So, what do you do when you have a big week-long photo shoot coming up? You buy a new studio and renovate of course, or at least that’s what we did. Probably not the best timing, but when opportunities arise sometimes you just have to go all in.
Faced with 4500 square feet of empty space and six weeks to get it ready, we jumped at the chance to roll up our sleeves and turn it into a functioning photo studio. As you can imagine, an empty space calls for a long to-do list. We planned to paint, furnish, install a kitchen, create signage, clean the windows, and build 3 working sets all before the big day.
The shoot was for a new PetSmart small-animal habitat and diet rebranding called Full Cheeks, and was set to launch in PetSmart stores Spring of 2022. McCord Design Group was behind the creative vision and we were tasked with capturing the imagery of all the animals and habitats. First things first though, we needed a working studio.
After many long days and nights, we managed to pull it all together in the six weeks we had leading up to the shoot. On day one of shoot week, the once empty space was now filled with clients, crew, animal owners and pets. Lots and lots of pets. We brought in over sixty small animals that week which included everything from mice, rats, guinea pigs, ferrets, chinchillas, rabbits, and more.
Spending our first week of shooting with so many wonderful people and, of course, all the furry friends we made we couldn’t have asked for a better way to break in our new studio. That week definitely made for some big “full cheek” smiles.
