Dare to do it

Sometimes people are stuck in what they do.
With writers we call this writers block, with photographers….. well Photoblock?
Now how does this happen and how can we chance this?
Well this isn’t as hard as you might think (or maybe it is).
I strongly believe that the best images can be done with what you have, well let me change that to, you can do some pretty interesting stuff with props and locations you probably already have but never tried to use.

I will never forget a workshop I taught in the studio of a photographer, the whole studio was nicely painted and looking clean and new, one area however was not done yet, in the back of the studio there was a storage area with old wood and a small door “Yeah we still have to take that out”…. “WHAT !!!!” “Are you nuts” “That’s awesome” were my expressions, the surprised look on the photographers face gave away that he never looked at this “junkplace” as something interesting. So during the workshop we used that area for one of the setups and without wasting too much of your time… as far as I know he still uses that area to shoot. Sometimes the best locations are the ones that we just ignore because we already know them, but always remember that what’s normal for us is actually interesting for others. Also remember that “things” that shine, has structure etc. are all in basis interesting things to shoot.

In January we “sold” our computer store to focus 100% on Photography and one of the things I did not want to throw out was a half bowl we used in our store before we installed cameras, the idea of the bowl is a low cost (and very effective) way to see what’s going on in the corners of the store. Now this bowl is still hanging in our new studio and to be honest I ignored it for most of the time but was always thinking… “One day” well during a workshop last week I somehow decided this was the time, so we put the bowl on the floor and let Marie work her magic.

The lightsetup here is very simple.
One strobe without any modifier, not even a reflector (bare bulb).
I overexposed the shot by app 2 stops to get a blown out look around the top side but still details in the shadow areas of Marie’s face.

Now one could argue that we needed to clean the bowl, however I disagree, in this case (where I did a real RAW looking image) I strongly believe that the “dirt” on the bowl actually adds to the mood of the shot, if we would have used it as a prop in a high-fashion shot I would clean it up probably 😀

So for you guys:
Look around you and let your creative mind go into overdrive, the best shots are often the shots where you go “Now why didn’t I think about this, I have that lying around”… make sure someone else says that about your shot 😀