Photo shoot for the Autumn/Winter collections

This is one of those things that sounds very glamorous but is actually something we spend ages planning and is pretty hard work! It always makes me look at pictures in magazines a little differently when I see a model looking gorgeous I am automatically thinking I wonder how long it took to get that shot and how many people were involved! 

The shoes and boots always look lovely in the shop but it’s nice to have images of them on feet and in different locations, this helps people imagine how they will fit into their wardrobes and lifestyles. I love to use our social media pages such as Facebook and Instagram too so these images are much better for this rather than products sat on a white background. Our very creative staff member Gaynor also suggested that we display these images in the shop too so we have some lovely photo boards by the door which we use to pop Polaroid’s on which get some lovely customer comments.  

This year for the first time we used a professional photographer for both our website images and the photo shoot, this was because the shop has become so busy and the buying trips also take up lots of time so we just couldn’t do it all ourselves and ensure the pictures were ready for the new season. However, I was chief assistant throughout along with being chief shoe 'putter on', chief leaf scatterer, chief mud remover and general tidy 'uperer' and I did my fair share of styling so I wasn't skiving I promise!

After much deliberation, we decided on the photographer Rachel McClumpha who came recommended to us by a few other small business owners (find her work here www.rjm-photography.co.uk) and when we chatted I felt she really understood the Finale ethos and would be great to work with. We had a great time creating the plan for the shoot together and I am very pleased with the photographs that she produced for us. Rachel will be my go-to photographer for the future now and I'm pleased that we get to use another small business. 

We are lucky that we have some amazing countryside and backdrops around the shop in the Corbridge area, this makes the photographs more interesting and also allows us to place the shoes and boots in lifestyle situations which is great. 

Due to our previous foot model having flown the nest and started her new career after university we persuaded someone who works in another local business in the village to loan us her lovely feet for the day as she is a small size. Apparently, my size 7 feet are just slightly too large to get easily in a shot so I am yet to be scouted as an international foot model! As a bonus, our foot model brought along her daughter too so we had double feet which was great as we had a lot of stock to photograph. 

The weather was on our side and despite it being chilly the light was nice for most of the day and the collection looks fabulous in the images ( I am slightly biased though!) It was a day full of hard work but very enjoyable too, it’s lovely to see the shoes and boots that we choose for customers being worn crunching through autumn leaves or styled ready for a party. 

The shots will be popping up on our social media over the next few months and the product shots are on the website now so you can have a peek if you want now you know how they were all taken. 

The next newsletter I send out will have some of the images on so sign up here if you want to receive that - (don't worry I don’t have time to spam you - one a month is the maximum you will receive!)

A customer made a comment on our Facebook page last week asking how we got such lovely shots of our shoes as every time she tried to take one to send us she didn’t think it was very good - it's much harder than it looks was my answer and it does take time! This doesn’t mean I don’t love to receive a #shoefie from you no matter what it looks like! (that’s a selfie of your shoes apparently) I have popped some of the recent ones I have received here.   

I hope you are all enjoying the first few weeks of Autumn and thinking about the styles you need to see you through the new season and  I hope our photos will give you some inspiration.

Keep leaf crunching - whatever you wear on your feet,