It was anything but a typical day on the farm this August when pop star Katy Perry and a crew of about 50 people came to Schmitt’s Family Farm in Riverhead to shoot the cover art for her new album, “Prism.”
Debbie Schmitt, a co-owner of the Sound Avenue farm, said a scout from Ms. Perry’s team approached her and her husband, Philip, about photographing the 28-year-old singer at Schmitt’s earlier this summer. “Prism” hit stores today Oct. 22 and is Ms. Perry’s fourth album.
“They were looking for a sunflower field, a wildflower field and a cornfield,” Ms. Schmitt said. The album’s cover art features a sun-drenched close-up of Ms. Perry posing in the Schmitt’s sunflower field.
“It was something we had to keep very hush-hush until the album was released,” Ms. Schmitt said. “It’s amazing to have had that experience because we’re just farmers on a farm.”
Despite Ms. Perry’s high profile — her latest single, “Roar,” currently sits at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and she is dating singer John Mayer — Ms. Schmitt said the farm stand didn’t need to shut down for the photo shoot, which took place on a Saturday and was photographed by Ryan McGinley.
“They did their thing and we did our thing,” Ms. Schmitt said of the shoot. “They did the photos out in the field, so nobody really saw them.”
And what was Ms. Perry like?
“She was lovely,” Ms. Schmitt said. “We couldn’t see her until the end of the day because she was working, but she was very, very nice and sweet.”
