I spent three days with photographer Donald Miller in his Los Angeles studio photographing the entire new line of Elephant Heart jewelry.

Don is a commercial photographer specializing in action-packed and often surreal images for advertising and editorial publications. He’s done laps across the Sahara, sailed half-way around the world and still has time to help his young son build an entire city out of Legos!

Don and his team built a special set just for photographing my jewelry. He lit each piece from top to bottom and then came in with reflectors to put just the right sparkle on each stone.

It was my job to style each piece. Donned in white gloves to keep my fingerprints from altering the reflective quality of the jewelry, I shaped the way each piece was laid out. I was surprised to find that the designing doesn’t stop once the jewelry is made–the way a piece is presented and photographed is just as important. After positioning each piece by hand, I would choose from a selection of make-up brushes, paint brushes, toothpicks and tweezers to perfect the curve and angle of each bead and length of chain.

The camera–a professional grade digital–was connected directly to a computer with duel monitors. Josh Reed, a highly skilled digital tech, manned the computer and was able to correct the exposure of each image or tweak its color as soon as the shutter released. Josh was even able to control the camera with the computer and he would fire the shutter with the click of a key.

The strangest part was getting used to the photographer not being behind the camera. After I finished styling each piece, I would come out from under the lights to see Don and Josh waiting by the computer to take the image and see the results–amazing.

The shoot was exhausting, but a lot of fun and a fantastic learning experience.