Holiday 2025 Photoshoots: Art Directing from 1,700 Miles Away

Role: Art Director

Timeline: mid-July — early November 2025 (pre-production through final delivery)

Scope: 4 shoot days across 2 sessions, supporting Web, Social, Email, Display, and Signage channels

Context: Total Wine & More's "Nostalgia" holiday campaign—vintage vibes, retro warmth, and directing it all without ever being in the room

When Your Campaign Concept Can't Be Photographed

The campaign concept was already approved: "A Heartfelt Journey to Happier Times." Vintage typography, retro color palettes, expressive free-style illustrations. Beautiful on a mood board. Impossible to photograph directly.

So the challenge became translation—making a photoshoot feel like an illustration-heavy campaign when cameras only capture what's physically in front of them. And doing it all remotely, with the creative team in Bethesda and the studio in Denver.

I owned gifting and personalization shots across both sessions—Gift Guides, Stocking Stuffers (including an animated GIF), Personalized Labels, Engraving options, Gifts Under Tree compositions. Each needed to feel like a scene from a holiday memory, not a product catalog. These weren't channel-specific; they'd be adapted across Web, Social, Email, Display, and Signage depending on what each team needed.

Process & Execution

Making "Nostalgia" Something a Camera Can Actually Capture

Photography can't be illustrative, so the "Nostalgia" concept had to come through in styling:

• A scouted Denver-area home with genuine 70s-80s character for Shoot 2 (looked like someone's cool aunt never redecorated)

• Period-appropriate model wardrobe

• Physical laser-cut illustrations and campaign-matched gift wrap shipped to set

• Props chosen for emotional warmth, not just product display

Typography and illustrated elements would get layered in post, but the photography needed a foundation that wouldn't fight the graphic treatment.

The Deck: Where Remote Direction Actually Happens

Remote art direction means you can't wing it. No walking over to nudge a bottle two inches left.

Every creative decision has to survive translation into a document clear enough that someone who's never met you can execute your vision.

Our shot briefs were painstakingly constructed PowerPoints—mood boards, reference photography, lighting direction, prop placement, product specs, copy styling. For my animated Stocking Stuffers GIF, I included Pinterest video references and frame-by-frame expectations so the photographer could estimate duration accurately.

These went through internal stakeholder review and formal approval before the vendor ever saw them. Then we'd review with the photography team, get recommendations on timing and feasibility, and adjust accordingly.

Aspect Ratio Hell (and How We Planned Around It)

Web assets span ridiculous aspect ratios: 2000×350 hero modules, 140×140 discovery tiles, 1248×84 skinny banners. Signage operates at entirely different scales. We handled this by building shots with generous breathing room—keeping key elements away from edges so Photoshop's Generative Fill could extend scenes later. Sometimes I'd mock up shot concepts in AI and throw them into templates to gut-check whether framing would survive the crop.

The Tower Vodka Problem

The "safe" SKU list for limited-time specials is perpetually late and in flux—cross-referencing repeatedly to avoid building shots around bottles that wouldn't be available at launch was standard practice.

But sometimes the safe list included products that were technically available but creatively wrong. For my Gifts Under a Tree shot, one approved SKU was Tower Vodka in 1.75L—a massive jug that reads "party punch" or "bulk cocktails," not "thoughtful holiday gift." The shot I'd planned was relatively close-up; cramming an oversized bottle among elegantly wrapped gifts would've undermined the entire composition. I worked with stakeholders to coordinate with Merchandising and swap it for something that actually fit the gifting narrative.

The first shoot leaned heavier on Signage and Web needs; the second primarily served Social and Email. Both included shots adapted across multiple channels. Each art director owned specific shots and directed independently—a senior creative manager handled vendor coordination, stakeholder communication, and logistics while the photography team operated out of Denver.

Nine Hours of "Move It Two Inches Left"

First shoot ran 9 AM to 7 PM Eastern. Watching a camera feed over Zoom while the Denver team executes in real-time—review the frame, use Zoom's annotation tools to mark adjustments, talk through the change, watch them execute, repeat.

Some direction is compositional ("the wine's getting lost against that backdrop, bring it forward"). Some is granular ("rotate that bottle fifteen degrees so the label catches the key light"). You develop a vocabulary for precision pretty fast.

When props arrived damaged or were incorrectly inventoried, the backup strategy paid off—I'd shipped multiple options specifically because remote production removes the ability to improvise. Shoot 2's residential location ate more time than studio work, forcing shot list cuts. We'd padded the schedule intentionally, so cuts didn't sacrifice anything essential.

The Handoff Puzzle

One detail that doesn't show up in final assets: Signage handoff was September 29th. Final photography delivery was October 9th. The signage team was finalizing creative before all photography even existed—which requires planning shots in priority order and coordinating which assets different teams need first.

Lessons Learned

Documentation carries all the weight. When you're not in the room, mood boards aren't nice-to-haves; they're how your vendor understands what you're asking for. Shot briefs aren't bureaucratic overhead; they're executable specifications that survive without you there to clarify.

Plan for things to break. Props get damaged. Inventory lists are wrong. Items don't arrive on time. Shipping backup options isn't paranoia—it's the only way remote production stays on schedule.

Pad the schedule, then protect priorities. We overstuffed both shoots intentionally, knowing some shots would get cut. When location logistics ate into Shoot 2, we knew exactly what to sacrifice because we'd already ranked everything.

The same muscle applies everywhere. Remote art direction is distributed creative production—coordinating vendors you can't physically oversee, leading through documentation instead of presence. If you can't point at it, you have to describe it precisely enough that someone else reaches the same conclusion you would have.