10 Random Questions For Brooke Shaden

1. Had you always wanted to be a photographer growing up, or was there something else you thought you’d like to do?
My earliest memories of what I wanted to be were dreams of teaching and writing. I used to sit up in trees with a notebook and scribble little 7-year-old musings, which in hindsight were probably horrendously funny! I always thought I would be a poet or a novelist or an English teacher.

2. What happens when you think of a concept?
I often start with a theme and then build from there, asking myself how to best symbolize what I am trying to communicate. I sketch (horribly) and write out a description of the shoot. Sometimes visuals come to me first, and then I work backwards to decode them and make sure they have meaning and are telling a story.

3. Who have you been inspired by in creating your work?
Definitely the Pre-Raphaelite painters are a main source of inspiration, particularly visually through their colors and tones. I love Gregory Crewdson as a photographic influence. Movies are very inspiring to me, my favorite being Pan’s Labyrinth.

Photo © Brooke Shaden

4. What happened in your most recent dream?
Last night I had a dream that I was a dinosaur (a Triceratops) in a video game, and I was running from someone who was trying to kill me. We were on a ship, flying through the sky, and I fell off the edge and died. I frequently die in my dreams, and I am often being murdered. Totally normal, yeah…

5. What are your favorite techniques for creating some of the fantastical aspects of your photos?
There are countless ways to create fantasy images or composites, but for me those techniques are just that—techniques. The fun begins when I can play with color and lighting. I often drastically skew both of those things to fit my vision, mostly through the use of selections and curves. That is my favorite part of the creation process because it marks the moment when the image goes from what anyone could capture and put together in Photoshop to my personal stamp.

6. What was your favorite grade in school, and why?
I really loved school so they were all a favorite in a way, though I was very bad at school. I tried so hard and just couldn’t quite get it. Our experiences growing up are so much about who is in them with you, though. I had a third-grade teacher who was obsessed with bats. I always found that to be a little bit morbid even though the other students thought it was funny. I felt really connected to her because I found them beautiful too, so that was a good year.

7. What’s a non-photography-related bucket list item that you have?
To publish a novel and give a TED talk.

Photo © Brooke Shaden

8. What family heirloom do you cherish most?
I have a few small crocheted snowflakes that my grandmother made. I believe it is the only thing I have from my family. She was my best friend until she died, and it is nice to have something handmade, knowing that she touched them and made them with love. Another thing that I have, which I don’t know if it counts, is a coat of arms that my husband and I made. We made up our last name, so it was fitting that we create our own symbol for us as a family.

9. Has there been a photo concept that’s been particularly challenging to pull off? What about one you hope to achieve?
I just finished one yesterday, in fact! I had tried five times before I was able to finally create it. In this particular case, it was a matter of various elements I was using for the composite that wouldn’t come together properly, but I learned so much in the process. And it was so much sweeter when it finally happened. A big dream of mine is to photograph whales underwater, so that is a shoot that I one day hope to achieve.

10. What do you want people to understand about self-portraiture?
That it isn’t about seeing yourself in an image. It is about creating a story around the character you want to become. It is about the experience more than the image. It is about accepting who you are right now while acknowledging who you want to be.

Brooke Shaden is a fine-art photographer focused in self-portraiture and conceptual art. At WPPI 2017, she’s teaching “Creating a Fine Art Series” (Sunday, Feb. 5, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.) and “Backgrounds & Lighting for Compositing” (Tuesday, Feb. 7, 8:30 – 10 a.m.).