One of the most challenging and enjoyable aspects of being an art director for a magazine is conceptualizing and directing photo shoots, especially for my covers. In many ways it allows me to be more creative than actually being behind the lens myself. I can coordinate all the elements with greater precision to achieve what I’m seeing in my mind and let one of my favorite photographers, Mike Krause from BluDoor Studios, handle the camera. The results are usually very satisfying.

When I scheduled the photo shoot for our February cover model, and Miss Teen Southlake, Brittany Tew, it was during a wet, cold and generally nasty couple of weeks in North Texas. Completely by chance, there was a particular Wednesday that the temperature rose into the seventies and the sun came out just long enough for us to pull this thing together. After sketching out ideas for the shoot and some expedited location scouting, I was lucky to find a few patches of green grass on a hillside next to Southlake town square. Brittany was flying out the next morning to Vegas for a Miss America event, so our window to work with her was limited to a few hours that afternoon.

The sun came and went, along with the blue in the sky but finally gave us enough to work with. I needed the sunshine and greenery to ground the shot and give it a Spring feel. We got a number of great photos for the feature and of course the money shot for a stunning cover, which proves how essential it is to have good sketches and planning to achieve optimal results in a fix. Happy Valentine’s Day, nerds.