I was asked the other day to recommend a female LEGO toy photographer to feature on one of the toy photography curatorial sites. This seemingly simple question brought me up short. Who are the women LEGO photographers? For that matter, who are the women toy photographers?
When I went through all the people I follow on Instagram (509) I found 23 female LEGO photographers. Honestly, I was caught off guard by how few there were. I know I probably missed a few since the field is constantly changing and different people are active on different days. But when you think about the number of people you follow and the percentage of them who are women, I think you will probably agree, the men outnumber the women by a huge margin.
So how do I find more female toy photographers? I asked a few toy photography friends on Twitter who they would recommend and the names that came back were people I was already following. I know their must be are quite a few female toy photographers in this amazing world wide toy photography community; but how do I find them!
Recently @ToyPlanet ran a contest showcasing the women toy photographers of Instagram under the hashtag #Toyplanet_Challenge_LadiesNight. The variety of toys and the quality of the work submitted was certainly on par with the guys. I thought to myself: “Wouldn’t it be great to have a way to find these women without relying on the occasional hub challenge?” Whenever I have a toy dilemma that goes beyond the LEGO community I always turn to my sister in toys @wikitoybox. Kiwi and I put our collective heads together and come up with a hashtag to help us in our mission: linking the women toy photographers of Instagram. We want to create an interesting sub community within the larger community to help us find and support each other.
#womenintoyphotography
Personally I know I can hang with the boys just fine (and so can my toy sisters) but I miss the sensibility and camaraderie of my female friends. I am hoping by using this tag, and encouraging other female toy photographers to do the same, we can help each other find like minded women, support our mutual toy photography efforts and help welcome new members in what can be an overwhelmingly testosterone fueled hobby.
Any help you can offer in spreading the word would be greatly appreciated. I would love to expand my circle of toy photographer sisters.
~ xxSJC
PS – Who are your favorite female toy photographers?
Hunting the women toy photographers of Instagram
I must admit I don’t know that many LEGO photographers (yet), but one of the ones I do know happens to be a woman, the lady behind LEGO Stories: http://lego-stories.tumblr.com/
I also know me, if that counts 😉 http://triangularroom.com/category/lego/minifig-monday/
Abigail, Thanks for commenting! I do know Lego Stories, I follow her on Tumblr, although she may be on other platforms too. I hope you will tag your IG photos with the #womenintoyphotography! It has been a great way to find out who is out there. I have discovered a few I had no idea where women. It’s been a fun journey so far! 😀
I’m way late to this post, but thank you for this. I haven’t done any lego work, but I for sure in a woman in toy photography and I will be using this hashtag.
Its never to late! Thanks so much of supporting the tag! We chicks have to stick together! 😀