It’s official: 2019 is behind us, a new year is in full swing, and the times, they are a changin’! Who better to discuss the changes happening here at Toy Photographers than our two fearless leaders, Shelly and Alan?
Last month, Shelly announced that she’s stepping down from her current position here on the blog in order to “grow and go,” explore new challenges and pass the baton to Alan, our newly-appointed Editor in Chief.
New year, new adventures
But what does that mean for you, the Toy Photographers community member, reader and listener? To answer that question, I invited Shelly and Alan onto the podcast to share their reasons behind the change and to preview some of the exciting things we have coming in 2020. Of course we also had a great bit of fun talking about our toy addictions and throwing around ideas for future projects, podcasts and blog posts.
We want to hear from you!
Is there something you’d like to see from us in the new year? Make sure you’re subscribed to our mailing list, because we’ll soon be sending a survey to collect responses from the community. You can also leave a comment and get the conversation going right here on the blog post!
Thanks for listening, and thanks to Shelly and Alan for taking the time to share their insights on these exciting changes. I wish Shelly the very best of luck on her new creative endeavors, and am thankful that she won’t be too far away from the action. And I look forward to working with Alan even more on both the blog and podcast in the new year.
Onward and upward, my friends,
-James
Don’t miss out on all the things happening at Toy Photographers by subscribing to our weekly email round up the podcast! Then continue the discussion in our awesome communities on MeWe and Flickr.
A field guide would be fantastic! One thing I would love to see is the basics of exposure triangle and how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO change an image. I only do photography as a hobby, and sometimes I still struggle with this thought, “ok, I want the background to blur, so the aperture number goes….up?”, or, “ok, I need to get more light, so I need to change the shutter speed…down?” This can be as simple as a series of pictures showing the various settings, a quick visual reference. Just a thought.
Awwww, thanks for the amazing shout-out, guys! Really enjoyed all the fun banter and hearing y’all’s thoughts about so many things related to the blog and community. (For the record, Shelly called me the Goddess of Operations and I downgraded it to Empress to keep it real. Heh-heh.) Yay for the whole team behind the scenes!
Speaking of BTS… When it comes to BTS photography shots, I really do enjoy seeing how a shot was accomplished. It never takes away from the magic, but instead it gives me hope and sparks my own creativity.
But I also think that while some shots are created by the setup and arrangement of lights and such, there are others types of photos where the magic comes from the moment: the way the camera was angled, the way the sun went behind a cloud and the leaves of the trees partially shaded things, and the wind in the grass. The choice to use a certain lens, a certain F-stop, and twist the camera as you shot it. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that’s where Shelly’s “magic” comes in. Her work has that certain surprise element to it, as if that moment could never again be captured in just that way.
I know what you mean about hearing your own voice, Alan. Even though I won talent contests with my singing voice as a teen, I used to hate hearing recordings of myself. You sound just fine, and uniquely yourself, which is the best thing.
Really loved what Shelly said about taking the ephemeral nature of social media and capturing great things that people are doing so they don’t disappear into the ether. This blog is perfectly suited to showcasing the neat things toy photographers are doing. We’re also well-placed to see trends and shine a light on the direction things are going–and maybe help shape them in positive, creative directions.
And as the practical, get-it-done person that I am, I have made a note in permanent marker next to my monitor that if Alan hasn’t accomplished those downloadable cheat sheet resource(s) by January 2021, he’s fired.
*grin* Wish I’d been able to join you guys. Looking forward to a chance to podcast with you someday, James. (Podcasting is a verb, yo.)