Behind the scenes at our cover shoot (Photo by Sarah Barton)
This is the 32nd year for Richmond magazine’s Best & Worst issue. We always enjoy hearing from so many readers about what they love — and dislike — about Richmond, but each summer the staff approaches this feature with a bit of trepidation. With 173 categories, it’s a big undertaking, and as I review the pages one last time, I am reminded how the production of every issue is a team effort, especially so with Best & Worst.
Online Editor Mandy Loy spent nearly a week crunching the data and vetting the winners to come up with our results. Our entire editorial staff and a few freelancers helped write about the winners in each category. Everyone on our art team was responsible for designing and laying out a section, and Senior Photographer Jay Paul, as well as freelancers Shawnee Custalow and Kim Frost, ran all over town taking pictures of the winners.
Our theme this year, “The Nature of Richmond,” guided us as we added related questions to the survey and then photographed category winners in some of your favorite natural locations. Then came the big question: What to do about the cover?
In early June, Creative Director Justin Vaughan shared a concept: Let’s create the phrase “Best & Worst” using plants and photograph the resulting logo in a natural location. He showed me a few photos the art department had collected as inspiration, and though I was skeptical at first, I knew our team would find a way to get it done. Enter Associate Art Director Lauren Baldwin, who volunteered the services of her husband, David Roberts, a prop maker for film and TV, and his 3D printer.
After former staffer Sarah Barton designed the “Best & Worst” logo, Roberts converted it to a digital format to begin the printing process, which took nearly four days. The resulting product was a “Best & Worst” trough, into which Vaughan placed moss in varying shades of green. Photographer Jeff Saxman met Vaughan at the James River Park System’s Reedy Creek, where they positioned it on a rock in the middle of the river. Saxman teetered precariously in the water to get the perfect shot.
All told, a team of 22 people, not to mention the thousands of readers who weighed in on our survey, had a hand in producing this year’s Best & Worst feature. Each individual made an important contribution, just as all of our survey winners contribute to make Richmond what it is — for Better or Worse.
