Behind the Scenes of Vignette's Spring and Summer 2024 Photo Shoot
I think we all have war stories of family photo shoots gone wrong. I know I do. My family’s annual holiday photo sessions were a mixture of temper tantrums, hijinks, and oftentimes—bribery to achieve just one measly photo where at least one of us was smiling or appeared somewhat sane. The most memorable of these family photo shoots was the year we opted for an outdoor nature picture at Mission Trails, a popular hiking location. That year my son Andrew stepped on a wasp hive and unleashed a torrent of divebombing insects upon us. We were a sight to behold! Unsuspecting hikers witnessed my family of five, color coordinated and dressed to the nines, screaming while swatting the air around us as we made a mad dash for the cover of our SUV while being pursued and stung by a swarm of angry wasps. A trip to urgent care and a bottle of antihistamine later, magically, that year’s Christmas card turned out to be our best one ever!
(Seconds before the wasps attacked!)
Now, take those family photo war stories and multiple them by ten and you might get an idea of what Vignette photo shoots are like. Add a stunning location, mix in models and their adoring parents, sprinkle in our team, and you’re left with a controlled chaos that somehow always ends up magical, kind of like my Mission Trails photo shoot, minus the wasps!
After 11 seasons and loads of hijinks and learning curves, we have it figured out…mostly. At Vignette, we have a system that requires organization, logistics and lots of manpower. There is a model call, spreadsheets, location scouting, sample gathering, travel, and oh! My! God!!! an insane amount of garment steaming and color paletting! With all our experience and combined expertise, we have slowly mastered the fine art of capturing big smiles and adorable moments from our pintsized models that land on our website and Instagram feeds. Our talented team, amazing model families, child wrangling skills, patience, and most of all, sheer luck is what makes it all happen!
Yet, despite all of that, things still go wrong. Luckily there have not been swarms of wasps, but during our fall photo shoot we did have tarantula sightings (more on that in an upcoming blog!). This Spring season, the most foreboding element was the weather. We had Southern California’s dreaded June Gloom to contend with. Still, with creativity and spontaneity we made it work. We always make it work!
This year we chose Laguna beach as the backdrop for our Spring 2024 season. The beauty of Southern California perfectly encapsulates Vignette’s spring and summer offerings of effortlessly cool and whimsical dresses, rompers, and separates. We had high hopes that we would escape the dreaded marine layer that tends to hang over SoCal ever June. Despite all our best intentions, the weather did not deliver. One day, looking to escape the gloom, we even hauled ourselves and a group of willing models and their families all the way down to La Jolla, only to be greeted with an even drearier sky—drat!!
However, we did have some glorious bright and sunny days! Add the charm of the Newport beach pier, tide pools, adorable kids and babies, and stunning sandy dunes and we ended up with spectacular shots! Bonus: we had so much fun doing it! Not only did we get to spend quality time together as a team, but we also bonded with our terrific models and their families! The best part, we are getting ready to do it all over again—this time we have opted for the east coast—hopefully this go around, the weather will cooperate! I am looking forward to the hilarity and hijinks that comes when you throw in a dozen kids and handful of photographers. All I ask is that the wasps stay away!
