Challenge yourself

I am heading home after a five day adventure in the Moab region of Utah.
Four of those days involved photographing lego with decidedly mixed results.
I realized I was outside my comfort zone shooting in harsh light, with rocks and sparse vegetation as my only textures. Photographing in the lush Pacific Northwest with its mossy rocks and dappled sunlight seems like a walk in the park by comparison.

I love this area for its grand views, it's sure subtlety of color and apocalyptic nature.
But how in the world do I translate that to the macro world?

Let's just say I struggled with decidedly mixed results. 

But isn't that the nature of growth, to challenge ourselves?
To learn from our mistakes?
To play outside our comfort zone? 

I'm very excited by tomorrow's guest post.
He's an artist that continually challenges himself with different techniques and also challenges the viewer with his message.

Stay tuned! 

~ xxsjc

Aqua

An Homage - Michael Phelps - Gold Medal Summer Olympics 2004

The last few weeks we have had our fair share of posts here on Stuck In Plastic looking for the why.

A most interesting question and I really enjoyed reading back from Balakov over Avanaut to East Mountain and beyond, including the fantastic positioning of Padawans and Jedi alike by Shelly.

One thing all posts have in common is a love for the métier. 

A passion for telling stories, painting with light and taking it beyond the instant snapshot of images that are flooding our retina devices continuously.

When I returned from a full week in the catacombs of Big Inc, another picture was crossing my retina on the flight back in. A picture I saw a few weeks ago when I was enjoying a video interview on one of those intergalactic flights back and forth. 

A picture of Michael Phelps, US gold medal winner in the Summer Olympics 2004.
A picture by Dave Black.

A picture that forced me to take a deep dive into the pool this weekend and get beyond my comfort zone and get wet.

A refreshing experience, and for sure I felt it was worth doing ! 

Now, would I stick these Speedo's to the wall ?

Not sure, but we did have great fun ...

The Speedo Look

And here is an extra Speedo shot of Julien for the other half of Stuck In Plastic as it is Shelly Birthday week and Shelly has a special relation with water ...

Happy Birthday, Shelly !

Is it Worth Doing?

It seems Me2 isn't the only one fond of posing questions: 

"Writer Henry James once proposed three questions you could productively put to an artists work. The first two were disarmingly straightforward: What was the artist trying to achieve? Did he/she succeed? The third`s a zinger: Was it worth doing?" ~ excerpt from Art & Fear

And that is the crux of the problem right there. I think I ask myself this question in some way everyday. Art isn't about making pretty pictures, it's not about perfect technique...art needs to go behind that. 

Certainly by embracing a small plastic toy peddled by one of the largest toy companies in the world makes me suspect my own abilities to move beyond these impediments. How do you challenge the status quo or capture a moment in time when you are essentially free advertising for Big inc.

Me2 posed a question awhile back that hit me hard and I've been unable to answer: would I exhibit my work in Shell Oil`s boardroom?  Honestly I don't know?  I'd like to think I have high moral standards, but I'm a realist. Would it move my work to the next level? Could the work be a form of protest? Could I generate controversy and get the work to a larger audience? Or am I just fooling myself and selling myself to the highest bidder?

Right now I know I'm not challenging myself enough in terms of content. I've achieved my original technical goals and can confidently capture whatever scene I set up. But it's time for me to take the next step and challenge both myself and the viewer. 

When I look at a finished image I want to be able to answer "Yes" when I ask that third question: "Was it worth doing?"

~ xxsjc

Pluto (a response)

One of the best parts about paticipating in this blog for me is the back and forth between Me2 and mysef. I realize it's not always an easy conversation to follow and we often go off on tangents, but I enjoy the process. It's been a couple of days since his Pluto post that posed more questions than answers, but I wanted to put in my two cents.

It is hard to put yourself forward as an artist. It can be an emotional and ego busting experience. You are displaying something that is often intensly personal and you don't know how it will be perceived. Will it be appreciated, criticized or ignored? 

But that is not the only risk in our newly minted uber connected world. Information flows quickly on the internet, copyright has very little meaning and appropriation is the order of the day. As an artist it can be disheartening to see your work end up in the wrong place with no attribution. Another all too real risk is the overly enthusiastic fan or even worse the outright thief.  

