Fabulous Fall DIY Prop

Many people think summer year round is a blessing. It’s a curse and I miss fall. This is not the first and likely won’t be the last time I talk about this. It’s November and it’s still 84℉ with the humidity. Gross. Since there is no fall foliage or crisp autumn air down here, I figured I had to make it myself -- a fall DIY! I pride myself on being a bit of craft queen. When I was in undergrad, I worked at the front desk of the residence halls and managed one my senior year. The opportunity to decorate the lobby was my chance to shine. I used the press to cut out dozens and dozens of leaves. I then used fishing line to hang them from the ceiling and constructed a paper tree on the wall. The lobby belonged all over the fall crafts and decorations Pinterest search page. Since graduating, I’ve had less of a need to craft like that, but I have found a few opportunities to make something creative for shoots. 

I was scrolling IG when I came across this image from Flora for Faunas -- that umbrella jumped out to me. My first thought was “I can make that” and then “I’m gonna make that!” I’m often an indecisive person, but for some reason, when it comes to crafts, I make up my mind quickly, and there’s no turning back. Recently, I discovered a Five Below opened near my campus and I HAD to go. In addition to all of the “must-haves” (including a Halloween costume for Cheddar), I picked up a plain black mini umbrella for $4.25. I knew I wouldn’t find the leaves I needed there, and first checked the Hobby Lobby in the same shopping center. But when it comes to buying items in bulk for a reasonable price, Amazon was the way to go. For $8, I bought a pack of 300 fake autumn maple leaves. They arrived a day later than originally predicted, but I wasn’t in a huge rush to start on the project so I didn’t mind. 

Due to a high volume of meet up registration, I chose not to attend the large photo event (thanks COVID) and instead opted to shoot two on one with DopePorts founder himself, Raul Vargas, and Derrick Summers. He gave me a few different options for availability and I sent over the umbrella inspo pic. He loved the concept and planned our shoot for 1pm on Sunday. The week leading up to the shoot, I felt drained, mentally and physically, and found myself procrastinating on starting the project. Despite having all of the supplies five days prior to the shoot, I didn’t start gluing everything until 10am Sunday morning. As I sat on the floor, hot glueing the funky smelling fake leaves, I looked up at Sam and asked,  “How long do you think this will take?” He guessed two hours. That was pretty spot on after the brief meltdown. Why a meltdown you ask? Well the second question I asked was “Do you think 300 leaves will be enough?” I had debated before whether I should spend another dollar and get 450 leaves instead. We thought 300 would be enough, but as I moved up the umbrella, I wasn’t sure. In each row, I tried to establish a pattern of colors that didn’t repeat hues too close to each other.  The leaves had to overlap at least a little bit in each direction to minimize the amount of black space. The umbrella was bigger than I calculated for and I watched my leaf piles quickly deplete. I kept thinking in my head, what would I say if I couldn’t finish the project -- “Good news, bad news! Bad news: I underestimated my project. Good news: we can still shoot something else!” I was absolutely shocked when I not only had enough leaves to cover the umbrella but had 3 leaves left over!

It is still rather hot in Miami in October, so I followed my typical summer makeup routine and styled the umbrella with a white crop top and a faux patent leather skirt (SHEIN: $18). I’ve been dying to wear this skirt for fall but I knew how sweaty I would get with the material. I finished right on time to meet the two photographers downstairs to shoot. We walked over to the corner of the Brickell Metro walkway where there is a short tunnel of trees. It was the perfect location to shoot -- very little pedestrian traffic and a good amount of natural light. Derrick also set up an octa softbox to fill in the light. We shot for less than an hour, experimenting with umbrella position and even spinning the umbrella. With the amount of black space I saw when glueing everything down, I was worried that the gaps would be noticeable. Surprisingly, they weren’t and the colors were absolutely perfect in the light. 

While Miami doesn’t experience fall, I’ve enjoyed bringing fall to me in this really simple prop. For more autumnal appreciation, check out the latest issue of Photos Unboxed, Kaleidoscope of Colors!