Burt's Bees Photo Shoot (Behind The Scenes)

If someone told me that I would be a Burt's Bees model in the future, I would have laughed in their face. Beyond blonde hair, I am as far as a model as they come. I am built like a football player, very solid with broad shoulders, something I've been conscience of my whole life. But guess what, they choose to feature me and my story!

Click here to read the Raise Your Burt's Contest back story!

There is a bit of a delay in this blog post. I needed to wait until the campaign ran to post this! Here it is (you'll have to scroll down to the bottom to see my photo and story). The shoot actually happened mid-November 2012.

The breakfast catering (yes, as in gourmet food) arrived around 8:00am. They set themselves up in the kitchen. Then the lighting and camera equipment arrived, followed by THE Stephanie Rausser and her amazing team (Camera experts and professional hair makeup artist)! Get this, Claudia (the professional hair and makeup artist) was from Milan, Italy, and worked on famous celebrities like Kate Moss and Reese Witherspoon! Bonus, she rescued her black cat from outside her NY apartment!

We all sat down and ate breakfast in our tiny dining room :) The staff from the ad agency (Jennifer and Hayley, the masterminds behind the contest) arrived.

After we ate it was time to try on the outfits they brought for me. Then hair & make up! I had such a blast having my makeup professionally done. That was a first (hopefully not a last) for me.

They photo team set up lights and equipment outside. Then Kyle and I wrangled up the animals (the two cats, two dogs and five hens) and corralled them to the "set."

Kyle outfitted Jennifer, Hayley and Claudia with rakes to stand "behind the scenes" and keep the hens from running off set! Couldn't stop laughing.

Miles, Duncan, Marlo and Riff Raff hung out and did a great job posing for the camera, although the chickens did NOT like to be held next to the cats (can't blame them)!

Half way through the morning the catering  truck came back, and switched out the breakfast with lunch! (Bonus, we got to keep all the leftovers!) Score.

We took a break and came in for lunch.

The second half of the day was shot on the hammock in the back yard. We shot with Duncan, Riff Raff and the hens. By this time, the entire team were expert chicken catchers! Check out the amazing photography assistants' mad chicken catching skills video!




At one point in the photo shoot I remember stating that I've put on so much lip balm that I'll be good for the next five years!


By about 5:00pm we were wrapping up. The team chilled for awhile in our living room, as they one of the team members did a conference call in the upstairs bedroom. It was fun getting to know everyone. They all had a fantastic sense of humor, and were very nice house guests.

Even though I didn't win, this was an experience I will never forget and I was very fortunate to be a part of this. Since I am local (the Burt's Bees company headquarters is located in Durham, NC... an hour down the road) the company invited me for a tour of the HQ! I'm sure there will be a blog post to follow the tour, stay posted!

The photos were used as part of their online social media campaign:
Facebook Post 1 (The pit bull advocates LOVED this one!)
Facebook Post 2 (Fricken 3,400 LIKES and over 450 Shares!)


Enjoy some of the "Behind the Scenes" photos courtesy of Stephanie Rausser Photography!