A Summery Editorial at Michigan's Lilley Mansion

I remember when I was new to business in 2010, styled shoots were one of best ways to market your work and get to know both new approaches and people. In my first couple years of business I took on at least a dozen of these projects doing anything and everything I could to learn, grown, evolve, and get myself out there. Without much of a portfolio as a newly launched company there wasn’t any other obvious way to showcase what I could do to potential clients, and especially since this was pre-Pinterest and well before social media was the beast we know it as today. The Valencia filter was the most aesthetically pleasing thing after Instagram launched that year and if you know what I mean, well, you know what I mean.

So while I learned quickly how valuable styled shoots were from a visual portfolio perspective, I also learned the endless other perks of these types of endeavors – from conceptualizing ideas that might not be palatable with clients and trying new color palettes and texture combinations, to exploring new venues and finally working with professionals you’ve only gotten to admire on Instagram, the pay-offs with a thoughtful editorial production are worth the effort, time, and financial investment.

This particular editorial production is one of my most favorite efforts to date. It could be because the style of the project best reflects my current tastes or that I’ve grown into an aesthetic style that feels comfortable and like home, but I’m really proud of how our team came together to bring this to reality, and especially in the middle of what’s been a busy summer season for all.

My vision was to bring summery color to life against the already stunning backdrop of Spring Lake, Michigan’s Lilley Mansion, to play around with pattern, and to let the rest come to life organically. So much of good art is about letting things happen organically, and what a relief that I’ve arrived at such a revelation this far into my career! And where it appears the project landed was somewhere between a West Michigan summer meets Bridgerton and I’m not mad about it.

Enjoy these gorgeous film images from my treasured and talented colleague, Kelly Sweet. And enjoy the full list of professionals and businesses that contributed to this project at the bottom of the post. Every single person brought something really special to this day and I’m tremendously grateful for the hard work and passion that made this possible.

Oh! And if you’d like even more of this beautiful project then you can enjoy my TikTok debut or this reel that shows a little of the behind the scenes process. It really is a fine art making these things come to life!