Lessons

Lesson Info

Do It Yourself

So what if you don't have access to a team and when starting out it can be hard to gather a professional team and conduct a creative shoot and sometimes it's still hard for me now like I can't always don't have everybody just stop and drop everything and come do a shoot with me sometimes I just really just itching to do something and I it's like I can't even get a model sometimes I'm like hey are you available like I'm just really random that way but anyway so now I will talk about creating and finding clothing and props for yourself so thrift stores that's a big one I'm always in a thrift store and I love it I love the stores I love them forever even before photography so I have no shame in shopping and shopping there and I could care less what people think I don't care so if it's like a sweater that I paid dollar nine and four and if I think it's going to look in the photo then I'm going to you that I have found some of the most amazing pieces of second hand stores and I actually lik...

e to brag about it so you know people are like oh my god, would you get that of like, oh good will yeah, you'll never find it so anyway so yeah um trading with photographers, photographers swapping items that they have already used and no longer have use for them so there is it's great to form a little close knit group with some photographer friends and get together a couple times here and swap items it's a photographer so op we I haven't done one but there are photographers who have given me things of theirs and I've passed things on to them that I you can only use an item so many times like the bird cage I probably will never use that again now my mom has it in the living room like a decoration with some flowers in it because I'm done with it because it's going to look you know what I mean is I made sure to spread those items far out like I use a bird cage and they waited a year spray painted it used it for something else yeah so trading with photographers craigslist or similar so we have two guards have kg here kid that's canadian then but sometimes well craig lis is I could use you so sometimes you confined props, clothing, jewellery and so on through here and for very very cheap sometimes people are just giving things away like oh I old chair come get it it's yours first come grab it and you could just paint it you know use it for something so excuse me that's a way to on get stuff that way ebay an auction sites ebay has some really crazy items and lots of costume pieces that you can be that could be used for future shoots. The downside is if you have a shoot coming up you will need to order items weeks in advance so it's usually worth the weight if you find something really cool like I had found a on ebay I found the crown of the wicked queen and snow white it was like exact crown and I found it on their was so excited for that thing to arrive and I had all that time to get the whole thing going in my head and so on yeah, it was pretty good if you like garage and your dh seals um this is a great thing to check out during the summer months spring summer fall and you guys are in seattle or vancouver you don't have to worry about winter I'm sure you probably have garage fills all your lucky you but california too, right? Um anyways I was just at a yard sale the other day and I found all this stuff like all the shoes and all this stuff and I spent about twenty five bucks and I went home with like these two big bags of items and I created like a few outfits for a shoot down the road I will buy items that I like that have no purpose at the moment to sometimes items or what we'll draw something for me to think of an idea and I'll see you like old vintage pair of boots that's the one thing I had picked up there is these boots at the sale and they went up high there are black they were like little house on the prairie boots with buttons all the way down and I was like wow look the's there were like five dollars and so now I'm gonna have to think of something and build on that so it's building on your idea right um friends and family uh this is a great resource I have used family and friends homes for my backgrounds I've even asked my boss my old boss before like oh you know I went to her house and there was this old archway she had this like it was just older house and I was so inspired by it I was like oh my god I have to use that so it's really good you know don't be afraid to ask people who cares what they think just asked them usually there they're like it's a compliment to them when you you know love something of theirs like oh I love your house what can I do was shooting here and we'll take care of everything usually people are like really okay you know so it's friends and family that's a good thing even objects that they have in their home is a prop I've taken things right out of like my uncle's house been like hey, I like that vase can I like steel that for a little while and you know usually good with it so dollar stores the dollar store it's funny I know, but it has a lot of items and if you are willing to think creatively, you confined many things at the dollar store just like I said the crown that she had on painted it gold jewelry, props, flowers, that's where I go for flowers michaels is really expensive. So if you you know, if you like to do a lot of flour stuff you goodwill people donate all their old little flower arrangements and saul bundled up it's like a dollar ninety nine you go to michael's, you find the same arrangement it's like thirty dollars, so I mean right, um yeah, and that's another thing just, um even clothing in the dollar store. Now the dollar store has, like, you know, like you khun okay, like sometimes the models, they don't have appropriate undergarments like they had they should've came with, like, black underwear, and they have hot pink with like, polka dots and it's not right, so you can even pick up things like that and just be like, well, I have this prepare a dollar store it's like oh yeah it's easy so it's not even it's not a big deal if it's from there because you know nobody cares you can't really see the name of it so craft stores like michael's and hobby lobby you guys have hobby lobby yeah, I just discovered I just just I was like did he have michael's I don't know what do they have in the states so I had to look it up and hobby lobby is like a big it's a big chain right it's a big busy yeah, I wanna is there any in seattle? You know is there any here you know want to check it out? But anyway church yard sales are amazing I just went to another that's another thing I was just in a church yard sale and part of not this isn't for the shoot but I probably would use it I bought this big cabinet ten dollars and I'm just going to, like, paint it and use it probably is ah background of something it was just old fashioned piece of wooden it's like that old tv stand or something, but once I painted play around with it you know, ten