Behind the scenes at our September cover shoot

Ilove the cover of our September issue—the model looks so healthy andhappy to be cycling around the countryside on her classic bike. So Ithought I’d share a behind-the-scenes look at how covers come to be.

Below are a few pictures of the cover shoot for this issue. In thefirst one, art director Stephanie Han and photographer Alvaro Goveiaare checking the angle of the shot through the camera lens. In thesecond, as Alvaro crouches to get a good angle, an assistant waves amat to simulate a breeze so Emily’s hair will have some movement.Notice that Emily is standing on blocks to prop her up higher as thebike was too tall for her. And in the third, our cover art director,Robb Rice, stands behind Alvaro to ensure he’s happy with theorientation of the photo. In addition to having to wave a mat tosimulate a breeze, another assistant holds up a larger mat to block outdirect sunlight as it’s causing too many shadows on Emily’s face.

So how long did it take to get this cover perfect? About two hours—seems more simple than that, doesn’t it?

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