As part of the Toy Photographers January Virtual Meet-Up, Kristina and I invited anyone who was interested to submit their favorite photo of 2020 for the podcast. We wanted to take the time to celebrate your favorite images and show you ours. 2020 was a tough year across the globe and for many in our community, toy photography was a necessary tool to survive the tumultuous year.

The photographers represented in the below slide show may not be familiar to you, but I believe the words that accompany their submissions can be seen as universal. In addition to sharing their favorite photo of 2020, these artists share their pride of accomplishment, their sense of loss, the struggle to realize their vision and, dare I say, even hope for a better new year. Maybe you will see yourself reflected in the images and the words of the photographers who created them.

The images

The audio

Thank you

Thanks to everyone who sent in their favorite photo of 2020 for this special episode. We couldn’t have done this without you! It was so much fun hurtling through your submissions in the time allotted. We did our best to celebrate each image in the short amount of time we had for each one. Even with the time constraints, it was a pleasure and a joy!

Attendees of the meet-up were invited to watch the podcast live. This added to the fun and, of course, chaos. Our little audience took full advantage of the chat feature and talked about the images along side Kristina and me. Although we didn’t see the chat while it was happening, it makes me smile knowing there was a side conversation going on celebrating these images, too!

~ Shelly

Starting in February, I will be hosting monthly online meet-ups. These mini events will be based on the French salons of the 17th and 18th century. A salon by this definition is an evening hosted at a private residence where scientists, authors and artists could share their latest works; both information and socializing were woven into memorable evenings.

The MeWe photography salons will be doing much the same thing. Each meet-up will feature a presentation by a toy photographer on a topic of interest to the group. There will be plenty of time to ask questions. If you were at the virtual meet-up, you know these evenings will be wealth of information, sharing of tips and tricks and camaraderie.

Event details will be announced through our MeWe community. To accommodate our worldwide audience, there will always be two 90-minute Salons. Our first two-part meeting takes place over the February 13–14 weekend. For more information, come join us on MeWe.