SMYRNA – In July, a photography crew and fashion model from Woman’s Day magazine visited a farm in Smyrna to set the scene for its latest fall fashions in its nationally-distributed November issue.
The crew traveled from their base of operations in downtown Manhattan in New York City to the Ingerto family farm nestled in the rolling valley of Smyrna.
The dairy farm along Beaver Meadow Road is the backdrop of the magazine’s Nov. 3 “New Knits” feature article.
The farm, run by Jay and Ginny Ingerto, was brought to the magazine’s attention by their 24-year-old daughter Colleen, who worked as a photography intern for the company this past summer.
“I was at work one day talking with my co-workers about how I grew up on a farm, and they were interested. They asked me to take some pictures. A few weekends later, I had the opportunity and when I came back and showed them the images, they fell in love with it,” said Colleen, who is finishing her last year at St. Rose College in Albany.
“Relatable, simple, easy and beautiful,” described Stephanie Kim, Woman’s Day photography director. “Just about anywhere you look, you can find a picturesque scene that’s just another part of the normal country life. It’s wonderful.”
The nine-person magazine crew consisted of a photographer, photography assistant, photography technician, beauty editor, fashion editor, hair and make up stylist, and model.
Beauty Editor Melissa Matthews said the magazine attempts to appeal to women who don’t have hours to dedicate to fashion – women with families and careers.
“For a woman with a busy life, who has a lot going on, things have to be simple,” she said, referring to the knits article the Smyrna shoot highlights.
Photographer Keith Lathrop said the photo spread required about seven finished pictures for the layout, but he estimated that he would take thousands at the shoot.
“For every one finished product, there are usually three or four hundred taken. The client decides what they want and I try to keep that in mind. The pictures should reflect the demographics of the reader,” he said.
While Lathrop snapped away, his photo assistant Andrea Rollefson held a large white panel reflector to even out the natural lighting around the model. The reflector measures about 3 feet in diameter and is held near the model to shed light on the side facing away from the light source, the sun in this case on a warm July day.
After taking dozens of pictures, Lathrop handed over his camera’s memory card to his photo-tech Luke Hanscom, who then downloaded the images on his laptop for immediate review. While Hanscom looked through the images, Lathrop got feedback on his work before slipping in a new chip and taking more pictures.
“Basically it’s an on-site computer photo lab,” said Hanscom.
The weekend before the crew came to the farm, Colleen and Lathrop scouted the area and designated the shoot’s locations.
“Doing a shoot so many months in advance for a seasonal publication, you have keep in mind that it has to look like it’s fall even though you’re in summer,” said Lathrop.
Kim said Woman’s Day went through six different agencies looking at about 40 different models, taking into account location, clothing and the article’s content before deciding on Russian model Angelica Boss.
Modeling professionally for 10 years, Boss had previously been in the both French and Italian Vogue and in a number of haute couture fashion shows.
The man responsible for making sure Boss looked her best was hair and makeup stylist Vassilis Kokkinidis.
Kokkinidis brought with him a trunk of cosmetics, hundreds of shades of lipstick, eye liner and every other beauty enhancement imaginable.
Working with a unique mixture of colors and products specific to the needs of every shoot, his trade is more akin to an artist’s palette striking at a canvass.
“Applying can take from half an hour to 40 minutes, depending on the look you want,” he said.
Fashion Editor Amanda Greene brought three trunks of clothing to the Ingerto farm, filling an entire rack with clothes purchased from GAP, Target, Sears and K-Mart. Greene and Matthews prepared, dressed and accessorized the model’s wardrobe to fit the magazine’s article.
“We visit a lot of different showrooms, but basically we try and find comparable and affordable items that are as close to our target audience as we can get. We keep all items under a $100 price limit; not a lot of people can spend 600 or 700 dollars on shoes,” Greene said.
Kim said Woman’s Day has a circulation over 3 million nationally with an estimated 21 million readers.
“Having such a large publication come to the small corner of our hometown area is something I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was an amazing experience,” said Colleen.
The issue is on newsstands now. Copies of the magazine have also been archived at the Smyrna Library.