A Creative Collaboration
Achieving more with the right team
Partnering with Spoonflower was a rewarding high point of a fruitful partnership. Together we dreamed up a shoot to showcase the company’s latest patterns, fabrics and textures for breezy and bright summer interiors. The end result? Spoonflower’s Summer Lookbook.
A Fruitful Alliance
Years of collaboration have planted the seeds of teamwork and trust between Spoonflower’s production manager and photographer, Alex Craig, and the Cowboy team, making it possible to divide and conquer the set design, production and photography on this project. While Alex shared his creative vision and the rest of the Spoonflower team got to work wallpapering the location, Cowboy prepped the set–from lights and grip to camera/digi station to prop placement to capturing BTS–it felt good to work together with seamless efficiency. With multiple sets (in-studio and on-location), a ton of props, and a full crew and client group to wrangle we met every challenge and helped Spoonflower create images that reflect their brand and allowed the products to shine.
Cowboy’s strength is in its lineup of seasoned freelance professionals who are able to tackle all the moving pieces of a production, allowing the client to focus on the creative. Our combined experience allows us to take on any hiccups or challenges without skipping a beat.
Post-Production
We have developed an internal team model for larger retouching projects that provides the client with the best team to accomplish their end objectives for the imagery. This also allows our team to balance workloads and develop skills by sharing the responsibility for larger projects. In this case, our post-production team–Amber and Mandy–tackled the retouching for a large number of images, allowing for a fast turnaround to keep the project on schedule. I think one of the most challenging and epic images went to Amber. This bathtub image presented all sorts of opportunities for her to creatively composite and illustrate to achieve the desired look!. The final image is beautiful and one we are all proud of!
“I love working with Cowboy! As a one-person team, I often have to figure out an efficient way to complete a project instead of the most creative or technically satisfying approach. I can rely on them to know their discipline back-to-front and advise on the best approach, so we can create the highest quality content possible. It’s a true feeling of collaboration.””
— Alex Craig
Personally, this project was a dream come true because of its convenience. I typically have to travel for shoots, especially ones of this size and scope, so having a location just minutes away was an exciting change of pace that will probably be a rare occurrence in my tenure as a producer. Being near home base meant we were able to offer a unique production approach with flexible hours tailored to Spoonflower’s needs and budget requirements.
Our Spring interns (Sue and Rachel) were able to experience their first big production with us. They came on board as production assistants and worked hard all week to learn and support all the production activities on set. I couldn’t have done it without them!
Overall, we enjoyed the heck out of this collaboration with Spoonflower and look forward to the next time we all get together to make something awesome. Stay tuned!
Credits/Cowboy Collective:
Production: Cowboy Collective
Producer: Virginia Dees-Boyd
Come behind the scenes with us!
Production Coordinator: Megan Pennington
1st Assistant: Adam Pinnell
2nd Photo Assistant: Molly Brock
Digi Tech: Amber Hogan
Prop Stylist: Sophia Martinez
Styling Assistant: John Orr
PA/Interns: Rachel Sutton and Sue Lagneau
Credits/Spoonflower:
Photographer: Alex Craig, Spoonflower
Sarah Ward, SVP, Brand Marketing
Emerson Jones, Sr. Manager Merchandising-Spoonflower.com
Katherine Jones, Collaborations Manager
Theresa Rizzuto, Sr. Manager, Content & Creative
Emily Kohler, Graphic Design Team
Kristina Thomas, Graphic Design Team
Nicole Kligerman, Social Media Manager
Christina Anthony, Social Media Specialist
Anna Hennington, Merchandising and Project Management 3rd Party Marketplaces