What do you do if you are the Jedi with a Padawan walking too closely in your footsteps? I was reading through "Steal Like an Artist" (again) and came across a great quote that in my mind deals with this beautifully: 

"Complain about the way other people make software by making software." ~ Andre Torrez

In short...get busy. The truly creative artists who have the perseverance to stay in the game for the long haul will always be one step ahead of the Padawans. There is really no reason to dwell on what can't be changed, the Padawans will always be there. But how you move forward with your own work will separate you as the true Jedi.

~ xxsjc

My apologies for any errors in this post. I wrote it in the car on my ipad as I am hurtling acrtoss the barrren landscape that is know as Southern Idaho.  

East-Mountain

"Welding" by Christoffer Östberg

Why?

Why do I spend the majority of my free time photographing small pieces of colourful plastic?

I first tried the ultimate answer to any question and realized 42 wouldn’t cut it at all (although going Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with LEGO is definitely a challenge I have to visit someday, without panic). At first this question may have seemed easy enough and the answer self evident, but looking deeper, there’s nothing simple about it. What are our personal reasons for taking photographs? The answer is different for all of us. It can be as simple as love, a story that needs to be told, or a way to revisit childhood.

I have only been active in LEGO photography for a year now, and still my reasons have changed during this time.

My wife is a professional photographer and so I have always had her support and knowledge. I have also found many talented and inspiring photographers out there. Even though I have changed the way I photograph, Vesa Lethimäki will always stand as a source of inspiration. I promised always to challenge myself in photography and find new ways to play with these bricks, to cast away the innate limitations and bring them to life, sometimes with the help of the four elements. Especially close to my heart are those pictures involving fire and natural light. It's about not having control of the situation, acting within a limited time frame with the camera to capture that which is unpredictable, be it fire, wind, water, or earth. What I appreciate about the unpredictable photographs is that they capture a moment in time, impossible or almost impossible to reproduce, triggering a realistic cinematic feeling.

Alexander Rodchenko said, “One has to take several different shots of a subject, from different points of view and in different situations, as if one examined it in the round rather than looked through the same key-hole again and again.” There are endless perspectives on the simplest of objects, and all of them tell a different story.

But there are other reasons besides the joy of drowning figures or setting them on fire. The main reason still stands: I am a father of two kids who love playing and being creative with LEGO. Much inspiration is drawn from them; the imaginary mind of the young knows no boundaries.

I found that even though I strive to make all photographic effects in front of the camera, with as little post-processing as possible, my goal now, almost a year later, is to express my emotional response to the scene. This has led me to modify the image captured by the camera. If I did not alter the image, I would be showing what the camera captured, not what I saw and felt in my head. Even so, I still work more with the camera rather than post-production software.

There is a story behind every image, and it is a great feeling when my family and I decide to frame one of them and hang it on the wall. The images may seem uninteresting to people, but to me they are a reminder of what ideas spawned in my mind and what emotion stirred them to life.

So why do I keep doing this, day in and day out, sacrificing sleep and mental health. I think George Bernard Shaw said it best: “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” I don’t want to grow old.

 ~ Christoffer Östberg

"Mono Wheel" by Christoffer Östberg

"River Crossing" by Christoffer Östberg

The Long View

Unlike +Me2 I am not ready to let go of summer and head to frozen Pluto. So before I rush head long into the future, I have one last summer post to get out of my system. Please bear with me. 

A little souvenir we picked up at the gift shop nestled in some freshly planted moss. 

I have a hard time separating my artistic life from my every day life. The overlap is so great it can be hard to differentiate. I don't need to be a good artist to be an engaged mother or visa versa. But sometimes my two selves come together in unexpected ways.

A few weeks ago my kids and I took a road trip to Portland, Oregon to visit my brother-in-law who is working there for a couple of months. We decided to meet at the Portland Japanese Garden a place none of us had been before. My son and I were awe struck the instant we arrived.

We were the worst guests possible as we excitedly pointed out that cool bamboo fence, were awe struck by the amazing water features, admired the use of white crushed rocks, checked out the incredibly pruned Japanese maple trees or exclaimed at the reflections on the water. You get the idea. 

Did I tell you about the moss? OMG, the moss! Entire carpets of the lovely stuff...under trees, growing on rocks, growing everywhere! The garden is a beautiful, serene and wonderfully spiritual place. It is one that both Noah and I want to go back to and view during the different seasons. There is much to explore in this truly special place and we babbled about it all the way home.

