Merry Christmas!

I had little faith in Santa this year. Thanks to my family gift exchange, I always know exactly what I am getting for Christmas. But this year I got a super big surprise. My boss gave me a new camera (sorry for the lame picture, but oddly enough I couldn't find anything else to take pictures of with it!) I am crazy excited. I like to say I don't care about material things, but I really wanted this camera! And it's hard to get right now. Luckily somebody didn't pick this one up at the camera store. All we had to do was call in and pick it up. Man, I am crazy excited. I wish I had better lighting (and a better subject) in my house to take better pictures! But considering that shot was taken at 3200 ISO, it's a darn nice picture.

Prop Queen (Inspiration)

Some people call me the prop queen. I'm honored by that. It beats dumpster diver or junk collector or lady with lots of trash. I also love that people bring me props and say "Here, make this work." It's exactly what Michelle did with her big diamond ring that she got at a wedding. I was honored when she said, "If anybody can think of what to do with it, it's you." We had a shoot with Brittany lined up. I had three or four things to do with her already, but the ring intrigued me. It was a challenge indeed. 

It took me a while, but I thought of using it as a brass knuckles. The bride would be beat up with hand tattoos, bad jewelry, wild hair and tough attitude. Luckily, I had a wedding dress in the studio and some backboard tile to put in our studio bathroom. I wrote all over it with lipstick. Michelle did a great job on the black eye and hand tattoos (which say "love" and "hate"). And Brittany did a great job with the attitude. It's my favorite set of the day and the inspiration came from Michelle's ring. 

And for those interested in lighting. It's a three light set up which is amazing considering how small that bathroom is. There's a light with a softbox on her right (sitting on the counter). There's a bare bulb light on the floor about a foot in front of her. There's also a gridded light about two and half feet away aimed at her face. There's barely room for me and the heater (she was freezing) to be in the doorway. I like the harshness of the light and the shadows it created. It fits the mood.

I Do What I Can (Inspiration)

I love this photo. I'm really happy Tony was willing to give it a try for me. I found the lips on a lollipop around Halloween and I didn't have a dollar in my wallet, but I had to have them. I sat them on my desk and waited for something to come to me. I thought of a Mr. Potato Head type of photo, but eyes were going to be difficult. I had no idea what to use that would stick to the real eyes (without causing damage). I had nothing.

Weeks later, my bulbs burned out in my track lights, just two of them. I changed them and sat the burnt out bulbs on my desk. Don't ask why I didn't just throw them away. I don't know why. I don't throw anything out that I can use for a photo shoot. Or I give it a week or two of sitting around and if I can't think of anything, I let it go to the trash bin. It took at least a week before I looked at them and held them up to my eyes. I found the eyes to go with my lips, he would have to hold them up, but I was OK with that.

I wish I knew how or why these things pop into my head, but I don't. I wish more things would pop into my head as people are always asking me to come up with concepts for them. I do what I can with what I have.