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A happy accident
comments (0) November 7th, 2008 in Blogs
Kevin Ireton, editor-at-large
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Like so many topics in these politically divisive times, patriotism is a tricky thing. Personally, I don’t think it’s determined by whether you wear a flag pin on your lapel or whether you agree with all our government’s policies. In any case, I’m not what you’d call an overtly patriotic person. But I woke up Wednesday feeling pretty damned proud of this country, and not just because my guy won. I’m proud every four years when we peacefully and civilly (relatively speaking) have a jump ball to determine who’s going to run the most powerful country on the planet. That’s just amazing to me.
When I got
to the office Wednesday morning, the day after the presidential election, I
found an advance copy of our latest issue, hot off the press, sitting on my
chair. I looked at the cover, and I smiled. We didn’t set out to shoot a
patriotic cover for this issue. In fact, we tried like hell to come up with a
cover image for our story on home-energy audits. But as valuable as a blower-door test is, we didn’t think it
would make for good newsstand sales.
Eventually, we settled on a flooring article for the cover and sent art
director Bob Goodfellow and photographer Tom Hopkins to a house on the Connecticut coast to
shoot the photo. Unlike most magazines, we take a minimalist approach. We did
not send a stylist. We did not send a moving van full of furniture and props.
We looked at some scouting shots, said “This oughta work,” sent two guys, and
crossed our fingers.
Bob and Tom found the flag throw and the star pillow at the house and decided
to use them in the composition. When I saw the images, I immediately wondered
if the patriotic props were a good idea or a bad one. Keep in mind that while
you get to judge a Fine Homebuilding cover based solely on whether you
like it, I don’t have that luxury. I have to ask whether 100,000 newsstand
buyers are going to like the cover, and it’s a diverse group whose frame of
mind I’m trying to anticipate. It’s never easy, and I’m never certain that we
made the right choice. But I have to say that this week at least, I’m feeling
pretty good about our latest cover.
posted in: Blogs
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About this blog
As the editor of Fine Homebuilding, I spend my weekdays trying to produce a magazine that will satisfy 300,000 of the most demanding builders, both professional and amateur. As the owner of a 200-year old Cape in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills, I spend weekends working on my house.
Each activity invariably informs, and complicates, the other. In this blog, I’ll offer observations from both worlds -- publishing and building -- with the hope of providing some useful or at least entertaining insights.
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