The next day Noah and I started transforming our own backyard into a mini Japanese garden. We trimmed trees, pruned shrubs, hacked at vines and created a nearly blank slate to work from. We also hauled bags and bags of debris out of our yard. Then we scampered off to the nursery for moss and shade plants to help us realize our vision.

We still have to add a few rocks for accent, build bamboo fencing (harvested from our own bamboo) and create paths to protect our existing moss. But we are on our way. Of course we will need to be patient, it is going to take a few years for this project to start taking shape. But we are the patient types. 

You are probably wondering what this has to do with my photography. In addition to exploring my city through macro photography I also take many of my Lego photos in my own yard. I consider our hard efforts in the last few weeks as an investment in my own personal outdoor photo studio. Maybe a little more curated than it once was, but there will still be plenty of lovely moss and rocks to create interesting set ups.

And like all great art projects, we are taking the long view. 

~ xxsjc

What was your favorite photographic related memory from this summer?
Do you plan your photos hours, days or years in advance?

Pluto

Pluto Explorations

What better to do on a Sunday afternoon than taking a hitchhike across our Universe and enjoy a brisk walk into the deep snow blizzards of Pluto.

While Pluto is considered a dwarf planet I did not bump into Fredo, his Middle Earth Companions or any of Snow White Seven Friends but was reminded of another Legend when facing the snowflakes.

A Legend that has been exploring the snowy fields of Hoth long before I got suited up and embraced the ice cold planes of Pluto.

A Legend who has many young Padawans out there looking to step in his footsteps and become the Master one day  ...

Was I trying to be one of the young Padawans today when I took this #selfie out in the deep snow ?
Did I seek the glory and fortune some has looked before ?
Was I acting like a copy cat ?
Or did I just took a selfie in the snow ?

Most interesting questions one asks himself when out and about in the ice cold and temperatures are truly below zero (on yet another planet owned by another Big Inc, not the one of the ice cold zero drinks).

A question our Legend himself asked as well not that long ago.

It seems we are all about questions these days ...

Questions on how we are defining us as being stuck in plastic, one snowflake at a time ...

Me2

Old Traditions and Workflows Alike

Dance Floor

This morning I woke up with lots of energy, a boost of coffee and a long list of things to do, you know, the here and now.

Unlocking The Studio, switching on the lights and with a few clicks ready to enter the Lightroom to make some great epic post processing and push some digital awesomeness into the world of bits and bites when my eye was caught with the latest post of Shelly and her sound bite when grumbling over breakfast and bacon with egg tempera;

"That's also to say that usually - but not always - the piece you produce tomorrow will be shaped, purely and simply, by the tools you hold in your hand today."

While Shelly obviously was thinking about her breakfast and having a dip, my mind drifted off from the tasks at hand (taking some new pictures, finish a few other pictures and get our latest stuck in plastic blog post out as I discussed the night before with S. and then distribute it to magnitude of different platforms ...)

The tools at hand ...

The new tools these day are really the digital workflow, from taking the picture to sharing it with our target audience (remember the Sunday family afternoons when grandpa got out his slide projector and we all enjoyed a 36 PowerPoint avant-la-lettre  for an hour walk through ?).

Target Audiences ...

Big names like IG, Flickr, G+, FB, Picasa and even Tumblr and Twitter are flashing by ...

How are we connecting with our audience, what is our audience, why are we doing it ... all these questions flashed along and the question of focus and purpose was added to mix.

Long story short, my original post I was planning to write here will need to wait while I am sorting out my electronic tools of today and get rid of some noise that distracts me of producing the piece of tomorrow ...

Stay tuned ...

Me2

Art Reflects the Present

The other day I was feeling my usual bout of anxiety and doubt... Why am I doing this? My work is crap! You know, that kind of stuff. So I turned to my trusty copy of "Art and Fear" to find some words of consolation. I found words of encouragement and so much more.

In particular this passage really struck a cord:

"That's also to say that usually - but not always - the piece you produce tomorrow will be shaped, purely and simply, by the tools you hold in your hand today."

Of course the author was thinking more along the lines of painting materials like egg tempera, oils and acrylics. But can't the same analogy be made for the rise of toy photography?

