It’s a Cover

By Stacy Kunstel

This summer while I was producing the photo shoot that became this cover forNew England Home Connecticut our photographer Michael Partenio issued a bold statement and said, “If this photo doesn’t end up on the cover of the magazine I’m hanging up my camera.” Rarely do you hear such a statement because there are so many things that go into creating a great cover. Besides the architecture and interiors (ACI Contracting and Peter Sinnott respectively), there are other things to consider like the colors, seasonality, appropriateness of the art and accessories, composition and generally, will editor Kyle Hoepner and publisher Kathy Bush-Dutton think it will work on the newsstand.

Photography by Michael Partenio

It does take a team to create a cover. It just doesn’t happen. In other words, no matter how fabulous the house is there’s some work to be done. Here is where we started with this room, the before photo if you will.

First we had to determine the angle (straight on) and then had to move a bunch of furniture in a small sitting area so that we could put the camera in the right position. Then I took everything off the coffee table to simplify it. Peter had brought this crazy gold alligator from his store, Homeworks, because he knew the homeowner would love it. He thought maybe we’d put it in the dining room, but I immediately thought it would look amazing walking across the massive lacquered coffee table.

Are there other things you can spot? The orange pillows came from the desecrated sitting area and the fur-topped poufs added some white in front of the big black hole of the fireplace. I can’t remember what room I grabbed them from. Orange accents continued with the vintage ashtray and candlesticks on the mantle and then of course you needed some wild-looking flower jarring the whole look. We pulled the orange dyed cowhide in considerably too to it would anchor the bottom edge of the frame.

All in all it took about an hour to get what you now see, which is incredibly economical considering there was a time in the magazines that you were allotted an entire day to get one image.

Most importantly we hope you like it. We hope it clicks with you and that you’re compelled to see what else is inside. If you’re a reader of New England Home, but don’t get the Connecticut edition this might be the cover that makes you think you need that on your coffee table too!