$10 or Less Photo Ideas on creativeLIVE!
This past week has been an incredible mash-up of inspiration and new adventures. I started out in Salt Lake City, Utah where I was honored to speak for ClickAway 2014, a conference put on by Clickin’ Moms. I did a meet-and-greet, fine art panel discussion, and a 90 minute lecture. I had the best time sharing my story and getting to know the attendees. I went from there to Lincoln, Nebraska where I taught a 6 hour class based around storytelling to the PPA chapter there, and I was surprised at how much I loved Nebraska! From there, I went on to Seattle, Washington where I joined the creativeLIVE team to teach a 90 minute segment on transforming an image on the cheap, a 90 minute photo-critique (so many inspiring images!) and a guest appearance during Lindsay Adler’s segment.
It was a heck of a 7 days, and while I’m happy to be home now, I had a really happy time. I think that’s the right word – happy. I was just happy. Every. Single. Day.
Here is a little overview from my creativeLIVE class. I started with some basics of how to dress a model with ace bandages, creepy cloth (freaky fabric), and bed sheets. Shooting all on a dark background for drama, to make the baby powder stand out, and to more easily add a new location into the background, I photographed many different setups using these simple props.
I went out to pick beach grass (could be anything that has structure) in order to put the grass/flowers into some Styrofoam that I purchased the night before. This created a field effect that anyone can use in any form they wish – shooting children, seniors, portraits, etc…all with the convenience of being inside your home or studio. Also wonderful for those who are not around a lot of nature.
The first image in this post was shot during the “baby powder” portion of my creativeLIVE class. I decided to take the simple image of a girl wearing a blue bed sheet further to create a night sky, moon, and strong red flowing dress.
We ended with some cobweb and paint to show how painting someone’s body (any color) can add interesting texture and transform them into a character. I didn’t have enough time to finesse that image (when your producer is holding a “5 minutes!!” sign, one tends to listen). So I’ll give that another go at home and share how I would love for it to turn out. In the meantime, I hope some of these techniques prove fun and useful…and have an inspired weekend!
What is your favorite $10 or less item to use creatively?
10 thoughts on “$10 or Less Photo Ideas on creativeLIVE!”
I really enjoyed watching this! I find it amazing that you can use pretty much anything and turn into an amazing work of art.
And weirdly enough, a few minutes before you came on, I was building this miniature set using styrofoam, and I used flour to make it look like it’s snowing. I paused to watch the class and you mentioned that baby powder works way better than flour and I was all oh no, I should’ve done that haha.
I loved your show by the way because I usually work the same way. I love stockpiling at the Halloween stores the 3 days after Halloween because they blow everything leftover out at a huge discount. Also I buy props from the Dollar store and then paint and alter them to fit what I’m looking for.
Cheers
I like how you describe how you felt for the week, happy. Watching your shoot left me feeling HAPPY. Often I watch classes and feel overwhelmed by all the thing I should be doing (better). Watching you was so enjoyable. All I could think is I want to come play. I smile just thinking about it all! Thank you!
I love this picture. So gorgeous. As for the next item that I will use in my next work has the value of $ 0. This is because it was my grandfather who built. What is it? Later you will see… Can I say something? I do not know if I said, but I love this picture. 🙂
I’m so glad I could watch your Creative Live class live Brooke. You were inspirational and so much fun! It’s great you could post your final image too after having watched it be made. Thanks!
I’m going to be doing a project type thing through my school next week Tuesday and I’m so excited to finally get to meet you! I’m in love with your work. You’re blog posts inspire me and help me to be more outgoing with my photography. Keep doing what you do cause it works! 😉 See ya next week!!!
For a minute I saw water in the center baby powder photo.
I watched your CL segment and loved every minute! Brilliant ideas, all. It was the second course of yours that I’ve watched, and I have to say that you always inspire me to try new things, to pursue photography (and digital art of all kinds) with passion. Your instructions/demonstrations are always so clear, too! Love!
for $10 or less, I can go with any of these:
– 5lb of flour
– water balloons
– a lantern
– a giant white balloon
– a rope
– a box of candles
– an easel paper roll
Your work is as creative as ever, Brooke!
This was so inspiring! I loved it all! I guess my favorite was just the use of material. And the flowers in a piece of styrofoam. And as far as the powder goes, I’ve tried fog machines and smoke bombs with little success. I will be trying baby powder next, or maybe flour.
Do you have any images of the last set where your model was painted in white paint and the freaky fabric?