bucks you can't go wrong so on church yard sales are usually they're just trying to raise money for the church and so a lot of everything has been donated um you confined lace and clothing and all kind of stuffs even less expensive than garage sales usually so back to posing do you know exactly what kind of poses you want going into issue or do you do a lot of experimentation? I sometimes will but usually I know exactly what I need them to do and not on ly developed over time I didn't want I started I mean itjust that takes time and practice and lots of over and over and over trial and error right um so I will from the start like with the mood board and you know, I tell the model I really need you to this whole thing your story here is you're sad and you're lonely and you know, you I really need I don't want you looking all edgy and overdramatic I need you to be soft and you know, inverted and I explained things like that so yeah and do collaborate with them a lot like, do they have their own ideas? Oh, you mean like to get suppose out of them other yeah, I actually will pulls tio like a lot of times I have the models mirroring me sometimes when I say they're in like say I want to shoot through glass, I'll just tell them like go in there, I can't talk to them and I'll be like doing this and, you know, just like that and they're just copying me and soul because I can't verbally tell them what I need and like I said a lot of girls they don't even know where to start in there feeling awkward and they need you and a lot of times us like I've shot so many photographers that have hired me for like the doors and things like that and I always like photographers gold crazy in front of the camera like they know we know howto pulls right usually so um yeah it's upto us right and so models you know until they warm up it's good to uh to make sure and be descriptive with the posing and stuff like that great we've got one from eighty far in england it he wants to know what do you do to set the boundaries and expectations with your team so that everyone is on the same page? Do you send an email ahead of time? Do you have one on one discussions group meetings ahead of time do you collaborate with your team before you actually get on set? Um sometimes we do like like I said one it's a paid project if it's a client if it's a salon or something like that normally there will be a little quick meeting I will do one on one talking with each person I'll talk to the make up artist now I had a time and be like listen this is important thing you cannot be talking about this and that put your game face on I very I just go through with each person, especially if I know their character I kind of remind them hey, watch yourself yeah, yeah that's great! I'm just going to ask, what do you do in situation for you have I mean, you kind of talked about a little bit, but with model is where you were having trouble, sort of drawing out what you're wanting from them, like the kind of pose with especially the facial expression I mean, I'm kind of running to that somewhere, it's just I'm having trouble just yeah, it's and I think on their end of it, they feel like they're doing it, but I know there's some lack there yep, and it still happens I still run into it on dh what? Like I said, I will stop everything, pull them aside usually that works usually I'm like, listen, I need I want to talk to you for a minute, you know, because they're maybe they're nervous or like, oh, no to the shoot with her and all this in people are watching, you need to just let them refocus usually would do that, and that works um I do that last, but before that, I will show them I will show them like, say, a few different shots uh we'd like to see this picture like do you see how you're just like you just look like emotionless? But then I'm like, look at this photo and like, I need more that okay? Like okay and like, I'm like, you know, if and sam like look confused and they're like no, I'm like no look really confused, like angry, confused like you need to scrunch up your eyebrows more I have to get really detailed with them, not always some models and just go powder and I'm fine, but yeah, yeah, I got one from a pam ham and hey, who both want to know what you do with all your props and costumes and such after you shoot, do you give them away after the shoes you trade them, take them back to good will sell on ebay, all of it, all of it and I make a huge mess it's my basement's a mess it's horrible, I organize it and then it's just it's a gong show down there after, but usually I'll donate it. I'll, you know, give it back to back to charity where it came from, I just give it back and I don't really ever sell it or anything I've thought of it, but what for? I don't know I just give it back so usually that's how it goes there's things I keep and I've used so many times because their peace is that khun b used like underclothing like you know tulle skirts or whatever it is but things that can't be reused too many times I just go backto charity or let a photographer take it and maybe one more kind of final question before we take our break from photo love and a couple other people out we're asking this how do you transition from trade shoots two paid shoots at what point do you feel it's imp horton to start charging for your work in what situations will you still do trade versus paid gigs what's your what's your thought on that transition yeah okay uh with that I am there came a point for me that I had to start turning telling people no because you know that is ahh it's a big discouragement for for you when you know a lot of a lot of photographers will just give up when they feel like this is going nowhere I'm never going to get paid and this and that and they just give it up but me I started putting my foot down you know, I started telling people you know, like I mean, people wanting me to do stuff that had the money to pay and it was like you know, companies and stuff and I there came a time I was like no, sorry, but you can ask somebody else you know, like if you if you don't want it, I don't have money for it well, I can't do that I'm sorry and I just you just have to put your foot down the times when I do do shoot said I still do trade shoes, I still do them um I do it because I want to do it, so I I want to make sure I want to do it like it's, my inspiration and a lot of times people aren't bored with that. If I have developed a relationship with liam makeup artist and they've done so much for me and they have an idea, I'm like yeah, okay, we'll do it, we'll see how it goes and if I like it, I'll use the pictures and if I don't it's okay, so I used it's a lot of given take right, and I I I just it's it's a passion like the pay thing is great, but you have to make sure that you're enjoying what you're doing to a little bit and even if it means for free but not for free, for people who just don't want to pay you when they have the money like for commercial users