Sometimes as an artist I'll see an idea and go "CRAP! WHY DIDN'T I MAKE THIS!?!?!" There are so many brilliant images popping up on the internet everyday and there's no way I'm going to come up with all of them myself, no matter how much I want to. Oftentimes though, I'll see an image that I just can't get out of my head and I'll simply have to make it on my own. Now, I don't want you to think this is me saying, "It's fine to copy other artists." In fact, it drives me crazy when I see an image that someone has clearly copied from another artist and is passing it off as their own sheer brilliance.
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It happens to us all at one point or another (usually at many points), when you have a desire to create some artsy art, but no fantastical ideas. It's quite frustrating. You could just start shooting like a crazy person with no plan, but who would do that? One of my favorite things to do when I'm ready to shoot, but not sure where to begin, is to find an object to inspire me and then plan around it before I start shooting. For me, the very best place to do this is in the prop warehouse at work. (Yes I know, it's not fair. I have access to zillions of props. How the heck did I get so lucky!?) During the more than 30 years that the studio has been open, they have been acquiring props. Mainly these trinkets are from doing shoots for clients and them just leaving items here with us to use for future shoots. We have seriously anything you can think of. (Please don't actually test me on that. It's probably not totally true, but we have A LOT.)
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