You will have to forgive this non-toy focused post today! Instead of a review, or a how-to, I wanted to spend a little time talking about our weekly(ish) email newsletter! Sent to almost 300 people each week, our newsletter contains all the latest posts and news from the Toy Photographers …
Do you know why the wizards hide their abilities? They’re sure that the non-magical people don’t understand what they see. Listen to my story as a perfect proof of what I say. Being of Japanese origin, I studied in British school full of ancient magical traditions. This place is so …
Grab a big red pen. Go to your calendar. Thumb the pages to October. Place a great, whopping circle around Saturday the 19th. There you go. You’ve just saved the date for the next Melbourne Toy Photographers meetup! “But it’s only June. Why am I circling dates on my calendar …
One of my favorite parts of being a toy photographer is the toy photo community itself, and the wonderful people from around the world who share in this hobby. One such person is Doug Gary, a LEGO photographer from the Bay Area who I met at the Oregon Meetup in …
If there’s one thing I could point to that makes the Star Wars aesthetic so unique is its gritty, lived-in quality. So, as a photographer of Star Wars toys, it should come as no surprise that I’ve started to experiment with achieving that look myself.
All the artists have their favorite methods, colors, words, but before everything else, they have their own visions. I decided to focus on the community as a collective of Storytellers and organized an experiment. Our friend Tomek was kind to take part in the project. Making mystical and cybernetic images, …
This portrait session with Catwoman just happened. I had set up for something entirely different, and when that picture did not quite work out, I just started toying with this action figure. While trying different poses and arranging the light, I had a couple of thoughts I would like to …
A while ago, I started a hash tag #supersdayoff It was a series that I started and am currently building on. The basic premise is to explore what the mighty heroes of our world do when they have a little downtime… Here is what I have so far… Enjoy!
I may have created a toy photography monster. Last week I travelled to Orlando to hang out with an amazing group of photography friends that we refer to as the Scavengers. This is the group of awesome folks that got me into photography in the first place, and many are …
The poignant story of Mark Hogancamp is a familiar one for toy photographers, as it was first told in the 2010 documentary, Marwencol, and subsequent book, Welcome to Marwencol. Last year, Robert Zemeckis brought the story to the masses on the big screen, with… mixed results.
“There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven’t yet met” William Butler Yeats When one begins a hobby, you tend to focus on the hobby itself, honing in on the skills and techniques needed to accomplish the task at hand. Now there are those hobbies that have a social …
With my next toy safari just around the corner (Denmark, with the gang from Stuck in Plastic), I thought it might be time to finally break out one of the toys I purchased during the last toy safari I went on – to Cambridge.
“Welcome to Wonderland” by Tommaso Baron (@tomsbricks)
One small step… you know the rest! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, LEGO has released the Creator Expert 10266 NASA Apollo 11 Lunar Lander set. This is difficult set for me to review. Well, difficult to review from a toy photography point of view anyway. …
After taking some much needed R&R, I’m thrilled to be back on the podcast this week!
Four Bricks Tall takes us behind the scenes of this photo of the Byers house in the Upside Down with floating LEGO particulates of evil.
Inspired by James Gibbs‘ “Toying with Bright Ideas – Playing with FIRE!“, I wanted to put together a post for those, like myself, who are a bit more timid when it comes to mixing fire and toys. Real fire is extremely dangerous to work with, not to mention the hazard it …
Did you know that when photography was first invented it was seen as a medium capable of the same level of artistic expression as painting and sculpture? This movement is called Pictorialism. Pictoralists wanted to be seen as equal to painting and the finer arts, rather than an inferior mechanical …
I am always looking for interesting ways to add light to my images. So when I was walking thru Ikea and saw a multi colour LED kit, (called Dioder, cause Ikea is awesome with product names) that is designed for lighting shelves and display cabinets, I figured I’d see how …
Nostalgia is todays theme on the Toy Photographers Podcast. We talk about nostalgia because it is a common theme in the toy photography community. Toy photographers often play with the toys of their own childhoods. Nostalgic images are often thinly veiled reminisces of a favorite movies or a moment from our …
