How do you make bribe encourage your kids to get along, look happy, AND look natural in front of your camera when you photograph them all the time and they are not having any of it??? You work the entire shoot around drinking sweet thick eggnog and eating fresh out-of-the-oven, melt-in-your-mouth gooey chocolate chip cookies you made from scratch. That’s how! 😛
So for my Styled Christmas Shoot of my kids, I am proud to say that all my props (excluding ingredients for the food) cost $8. The basket, bottles and straws were in the dollar section at a local store. The baker’s twine I already had, and the large glass bottle was a gift. Clothes were a mix of things we already had and a few items that tied everyone’s colors together. Total cost was $50.
The reason why I’m mentioning this is to show that you don’t need to spend a lot to have props in your shoot. Props can provide you with something to do, something to hold, and basically, a reason to not look at the camera — in addition to providing a secondary purpose, like being good bribery material (hee hee). [To see another Styled Shoot created on a dime, see my Train Station Shoot.]
Happy holidays to you and your loved ones this holiday season!
xo
annie