We are surrounded by plastic toys in the form of cheap imports from China, give aways at restaurants, movie tie ins and of course whatever we might have saved from our own childhoods. It seems that with all of these toys clambering for our attention something was bound to happen.

When the ubiquitous camera phone was combined with social media (especially Instagram), a movement was born. I know we are a niche group, and a small one at that, but the creativity exhibited by some of these photographers is awe inspiring. There is craftsmanship, social awareness and special effects being employed to create some very memorable images. 

I'm certainly not implying we are producing anything new. We have already seen with our previous guest posts that there are always pioneers in any field. But what we have now is a far greater range of styles and toys being used.

We will be hearing from a few of these new breed of toy photographers in the weeks ahead as we explore this amazing and creative movement we affectionately refer to as being Stuckinplastic.

~ xxsjc

Are there other influences that have created and shaped this toy photography movement? 

Past, Present and Future ...

Exposition Universelle - Paris 1900

What started off as an innocent question on why we are shooting plastic has turned into a deep dive of old dinosaur emotions and recognition of our roots and influences. Most probably we will also be taking a little detour back to the future before we are done.

The Eiffel Tower for sure laid the foundations for the "Mechanics Made Easy" play sets found in 1901 and must have played an inspirational role in why some of our LEGO bricks contain holes in the middle.

Nobel prize winner Sir Harry Kroto actually goes as far as blaming the UK railway failures on the younger generation growing up with plastic (read LEGO) instead of perforated metal (read Mecanno).

We don't want to turn this into an epic discussion of which toy is best (remember those epic Nikon vs Canon discussions) but stay on the why we are shooting plastic.

Do we look for capturing that perfect simple plastic smile?
Do we want to create epic movie scenes in our own cellar ?
Do we ...

We will continue to search for the why, in our past, our present and our future ...

Shooting plastic, one brick at a time ...

Me2

Avanaut

"The First Attempt" by Avanaut

Why do I take photographs of Lego? That is a question that took me by surprise a couple of weeks ago. I realized I had never asked myself that question before. Finding the answer was not easy, and it took a brief conversation with my wife for me to see it.

I am photographing Lego because I am a never-was movie director making a living outside the movie industry. That's what my wife said, and it pretty much sums it up. See, I always loved movies. Star Wars, obviously, was huge, but many others as well, classics and contemporary. As a kid I made some movies myself with my dad's Super-8 film camera, but film was expensive and my dad did not allow me to hack the camera's filmport to produce a widescreen format picture. My movies were not very good; a widescreen wouldn't have improved them, but still. I would build miniature sets and models to shoot, but the miserable camera could not focus on anything, since it had no macro. I grew up watching great movies and reading all about them. As a teenager I subscribed to Starlog, Cinemagic, and Cinefantastique. Cinefex, Premiere and Empire came along a little later. I'm soaked with that stuff; it's in my DNA. I sometimes dream in 2.39:1.

That was a long time ago.

When I stumbled into photographing Lego Star Wars in 2009, I quickly connected to those times when I dreamed of making movies. I soon incorporated into the photos many of the cinematic ideas I had toyed with in my youth: widescreen, smoke, aerial particles, snow, blizzards, tight closeups and stories -- the short stories that I like to write to go with the photos. I think this through via cinema; even my "Leftovers & Alternatives" album in Flickr is allegoric to a DVD "deleted scenes" extra. Lego is a perfect medium for all this. It's playful, and there's so much to choose from. You can have a minifigure on a piece of a coloured paper and still make a strong photo with that; yet there's everything from a coffee cup to the Death Star to add, if you like.

This soon became a sort of creativity outlet, a free turf to express ideas I could not use in my day job as an illustrator. I see my photographs as single-frame plays I can write, produce, direct and shoot, but with characters and concepts I grew up with. In a way, I'm exploring an unfulfilled career path, but with Lego and present day tools, like the DSLR camera. It's old but it's new. It's perfect!

~ Vesa Lehtimäki

"Breaking in the Tauntaun (Revised & Rejected) by Avanaut 

"Last Ship to Rendezvous Point" by Avanaut

The Best Laid Plans...

Today did not go according to plan.

I was supposed to work; it's Monday and normally I am chained to my desk. I had a great blog post I wanted to write about Big Inc plus my to-do list is a mile long. But I didn't do any of that.

I played hooky.

