As some of you may know I suspended my Instagram account a week ago. I did this on the spur of the moment; I’d simply had enough. What I didn’t realize at the time was that by suspending my account I was actually taking control of Instagram and my social …
Traveling with toys is problematic. How many toys do I bring, which ones do I pack, what accessories are important and what additional tools will I need is just the beginning of my decisions. Then I need to start asking how much time do I need to spend with my …
I want to tell you about a new book by the Exclu Collective: With Toys in Mind Anthology. This is a collaboration between Jack Sturman, the founder of the Exclu Collective, and Dan Leonard who created the hashtag #withtoysinmind.
Recently Joshua Kittleson challenged our MeWe group to explore the classic cinematic two shot. Today I want to show you the winners of our successful MeWe Two Shot Challenge.
This is a review of a new book by Austin Kleon, titled: Keep Going: 10 Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad. This is the third book in a series that includes Steal like an Artist and Show Your Work. I’ll be honest, even though I like the …
Does this tag look familiar? I use the #Womenintoyphotography tag on all my Instagram photos. In fact I’ve been using this tag since August 2015. Why would I know the exact date? Because I introduced the #womenintoyphotography hashtag when I was writing for the blog Stuck In Plastic. The backstory …
The Good Son is the first book by Little Soldier Stories, the husband and wife team of Pierre-Jacques and Jules Ober. It’s an original story that uses miniature replicas of World War I soldiers to tell a compelling story of duty to family and country. While The Good Son isn’t …
Did you know that when photography was first invented it was seen as a medium capable of the same level of artistic expression as painting and sculpture? This movement is called Pictorialism. Pictoralists wanted to be seen as equal to painting and the finer arts, rather than an inferior mechanical …
It’s no secret that I love my Lensbaby Composer lens system. In fact, its this lens that has been giving me the pictorialist style images that I love to create.
It’s a wrap! Another Toy Photographers meet-up has come and gone and its time to reflect back on this years event.
Today I wanted to talking about a cool book I read by the amazing cartoonist, writer and teacher, Lynda Barry.
One of my favorite books featuring toy photography is Hitler Moves East: A Graphic Chronicle, 1941-43 by David Levinthal and Garry Trudeau (yes, that Garry Trudeau). With a cheap toy challenge going on in our MeWe community plus an In the Style of Challenge presented by James and Kristina on …
We’ve all heard the phrase “fake it until you make it”. It’s a very useful skill and one I’ve been using for a while now. But what if you don’t know what “make it” means to you? If you haven’t defined success, how will you know if your achieve it? …
If you’re an outdoor photographer like me, you use the sun as your primary light source. And the quality of that light can make or break your photo. Traditionally the two best times to photograph outdoors is sunrise and sunset; otherwise know as The Golden Hour. I’m here to tell …
Have you heard the news? Brickcentral has a permanent moderator team led by @fourbrickstall! This is great news and assures this important feature site has a long and healthy future. Now that the ‘new’ site has been officially launched they’re getting down to the business of inspiring toy photographers to …
It’s finally here…The Toy Photographers Yearbook 2018! We created this book to showcase all of the amazing photographers who participated on the blog in 2018. Each page showcases one of the many talented folks who make up our community, plus a few words about what toy photography means to them. …
Recently I’ve been pondering the role a muse plays in my artistic journey. This started when Dinoczar tagged me on an instagram post that quoted a letter Nick Cave had written to MTV. In this letter Nick graciously declined his nomination for Best Male Artist that year in fear of …
The year is off to an inauspicious start. Between the wet weather, a new dog (total distraction on four legs!) and an upgrade to my camera equipment I’m singing the toy photography blues. You’re probably thinking: “What! That makes no sense! New equipment, like new toys, should inspire a burst …
I’ve written about Five Words to Define a Year in the past. In those posts I’ve been thinking more about my own personal journey than our larger, collective journey here on the blog. But all these end of year reflections we’ve been doing on the blog got me thinking: What …
What a year this has been! But before I say goodbye to 2018, I want to take the time to acknowledge a few of my favorite blog posts from this year. Let me grab a fresh role of toilet paper (TP) and I will get started awarding the first annual …
