With the October the 19th Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup just around the corner, here’s overview of the day we’ve got planned, including some of the locations, some of the competitions, some of the prizes, some of the activities. Yes, that’s a lot of ‘somes’, but I like surprises. And I like mathematics!

Locations

Cow Up a Tree Sculpture

The Cow Up a Tree sculpture (131 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands) is located at Central Pier Docklands, a cultural, community, entertainment and events hub in the Docklands region. This will be the meeting point and the first location for the 2019 Toy Photographers Meetup. With the bollards in the Yarra river as a backdrop, shipping container gardens, grassed sitting areas, wharf wood picnic tables, sculptures and, of course, the cow up a tree, Central Pier Docklands is a great place to kick the day off.

Catch the free City Circle Tram to docklands or take one of the following city trams:
No. 30 via La Trobe Street
No. 31 via Collins Street
No. 48 & No. 70 via Flinders Street
No. 86 via Bourke Street

Directions to Central Pier by train.
At Southern Cross Station, exit at the northern end to walk over the Bourke Street Pedestrian Bridge to Harbour Esplanade. Alternatively, exit the station on the corner of Spencer and Collins Streets, and walk over the Collins Street Bridge to Docklands Park.

Secret Locations

Between Central Pier and the final location, we’ve got two secret locations scheduled. Yes, we like surprises. And we like to keep the attendees on their toys too!

Hosier Lane

Hosier lane puts Melbourne’s urban art scene on the global map. With street art, stencils, paste-ups, murals and installations created by local and international artists, it’s the ideal location to wind up the official* Meetup and give our international visitors an iconic taste of Melbourne.

*Yes, we know that the toy photography won’t stop at 6:00pm. We’ve been asked by one registered attendee if we can “we play with our toys at dinner” at Beer Deluxe. Yes! And we know there’ll be more toy photographs captured into the evening with Federation Square a perfect evening location with Melbourne’s skyline and sunset as a backdrop.

Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup
Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup 2019

Competitions

Thanks to the support from LEGO and Atmosphere Aerosol Australia we will run three toy photography competitions on the day with some exciting prizes for each.

Photo of the Day

The toy photographer whose photo we select as “Photo of the Day” will receive a huge prize from LEGO and a super exciting prize from Atmosphere Aerosol. Seriously, these two are going to make you all scramble for this prize!! The theme of the “Photo of the Day” will be announced when we all meet, keeping you all on your toes again!

Best Collaboration Photo

Toy photography can be a solitude activity. The 2019 Toy Photographers Meetup is the chance to work with other toy photographers; share ideas, borrow toys, collaborate on set ups, assist with bounce cards and lights, etc. The best collaboration photo from the day will see each of the collaborators take away a prize from LEGO and Atmosphere Aerosol.

Best BTS Photo

Who likes seeing photos of toy photographers with their butts in the air? We do!

"The higher the butt, the closer to heaven." by @buttsintheair at the Oregon Toy Photo Meetup
“The higher the butt, the closer to heaven.” by @buttsintheair at the Oregon Toy Photo Safari

And because we do, we’ll be awarding a LEGO and Atmosphere Aerosol prize to the best behind the scenes photo taken on the day. Or is there’s more than one best butts in the air photo, we might have to award two prizes.

*Yes, we understand that editing toy photography takes time. The only prize we’ll be awarding at the end of the day will be the “Best BTS”. The “Photo of the Day” and “Best Collaboration” prizes will be awarded once the attendees have had sufficient time to edit their photos before uploading them.

Art Drop

Don’t forget to bring along at least one 4X6 print of your toy photography. We’ll give you clear cellophane sealable bags to put your print in, together with an explanatory note. The note will explain that this is free art created by a member of the Toy Photographers community. The note will also ask whoever finds the print to upload a photo of their found art to Instagram, using the #toyphotographers_foundart hashtag. Let’s see how many “found art” photographs we can share with the people of Melbourne!

Registration is nearly closed!

There’s only a few days left to register for the 2019 Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup! If you’re planning on joining us for the Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup on October the 19th, joining us for the post Meetup dinner and drinks, or both, please let us know by answering a couple of questions.

We’re excited about the upcoming Toy Photographers Melbourne Meetup. And we really hope to see you there!

– Brett

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