The new Adam & Mia covers were over a year in the making! Over the period of ten months, photographer Lindee Robinson followed the life journey of real life couple, Marcus and Elena.
When it came time for me to choose a new “face” for Adam & Mia, the beloved couple featured in five of the Gaming The System books, I knew Marcus and Elena would fit the part. I contacted Lindee for her assistance in the new look and she was thrilled, informing me that Marcus and Elena, both professional models, had so much natural chemistry together, they’d be perfect!
We contacted them soon after their own real life fairytale wedding, but were informed that timing would not be on our side for a little while… they were thrilled to learn that they were expecting their first child. Instead of searching elsewhere for new models, however, Lindee came up with a wonderful idea. Why not document their pregnancy, the early infancy of their child and launch an epic project fit for an epic super couple?
So we did just that…over the course of ten months and three different photo shoots, we collected enough images for the new look for the Gaming The System books. Elena was eight months pregnant during their first shoot, their child, six months old at the second. For the third, Marcus and Elena recreated their own wedding, complete with Elena’s wedding dress for the cover of Adam & Mia’s wedding book. All the pieces fit into place. Lindee had taken over a thousand photos of them over the course of many hours in photo shoots. Now it was time for a new design.
I had no question that I’d go back to Sarah Hansen of Okay Creations to give the books a fabulous new look. After all, she’s the one who created their original, amazing brand four years ago when I went to her with At Any Price. And as with her previous covers, they are compelling, eye catching, classy and colorful. Covers fit for Adam & Mia!
You are really good at portraying emotion and chemistry in your photos. How do you do that so well
With this couple, the chemistry really came naturally. I don’t often get to work with real couples on shoots for authors so it was a real treat. For most of my shoots when I’m not working with real couples and even when I am, the main thing is keeping a fun a comfortable environment. We laugh about how it can be awkward, once you loosen up and embrace that, models get comfortable a lot faster with each other and you can get some great moments.
What was different or unique about working with a real life couple, like Marcus & Elena as opposed to a couple that doesn’t know each other as well?
When I’m working with a couple that doesn’t know each other most of those moments and poses are planned and we all do our best to make them look natural. With Marcus and Elena we also planned poses, but some of my favorite shots are in the off moment of them. Anyone who knows them can tell how much he adores her and how much she loves him, so it’s so amazing capturing that, rather than trying to bring that out of people who just met. However I think its also a lot of fun to bring that out in people who have just met, but this natural chemistry defiantly makes my job easier.
What are your biggest challenges during a cover shoot, especially one of this breadth (i.e. multiple covers over multiple shoots and a span of many months)?
I think for me it would always have to be scheduling and planning especially for something like this, once they are at the shoot I know we can make it happen its just about getting them there. Especially for something like this, we started with the pregnancy one because she was pregnant at the time and we had to wait until she started to show then plan the shoot. Then after that we did the photoshoot with their beautiful baby boy, who in the story is a girl and we wanted to do that shoot at the perfect moment where he was old enough to have some expressions but still young enough if we dressed him in gender neutral clothing you couldn’t really tell. Then finally we did the wedding shoot, where she wore her actual wedding dress from when they got married, since this dress was before she had her baby we had to wait until she was at a place she was comfortable in her dress and we could find a date to work with their crazy schedules as new parents. There is so much pre-production that goes on for shoots like this and every model has a lot going on in their lives too, so scheduling will probably always be the hardest thing for me but defiantly worth it when you get covers like this!
Any funny stories to share about the shoot?
I was kinda nervous about the baby shoot,when I was 18 I used to work at a portrait studio and we photographed a lot of babies, and sometimes they were really good or really scared and often if they were good it that was only for a short time. Either way I knew I could get the shots I needed but I was very aware this could be a very short shoot, especially because Elena had told me he had mixed reactions to the camera at that point. Once we started shooting he was so great, he had so many expression and you could feel how much he adored his parents. He was like a baby model, no surprise coming from those two, but I am still shocked at how well he did and how long he was willing to shoot for. I’ve worked with a lot of babies and kids and he is the best baby I have ever worked with by far.
For those of you who enjoyed the web serial first draft of GIRL GEEK, this is an expanded, revised, edited and proofed edition of the book. There is about 40% more content (including completely new scenes) than the original draft version on the website.
Mia Strong is beyond stressed out. With pre-med courses, the looming qualifying exam, a job, and her mother’s serious health problems, she’s feeling the pressure from all sides. As a distraction, she turns to online gaming and her newest addiction, Dragon Epoch. Mia seeks an escape into fantasy–never dreaming that she’d find something real.
He goes by FallenOne. He’s smart, funny, and has a sexy voice. Their instant connection is the best thing that’s happened to Mia in a long time. He listens for hours while she bares her innermost fears. But he holds everything back about himself. At first, the mystery intrigues her, until she faces a life-altering decision. Now, Mia needs someone she can trust.
Will FallenOne’s friendship turn into something real? Or will the fantasy disappear, leaving her alone and in turmoil?
*Note: A draft version of this story appeared on the author’s website. This is now a novel-length work of fiction that has been expanded, revised and edited, adding 40% more content. It is now a novel of approximately 45,000 words and shows the events that lead up to the bestselling At Any Price, from Mia’s point of view.
THE GAMING THE SYSTEM SERIES: Girl Geek ~ available now (prequel) At Any Price ~ available now (Adam & Mia part 1) At Any Turn~ available now (Adam & Mia part 2) At Any Moment ~ available now (Adam & Mia part 3) For The Win ~ available now (Jordan & April) For The One ~ available now (William & Jenna) Worth Any Cost ~ available now (Adam & Mia part 4) For The Taking ~ forthcoming in 2018 (Katya & Lucas)
