inspiration – Deanne Dements Photography

I find my best photography props at the local thrift stores. I rarely buy new unless what I want cannot be found in the thrift stores. I am always open to a trip to the thrift store for whatever catches my eye. A couple weeks ago one of the pool pals said I want to go thrifting with you, I need some things for an art project I will be working on. So we set a date of Thursday, next week. My housemate Susan, Robin, and I descended onto the first of two shops. Each with a mission. My plan is to find things to photograph. Glass bottles always catch my eye, especially this shape. I am always looking for good vases with a strong shape and colors, that don’t compete with my flowers. I saw this brown and gold vase filled with Black Eyed Susan flowers, or Sunflowers, maybe some dahlias in orange colors. in my basket it went no hesitations. I tooled through another isle and found some photo gear. A couple lighting tripods, one with the umbrella and lighting assembly. both of those went into the basket, with some back and forth thought. The whole assembly was a bit more than I wanted to pay, but ultimately much cheaper than if I ordered it online. I only needed the umbrella to replace one I bent… but….. I always can use more lighting options.
Next I found this galvanized metal lantern. I visualized it with one of my cream colored pillar candles in it. Surrounded with flowers and maybe some greenery.

Into the basket it went. Time for checkout and time to go home. Only I missed my turnoff at the new interchange system and ended up going to Redmond. Susan and I checked a couple of thrift stores there, but there was nothing that caught my eye… sometimes it happens. by the time we got home the fog had rolled in and I was not inspired to go play with my new items.
The next day dawned chilly and foggy but I was inspired to go play with my new items. I grabbed up the battery powered pillar candles and some of my fake silk flowers and started. First challenge was that my candles did not fit inside the lantern. Well that is a bummer. Will probably need to go find some shorter ones. Later.

digging into the fake flower bins and checking out the cabinet with my vases and jars, gave me more options to play with. each click of the camera or movement of something sparked another idea and back into my stash of props. a couple trips into the house brought out more items

By the end of the day, I was happy with what I had , but?? I noticed a big open area on the right side of the shot and thought I needed to add something in that spot. So I went out and shot it again with some of my other vases. But still….. Not right. I pulled the original vase and started re arranging things…..