Or to be exact, I grabbed my mini figures, camera and headed into the mountains for a lovely hike with a friend. The day was beautiful, the photo gods were smiling on me and I even got back in time to pick up my son from school. It was a glorious day.

I guess this is why I don't work for Big Inc.

~ xxsjc

Stay tuned, tomorrow we will post another amazing guest blog on the universal question of  "Why?"

LEGO Inc.

As most of you know Me2 and Crew won the fantastic The LEGO Movie Scandinavian Master Builder Challenge organized by the great folks over at Warner Bros and LEGO and as part of winning this epic challenge, Me2 and Crew got invited to visit some awesomeness in LEGO land.

Signing in to visit the top secret production plant where LEGO is born.

And awesomeness it was.

The crew signed in to visit the top secret production plant and got a guided tour (#nopictures) into the nirvana of LEGO, Prod. KOM One, the Billund Production Plant.

A most amazing tour that just gave a fantastic insight in the clutch power and drive for quality which truly represents the company motto det bedste er ikke for god, or the best is just not good enough. A motto introduced by the founding father Ole Kirk Christansen a good 80 years ago and it still hold strong today.

The exclusive LEGO Ideas House ...

Our guided VIP tour continued to the LEGO Idea House, giving us an exclusive insight in the history of the Company.
From the wooden ducklings and fire trucks over the plastic cars to the brick.
The brick which is the cornerstone of the LEGO world.
A brick which did not change fundamentals since its patent on January 28, 1958.

... giving fantastic insights in a long and rich history ...

While our time was limited in the LEGO Idea House and we most probably could have spent a few more hours discussing the rich past of this fantastic company (yes, we are biased) I do feel confident we are contributing with our photography (or should I say legography) to the next chapter of the rich history of the LEGO Company, one picture at a time ...

A history of being Stuck in Plastic ...

Me2

Teddy

Teddy™

On our way up to the board room of the haunted house in the lands of L. we bumped into Teddy ...

Teddy™, childhood memories and cobwebs alike I could not resist in taking a picture before we continue the discussion on big Inc. and our relentless search for the why we shoot plastic ...

M.

The Tea Party

Our Friends are having an awesome Tea Party

Most interesting discussions are happening here on Stuck In Plastic.

While exploring the most innocent question of Why we are shooting Plastic, I mentioned that for me (read me as in me, myself and I) the touch with the working class reality aka big Inc. is a key driver and influence.

I mentioned that escaping from the Big Inc. Madness (be it cubicle, production line or board room) into shooting Plastic was one of my drivers, yet I could not see me abandon this and retire on an undisclosed empty island with only sun, sea and hopefully some fresh water to pursue my love of photography.

I mentioned I needed both in my life balance.

Nothing special, and artists have gone before us who find their roots directly in the working class blue jeans culture or office cubicles from big Inc. corporations.  From Bruce to Dilbert, from U2 to song of innocence on the latest Apple keynote (ForceTouch anyone ?).

Yet, Shelly reads it completely different (or not) and posted her view here and turning it in a discussion of Independent Art vs Big Inc.

A most interesting road I for sure want to explore in more depth.

What is most satisfying ?

Releasing a new song to millions of users on iTunes through big Inc. Apple or going Indie ?

Most probably an unfair question, but what if we start to explore an art exhibition in the board room of Shell ?

Would you refuse or take the window of opportunity ?

Food for thought I will be thinking about more the coming days, but first we have a top secret visit to the HQ of another Big Inc. ahead of us ...

Another Point of View

Psst... want to know a secret?

+Me2 and I have been working together for nine months and have only talked once on the phone. All communications have been through Kik, this blog and an occasional e-mail. If you know anything about communication then you know this is a very limited palette.

Sometimes I think that +Me2  and I see eye to eye and then he posts a piece like yesterday and I know we don't. Don't get me wrong, we have much in common, more than we can both properly express. But we arrive at our mutual love of legography from such different roads it is almost laughable.

I have never worked for Big Inc. the closest I have gotten to a real job was a four year stint in an arts non-profit. I have been out of the corporate work force for so long that when +Me2 starts expressing business concepts I feel that he is speaking another language.

I am really trying not to take offense at this choice bit:

I feel a drive to take pictures and work my "art" but I need the touch with reality and big Inc. to feel that same reality and feel the power balance and not just live in my ivory tower seeking for inner beauty just within myself.

