After carefully looking through last months G+ Challenge: Spooky, one thing is very clear – you guys LOVE Halloween! From the spooky to the funny to the truly frightening, the members of the G+ Community showed their holiday spirit.

One of the great aspects of Toy Photography is that you can really express your creative self. Truly there is an anything goes attitude in the community. And when toy photography combines with a holiday that allows for so many interpretations, its hard to pick a clear winner. So we didn’t!

It’s a tie!

Monster Mash by Dan Leonard

Dan really outdid himself this month. He had so many awesome photos to choose from, but this late entry really captures the silliness of the holiday. The song, Monster Mash by Bobby Picket, almost defines the holiday for a certain age set. The use of selective focus on the crowd of onlookers really helps to isolate the band. Personally when I look at those speakers in the back, I hope that Frankenstein and Wolfman have some great ear protection! Nice work Dan!

Happy Halloween by Ann Feklista

While the monsters where having a fun time at their midnight party, there was another type of celebration going on Halloween eve. In one of her clever set-ups, Ann captures the innocence of the holiday with a healthy dash of terror. Who doesn’t remember going out on Halloween with a few friends in tow and approaching the house of the scary neighbor? I love that this image brings back the fun and terror of roaming the neighborhood late at night without any parents around.

A very close second!

Home creep home by Marco Zanconi

Marco’s creepy abandoned house was another favorite of the moderators. The creepy vibe of the lighting, fog and the spooky face just visible in the window all contribute to a properly haunted mansion vibe. This is definitely not a house I would want to visit on All Hallows Eve!

So many awesome photos to share!

While the winners might all have been LEGO related toy photographs some of the creepier photos came from fans of the action figures. There is nothing like a barely illuminated PennyWise or a figure holding a meat cleaver to really bring a sense of horror to the season. If you love Halloween and all around awesome horror photos please take a look at the rest of the amazing entires. Halloween maybe in the past, but the season lives in our hearts all year round.

We love our moderators!

Our moderators are the heart of our G+ Community. I would be remise if I didn’t thank all the people who help make the community and our blog a better place. They are always generous with their time and energy; contributing amazing images to every monthly contest. I want to take a moment to highlight these unsung heroes and their beautiful photos.

 

Goodby Spooky and hello Fairy Tales!!

Its always difficult to say goodby to a wonderful challenge. Not unlike our “caption this” and “one” contests, Halloween captured the imagination of the community. Hopefully our November contest will be just as much fun!

For November we want to challenge you to show us your favorite fairy tale – traditional or fractured. To entice you to get you’re creativity flowing we will be giving away a copy of the latest LEGO Ideas set: Pop-Up Book to our first place winner. We will be looking at entries across all three communities: G+ (one last hurrah!), MeWe and Flickr.

Rules:
1) Scary is welcome, but please keep all images G or PG.
2) all toys brands and styles accepted and encouraged
3) please limit your entries to three
4) tag your entries on one platform only (MeWe is encouraged)
5) please use the following tag so we can find you: #tp_photochallenge_fairytale
6) get creative
7) everyone is eligible except myself and Brett

If you haven’t checked out or new communities home, MeWe with an assist by Flickr, I want to encourage you to do so soon. Our plan is to begin winding down our G+ community during the month of November. Ideally we will all have all active members migrated to the new platform before the end of the month and we can close our G+ Community. While this is sad, everyone who has made it to MeWe seems excited about the new platform.

In Conclusion

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to contribute this past month to our G+ challenge! I look forward to seeing your Fairy Tale images no matter where you post them. We want to thank our friends in the LEGO Ideas department who have graciously offered this amazing prize for our November contest. It’s a great set and will look great under your holiday tree, menorah, or on your bookshelf!

~ Shelly

A brief introduction to MeWe

If you’re not familiar with MeWe, it is similar to Facebook but with a decidedly different attitude:“No Ads. No Tracking. No BS.” Because there are no ads the site works on a premium model. The basics are free, but if you want increased storage, black theme, encrypted chat etc. it will cost you a little money. MeWe is what is referred to as a walled garden. Your posts are only searchable by others on the MeWe platform, not by Google. This is why we encourage you to use another platform like Flickr or Instagram for your images and either share links or images directly into the community. If you’re looking for a smaller sandbox to play in, come see what MeWe is all about.