Pillow Fights = Time of our lives!
“Light as a feather, stiff as a…”… oh, wait-we aren’t levitating! Or are we?
When we set out to make a dream come true at Jami Tatum Photography, we do not skip any details! This day had been planned for at least two months and rescheduled at least three times due to rogue packages. The dream ultimately did come true and it was worth the wait! Remember when we used to jump on the bed when our parents weren’t paying attention? Sneaking around parents was super difficult-especially for those of us who possess an uncontainable giggle box! We recreated the exhilaration and the adrenaline rush that is the classic pillow fight!
Nostalgia set in as I ordered all the moving parts for this set. I also temporarily lost my mind to insanity….. Mattress, sheets, pillows, feathers, cute pajamas, you name it-I ordered it! I even got a gorgeous headboard from my local thrift store to use for a backdrop! I won’t go into details on that, just know that I almost didn’t get it home in my vehicle & there was a super awkward & embarrassing voicemail left to the thrift store AND I didn’t even get the headboard until AFTER the shoot. Yes. The headboard was an afterthought and yes I’m ashamed of myself and yes, we will do another shoot with it in the future. Just imagine it (or not) in all it’s beautiful invisible glory!
In classic Jami-style, something was required to go south RIGHT off the bat! The feathers! Do you know how hard it was to source some feathers? I only own one feather pillow and that just wasn’t enough. So, I ordered several pound bags of feathers from my local Michaels Craft Store for curbside pickup. I should have known something was up when my order wasn't ready in 2 hours. It was not until the next day that I received a phone call from a super-friendly and apologetic employee letting me know the feathers I had placed an order for were not actually in stock at that store. If i’ve said it once, i’ve said it a thousand times-technology & I have a love/hate relationship that frequently leads me down some rocky paths. ha.
So, I threw my hands up in defeat and decided to postpone the shoot another time, to give me some time to process my grown-up emotions like a toddler & start working on plan B. Luckily for me, a mysterious package arrived just a few days later, packed to the brim with feathers! Oh joyous feather gods have not forsaken me after all! Just kitten. They definitely had forsaken me- I just have some AMAZING friends and helping hands in my life! Knowing I was in a very dark place (sarcasm) due to my hopes and dreams being shattered (another sarcasm), my dear friend and ultimate gal pal secretly ordered like 10 pounds of feathers to my door! What would I do without Taylor, y’all!? She’s gold, I tell ya!
I went to target for last-minute pillow purchasing and was pleasantly surprised to find they had a boatload of plain pillows in the back-to-college section for $4! I sure did stock up, y’all.
A fun pull-back from our set!
Now that I had everything in hand, we officially scheduled the shoot! Shoot day rolled around and the nostalgia set in. I’m even debating setting up an adult pillow fight session to get the full effect 😂.
We pajama’d 4 children who were hyped up on sugar from our earlier “snack to school” activities. Hey Target! Give me a call if you’re ever in need of some PRECIOUS models and product photography 😂.
Midway through the chaos, one of the kids got the idea to scoop up some feathers and throw them at the fan. BRILLIANT! We came within inches of inventing a super feather sucker-upper to attach to the fan for a constant supply of floating feathers. I better get to work on that before I turn this into a mini session event!
If I had one wish, it would be that my studio ceilings were just a SMIDGE taller. But everything went so incredibly well! The air was filled with every kind of giggle you can imagine and the cleanup, although strenuous, was worth every bit of blood, sweat & tears. Just to see those giant smiles and hear those adorable chuckles-I’d do it a thousand times over!
Speaking of cleanup… we carefully swept ( sweeping feathers is a lot like sweeping foam particles - staticky & floaty & directionally unpredictable ) the feathers into small piles which we then gathered together with our bare hands in an attempt to get them contained in one place. Let me tell you-there was a LITERAL blanket of feathers covering the studio. A BLANKET. we deflated the air mattress and discovered a super-top-secret hiding spot for - you guessed it-even MORE feathers!
Skipping forward a little, we had a plumbing issue which caused half of the studio to flood! I hired contractors to come out and fix everything up and do some impromptu remodeling. A blessing in disguise? We found SO MANY FEATHERS in so many random places throughout the entire process that it wasn’t even funny! I think the feathers are all gone, now, but I look forward to the day in 2051 when I’m retired and one of those stinking feathers floats down in front of me and brings back host of wonderful memories!
Wanna see the remodeled space? I’ll be blogging that with images, soon!
In the meantime enjoy this