Brooke Shaden

To any photographer out there reading this, you must know the feeling that I am about to describe. You see the perfect prop, so wonderful that you can’t imagine using anything else in your image, and you just have to have it. But soon enough you flip the price tag over and it is out of your price range. And then the feeling comes…your heart sinks. Photography is everything to me, and more and more I am feeling like the props I want are too expensive to snatch up. I used to be completely content with using no props, but now I am moving toward a more complete form of storytelling, one where I need to create a scene with props and real atmosphere. Certainly I still advocate keeping your money where you can and utilizing what you have, but we all know that there are those times when props are needed.

So this is where my new idea comes in. This is “The Prop Project”, something that I hope we can all participate in. The idea is simple: I buy a prop and I sell it through Ebay with a starting bid at a fraction of the price I paid for it. Under this principal, I will be able to essentially buy the prop for a lower price, and you will too. I am located in Los Angeles which is the mecca for interesting props and I have access to all sorts of vintage clothing stores and prop shops, so I certainly have access to interesting things. I will show my image that comes out of using the prop, and I will also show pictures of the prop outside of my image.

The second part to this project is this: Whoever buys the prop and uses it for an image will be featured on my blog to showcase the image that comes out of the prop exchange. It is always interesting to see the way in which two different people use the same prop, so why not show the influence that a single object can have in a photo. Using props helps tell a story. I am open to suggestions, so if someone sees a prop that I have used in a photo that they might want just let me know and I’ll showcase it.

First up will be…

The antlers!

The antlers measure about 15 inches in length and are authentic deer antlers. You can bid on them HERE. The auction closes in 3 days.  I invite the winner to send me their image so that I can post to my blog!

Thanks for reading, I hope this sparks interest in some people! xo