Lighting, in photography, is one of those things that looks simple to do, right? Shine a light, pop a flash and WALA! You have a great picture. But being able to understand what the light is doing and being able to control it is a skill and can make or …
I know what you’re thinking. “The pitfalls of toy collecting?! There are no pitfalls, because toy collecting is awesome in every way!”
Again this week I will be revisiting an older blog post with a few updates: How do you choose the toys you photograph? The topic came up because of a recent DM conversation I had about the differences between LEGO and other action oriented toys. As toy photographers, what we …
Last week you might’ve heard a lot of hubbub celebrating the 40th anniversary of the LEGO minifigure. August 29th saw the celebrations kick off! This was the original date that the first patent (Danish) was handed in, in 1977. The first minifigures were not launched until 1978, and hence we …
At the end of July I participated in first person at my first photographic exhibition, during ItLUG Lecco 2018 organized by Marco Chiappa in collaboration with ItLUG ItLUG Lecco is unquestionably one of the largest LEGO-themed exhibitions in Italy and attracts more than 10,000 visitors. This year around 200 exhibitors …
Monday morning: Arrive at work…URGGH! Coffee. Sit at my desk and get lost in James’ latest podcast. Catch up on the weekend’s Toy Photographers posts. Panic that I don’t have a post written for the week. Scramble. Pilfered Ideas James’ post about expanding his toy photographing subject matter beyond what …
I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a Toys “R” Us kid!
For this week’s review we’re stepping away from LEGO, and into the Multiverse for a closer look at Funko’s 5-inch Rick and Morty figures! These figures have been out for several months now, but with the third season finale airing tonight, I thought this would be the perfect time to …
Autumn is here for those of us in the Northern hemisphere, and I must admit that I’ve been hit with a strong case of Seasonal Infectious Disorder! Fall is my favorite time of year, and I’ve already begun to see the change of season reflected in my photography. Fall signifies …
It’s officially Fall, which of course means that it’s that time of year where we’re inundated with Halloween goodies. Decorations, costumes, pumpkin flavored drinks and treats, scary movies, and as it turns out, LEGO sets! I considered saving my review of LEGO’s new seasonal kit, 20460 Halloween Haunt, for later …
To celebrate the impending release of The LEGO Ninjago Movie this Friday, I’ve decided that my latest review will be on one of the film’s tie-in sets, 70606 Spinjitzu Training. At just $9.99 USD, Spinjitzu Training is the most affordable tie-in set, and I found it to be a great entry point for …
When Shelly discussed her love of shooting in threes, I decided to take a look at my own catalog of images to see if there were similar patterns in my own work. Luckily, one quickly emerged: accessorizing. Rather than bring together several elements to make a photo work, I sometimes …
Making a 52 project on the theme of reflections has made me realize that I really love water piles, raindrops and how water ripples around toys. Puddles are made for toys. I have a softspot for puddles I have always known that I have a softspot for water puddles. But …
The Lead Up Ok, so I was super nervoucited. (Thanks to a seven year old at my son’s school for teaching me that awesome word!). I’ve been collecting LEGO minifigures and taking pictures of them for almost two years now, and I was vaguely aware of Toy Safaris from mentions …
I’ve been studying various sources to get snippets about why toys are so fascinating to toy photographers and the general public alike. So far I’ve absorbed On Longing by Susan Stewart, The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bechelard, the documentary Marwencol, and various videos, articles and artist statements by and about …
Why do I shoot what I shoot? When I saw this question I wanted to get into it because in my case, this is a very loaded question. I want my body of work to be multifaceted from epic to pensive to hilarious and sometimes even sad. One thing that …
This past weekend I meet up with some local toy photographers for an afternoon of companionship, conversation and photography. As I was looking around at my friends hard at work, I was struck by the variety of toys they had brought along as subjects. There were dinosaurs, Star Wars action …
On Sunday afternoon I asked my youngest son if he wanted to go out and shoot. After a moment’s hesitation he replied: -Can I go out by myself? -Sure, I replied. I loaded the camera with a charged battery and an empty memory card. He put the toys he wanted …
I tried something different. I tried to apply some “real” photography techniques to my toyphotography. Conditions and time restraints warranted a change in the way I usually operate. The images I managed to capture were met with a very loud and very apparent “Meh” across the various social media sites …
In Shelly’s post “The problems with Chima” she pointed out that there is a benefit, for us as still life photographers, to work with toys that have a well-known back-story. We can use them as symbols and let the back-story work for us in the picture. I try to do …