Seriously is this how he views artists? I am sure you can find this stereo type practicing their art somewhere, but I am pretty sure I can lift the lid off any corporate hive and find similarly delusional individuals. They are not limited to the arts world.

Any artist who can count themselves as successful (by which I mean they can pay their bills) has been playing the business game just like any Big Inc. The scope might be smaller, but the spreadsheets, meetings, budgets, advertising campaigns, search for marketshare is no different. We just get the work done without the buzzwords.

Maybe +Me2 and I need to pick up the phone more because something seems to have been lost in translation.

~ xxsjc

After this post I wonder if +Me2 and I will make it another 9 months?
An interesting article on Art graduates and income from the WSJ. 

I was surprised to run into this little Chima bird when I went hiking this weekend. A welcome sight after a tough hike. 

Brick Inc.

Herr K. from Hamburg being featured by Brick Inc.

Today @brickcentral featured me on IG with this great post on IG:

"It's hard to work for Darth Inc and pursue your love of legography, but Me2 seems to find a good balance. When he's not performing some corporate daring do...he's creating some of the best Lego photos around. ... Now if we can only get Me2 to work less and post more" ... 

And indeed there is a lot of truth in this post when it comes to striking a balance between corporate live and just shooting being Stuck in Plastic.

Would I want to work less and post more ?

For sure there are days when Darth is going crazy on the flavor of  the latest marsh-mellows on the Death Star I would like to join Dilbert and take a corporate break, but in general it is the shopfloor reality of corporate Inc. that keeps me going.

It is not a work life balance, but a balance of life.

I would not be me without the corporate Inc. and me in my relationship with Darth and corporate Inc. would not be the same if I hadn't my legography to escape the corporate madness for a while and sharpen the saw (ouch, is it still political correct to mention the seven habits now that Dr. Stephen R. Covey is no longer setting the scene ?).

So it is a synergy that feeds upon each other and strengthen and influences each other time and time again.

I feel a drive to take pictures and work my "art" but I need the touch with reality and big Inc. to feel that same reality and feel the power balance and not just live in my ivory tower seeking for inner beauty just within myself.

Brick Inc. 

Big Inc.

Inc.

Star Wars, LEGO, Disney, ... a series of Big Inc. that influences our creativity and artistic self.

  

What is in a Name?

Sometimes an unusual social media handle means nothing, sometimes it means everything.

Take xxsjc for example. It's a mouthful, it does not roll off the tongue easily and it makes no sense, but it has been my handle since the early days of Twitter. You know, back when people actually talked to each other, before Twitter became a fire hose of self promotion. It is an amalgamation of a person who introduced me to Twitter and my own initials. It is also a nod to the scantily clad women that I used to photograph. But over the years it has taken on a larger and deeper meaning for me.

You see I am not a nice person. I know I look like one and I act like one...most of the time. But deep-down, and in my not so distant past, you will find many examples of the mean s.o.b. that I really am.  My kids like to call those times when I really get pissed off as "when the masks slip". My daughters current boyfriend is scared to death of me and honestly most of my current friends had to take a real leap of faith to embark on the road to friendship with me.

xxsjc is a play on the more common "xo" used in conjunction with a signature when conversing with a good friend or a loved one. For me using the xx before my name is a reminder to play nice with others, to spread good will and to leave this community a better place than how I found it. Playing with toys has been very good for me and helps me to be the person I want to be. I know I will have achieved my goal when the person behind the mask and the mask become one.

~ xxsjc

Does your Instagram / social media name have any special meaning?

Image by @BigToyPoo

Sun, Sea and Dinosaurs ...

A selfie in the streets of Granada

Only last week we openly asked ourselves why and triggered a great response across our social platforms of choice, from instagram to G+ and FB alike with lots of likes, shares, great comments and food for thought ...

From saving the world to just having fun ...
From exploring our roots to paving new roads ...

Talking about roots,  I really enjoyed the guest post of Mike aka Balakov this week here on StuckInPlastic (if you did not read it yet, go ahead and do read it now).

Mike is one of my personal dinosaurs (or should I say heroes) and I really like his work. He is most probably one of my key influences and single handed responsible for outing myself as a LEGO photographer.

