Houseplant Photography for the Arbor Day Foundation
I’ve worked in the horticultural industry for 4 years, and this spring I had the pleasure of working on a fantastic project bringing patio and houseplants to the e-commerce shop of an amazing organization. The world-renowned Arbor Day Foundation is a non-profit with the mission to inspire people to plant, nurture, and celebrate trees. They do this through individual and corporate donations as well as their own online store. This is where Drapeau Media got involved!
For decades the Arbor Day Foundation has offered a variety of landscape trees ranging from fruits, nuts, and lush privacy trees. However, they have yet to dip their toes into the space of patio trees and houseplants. Drapeau Media had the opportunity to work through a popular plant drop shipping company and produce all the original photography content for the patio & houseplant category page on the Arbor Day Foundation website.
I was tasked with showcasing a variety of indoor trees and tropical plants in a lifestyle setting and highlighting the complimentary stone-like plastic planter that would accompany every houseplant ordered through the Arbor Day Website.
The shoots took place in two locations. One was a nice outdoor patio space, including an outdoor bar setting, patio chairs and tables, a fire pit, and tile slab flooring around a beautiful blue pool. Location number two was a residential home where we staged most of the plants in a side office and living room setting to showcase the versatility of all the offered plants.
One of the most difficult aspects of plant product photography is moving the plant life to and from locations. The Madagascar Palm, for example, boasted sharp spikes up the length of its trunk. Others were exceptionally fragile and needed to be transferred with the utmost care. In addition, plant product photography in general is just messy. From the dirt, the plants oozing sap from micro-cuts and broken foliage to little bugs that decide to hitch a ride from one location to the other. Even with its quirks and unique problems to solve, it is one of the most satisfying niches of product photography. Especially if you are a houseplant enthusiast like myself!
The Deliverables
The job called for each listing to have one hero image, 3-4 supporting images, as well as a product image with the plant in its pot isolated on a white background. Supporting images were to include both detailed shots of the plant features as well as the plants as a whole staged in various environments. Each plant had unique aspects which needed to be showcased differently. For example, the rubber trees all have stunning foliage either developing rich colors or jaw-dropping variegation. Others had unique growth habits such as the Ponytail Palm which has a robust tree trunk and is known for its long hair-like leaves.
Getting to work with these subjects and seeing photos I created showcased on such a world-renowned platform is an honor, to say the least. Hopefully, this will open the door for more houseplant and patio tree offerings in the future.
