooiiiinnnngggg Wah-Wah.
Let's just say Photo Shoots are not glamorous, they are a lot of work. It all looks so pretty when it's done, but there is a lot of blood, sweat and tears that go into these shoots, and I think I shed them all. You'll love the end result I'm sure. I saw the shots, and they are lovely.
On a side note: I adored meeting the homeowners and their family. I feel I've made fast friends. I can't wait for you to meet them as well, in the pages of the next issue. I always say you can judge someone by their pets. I had fun meeting the many animals at this location including.
The ever entertaining Dachshund, Ellie: Full of humor and love
And the sweet one-eyed cat, Thomas
Both were up for a good tummy rub at any time.
As we continue to plan fabulous and fresh stories for Flea Market Style 2011, I realize we are different. Apparently fresh is getting harder to come by on the newsstand these days. It seems that reusing old magazine material is a current trend and is necessary to make a difference in the bottom line for publishers. Without a positive balance sheet, there would be no magazines for us to curl up in our favorite chair and get lost in a beautiful cottage or farmhouse, we dream could be ours one day.
