Behind the Scenes of a Magazine Photoshoot

Photos by © Franck Schmitt

Curious to find out what happens behind the scenes of a magazine photoshoot? My French Country Home Editor-in-Chief Sharon Santoni shares with us the whimsical experience of decorating her home for Christmas – in September – for our November/December issue.

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We are happy to share here a few action shots and some of the unpublished photos by our photographer Franck Schmitt. To see the results of the full shoot of Sharon’s home, make sure to get your copy of the November/December 2024 issue!

Preparing the Magazine

Creating a magazine means that we are always working on content at least two months ahead of the publishing date. This means that now, at the end of November, we are currently writing content for the March edition of the magazine.

This doesn’t normally pose a problem, except for garden or floral pieces. Finding beautiful roses for the May/June edition in early March is challenging, but luckily the professional flower market in Paris works with suppliers from around the world, and generally we manage to find all we need…. And sometimes – instead of flowers – we need a Christmas tree!

That is why in early September this year, when we were assembling our November/December issue, I made the short drive to our local Christmas tree farm to pick out a very important prop for our Christmas interior photoshoot.

Getting a Christmas Tree in September

I’m lucky to have this grower so close to home. An old farm property, built around a central courtyard that would once have been busy with horses and carts. Today, the courtyard is grassed over, and when it comes to early December, there are piles of freshly cut Christmas trees from their surrounding ‘orchards’. When we buy our tree in December, I wander up and down the rows of trees, usually accompanied by a very patient vendor, who lifts potential options for me to see their size and shape. Once my choice is made, the tree is wrapped in a protective netting and loaded into the car.

But this time was different. Needing a Christmas tree so far out of season, I called the farm well ahead and explained which variety and size of tree I was after. I asked them to fit the tree trunk with a solid base and when we turned up, there it was – waiting and ready to go.

Setting up the Shoot

Once home, the tree was unloaded, furniture was moved around and in no time at all the winter tree stood proudly in the corner of the dining room on a late summer afternoon.

For this shoot we were lucky to work with a couple of wonderful French brands who lent us products for our photos. The previous week, I shot into Paris to collect table linens from Le Château de Ma Mère, Christmas decorations from our friends at La Maison du Bac, candles from Les Bougies de Frédérique, and ribbons from Le Bon Marché. The wrapping paper proved a little more complicated, but I finally came across the exact design and style I was looking for in a slightly unconventional form: wallpaper by Antoinette Poisson!

I knew we wanted to shoot the dining room and also the hallway and stairwell. It was going to take a while, and luckily for me, one of our writers, Maddy Piggott, kindly accepted to come out to Normandy and join me for two days. On the first day we prepped, wrapped, styled and positioned everything as if it were December 23rd so the next morning when the photographer Franck Schmitt turned up, we were practically ready for a magazine-worthy Christmas party.

Working with the Photographer

Franck and I have often worked together for many years. We’ve traveled around France together shooting the photos for my two books, My Stylish French Girlfriends and Entertaining through the Seasons. He was the perfect photographer for this photoshoot because he knows me and my house well, and he’s always willing to go the extra mile for the sake of a good photo.

I’ve discovered over the years that the trick for a successful shoot is to stay one step ahead of the photographer. Prep the table, and while he or she is taking the shots, I move on to the next vignette and prep the flowers or food. While Franck was taking the pictures of the gifts and the tree, Maddy was decorating the stairway while I created a bouquet with flowers and foliage foraged in the garden.

The day went past in a happy blur of creative fun. We laughed and chatted and tweaked then tweaked again. Candles were lit, lights were dimmed, the dogs asleep at our feet, oblivious to the activity around them.

I shared a picture on Instagram the next day, and a reader asked me if it ‘felt’ like Christmas so far ahead of the date. I couldn’t lie. It didn’t feel like Christmas, but it was a lot of fun, and also gave me some new ideas for my real Holiday decor this year.

Written by Sharon Santoni

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