While my rebellious plastic jacket once in a while wants to storm the barricades of injustices and protest for freedom of speech or take a friendly stab at big Inc., I am far from the political passion and journalistic photography style you will find in the works of pulup or lynn to just name two.

A smile, a recognition, a warm feeling of childhood memories ... are for me key emotions I try to explore in a lot of my photographs as well.

When walking through the cobbled streets of Granada this week, aimlessly drifting through history and exploring the beautiful colours, light and tapas when taking a break from corporate air-conditioned meeting rooms, it was great to see how history determines our future and there is this ethernal search to beauty all around us.

From simple cobbled stones to gargoyles alike.


We for sure have not answered the question of Why with a conclusive answer but key ingredients of the quest are for sure beauty, fun and emotion ...

Let's see what next week adds to our quest ...

Balakov

Why?

Why do I take photographs of small plastic figures?

Well, I'm not doing it to change the world. Neither am I bringing attention to worthy causes, or highlighting injustice with my photographs. I do it for the same reason most people do most things, I do it for me. I want to take the sort of photographs that I'd like to see. I want to look at my photographs and say "that's cool, I want to hang that on my wall."

The limitations imposed by LEGO minifigures are a big part of the fun of photography for me. Bernard Suits famously defined a game as "the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles". That perfectly sums up my approach to LEGO photography. I rarely use anything but standard LEGO smiling faces, or the expressionless helmets of Stormtroopers or Darth Vader. Trying to create an emotive photograph with a barely-posable, inert chunk of plastic is a challenge that I never seem to tire of trying to beat.

I take pleasure in the whole process. Combining ideas together within my own set of rules for what makes a good photograph. Finding angles and interesting lines in the viewfinder. Moving the composition around to balance the scene. Changing the lighting mood as I shoot. Playing with hues and saturation curves to add some life to the clinically clean digital capture. It's all good.

Sometimes it works, and sometimes everything goes in the trash can. As I make more photographs I'm getting better at knowing when an idea doesn't translate into a good photograph. Over the years I've tried to weed out poor qualities and work out what the essence of a good photograph is to me.

I read an excellent quote from Magnum photographer Constantine Manos today that summed up something I have never been able to eloquently put into words - "Try not to take pictures which simply show what something looks like.". That's why I take the photographs I do. To try and take LEGO photography above mere "photos of things" and make a story, evoke an emotion, or at least raise a smile.

Mike Stimpson

Autumn by Mike Stimpson

A guest post for stuckinplastic com by Mike Stimpson - mikestimpson.com
You can find Mike also on the following great social media platforms:
flickr
facebook
instagram
twitter

There is Nothing New Under the Sun

It would be hubris to think that what we are doing with toys and photography is any way new. No matter how innovative you may be, there is always someone who has done it before. Sometimes we know who these people are, sometimes we don't.

This is true in art, music, business, even Lego...just about anything that involves creation and innovation.

But that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of room to find your own way. To acknowledge those who came before you as you move into the future is not only a matter of respect, it's a smart decision. It says I know who I am, who's shoulders I have climbed on and that I realize there will be others who come after me. It's also the honorable thing to do.

I love this quote by Pharrell Williams

"Some people say there's nothing new under the sun. I still think that there's room to create, you know. And intuition doesn't necessarily come from under this sun. It comes from within."

I couldn't agree more. When I first saw Brett Westin's underwater nude's I knew I wanted to do the same thing. But the simple act of dealing with my own limitations in terms of talent and resources created results very different from his. This is how new things are created - old ideas run through the filter of a new artist.

So no matter if you are taking pictures of flowers, kittens, Lego or dinosaurs... look for your inspiration from within and you will create something new. In the mean time, don't forget those early innovators who paved the way for us all.

~ xxsjc

"There is nothing new under the sun, not even dinosaurs." ~ +Me2 

How a Lego Photo is Born

My son and I were fooling around with lego the other day and looking through his Master Builder Academy books and I came across this mini build for a cool camera. Needless to say, I whipped one up pronto.  It immediately reminded me of Weegee, so I made him too. Now if you're going to make a Speed Graphic camera and a figure who looks like Weegee out of Lego, then the next logical step is to set up murder scene.

...and that is how a lego photo is born.  

I'm sure this is going to lead somewhere interesting, I hope you will stick around to find out where.  

- xxsjc