As we hurtle towards our print deadline for Volume 15 (publishing in April 2023), I wanted to quickly look back at our last issue and, as I always do, share a few images ‘from the cutting room floor’ – a few shots I love but that didn’t quite make it into the magazine. (You can read more about the image selection process here)
The theme for Volume 14 was Joy, and we really did feature some joyous spaces! We carried out shoots up and down the country – from Glasgow to Devon – and we even popped over to Germany for a day, which was in fact the shoot that ended up on the cover!
If you’ve ever wondered what goes on at one of our photoshoots – the first thing to know is that it definitely doesn’t have the glamour that photoshoots are sometimes associated with! When we went to Germany, myself and photographer Jemma Watts got up incredibly early to catch a flight. There was then some confusion over travel tickets and some running (with heavy equipment) to fling ourselves onto trains!
Once on location, we had a few hours to whizz round and get all the shots, quickly wolfing down sandwiches we’d bought at the airport. Afterwards it was another sprint back to catch our late flight home.
During the shoot, we usually have a look around the home first and make a bit of a plan, usually dependent on light and where it is coming in at certain times of the day. Generally, we shoot the homes we feature ‘as is’ – so we don’t bring in extra props like some magazines do. But, there is often a little bit of tweaking here and there – usually in terms of positioning of objects, because things can look quite different through the lens of camera than they do to the naked eye.
For example, in this shot above taken by Jemma Watts on our home tour shoot with Megan Tilley we tweaked the various objects on the shelving and worktop to get the best configuration through the lens of the camera. If you check out the image of this that we printed in the magazine, you’ll see the objects are in different positions – this was because it was an upright shot rather than landscape, and so we needed to style the items slightly different for that format.
I don’t get to go on all of our shoots, due to location and timing, but I do know that all of our photographers work incredibly hard and always return excellent shoots – hence why we often end up with a surplus of images that we can’t fit in the magazine. So, here are a few extras, that you can pin to your Pinterest boards from those spaces that you swooned over in the print mag.
If you haven’t got Volume 14 yet, I only have a few boxes left, so make sure you grab a copy before they all go. BUY VOLUME 14 
Above: I love Jess Clark‘s use of colour in her home – it absolutely embodied our Joy theme! Photography by Kasia Fiszer. 
Above: The beautiful hand-printed textiles by Rachel Walker, the talent behind Little Beacon. Sadly Rachel has since closed her store, but you can still find her beautiful wares online. Photography by Kathryn Taylor.
Above: Dreamy colours and textures in London Latin-American restaurant Morena. Worth a visit for the interiors alone, but the food and drink looks pretty wonderful too! Photography: Milly Fletcher
Above: No-one needs a reason for making a trip to Devon, but if you do, then a paying a visit to the beautiful independent store Sunshine & Snow is good enough reason for me! Photographer Stephanie Osmond had so many lovely images of the space, it really was hard to choose what went into our feature!
See more of these beautiful spaces and others in the print magazine.
