Behind the Scenes

Challenging yourself is a continuing theme on this blog. Ok, maybe it is just my thing. (Although I do seem to remember +Me2 set himself a challenge earlier this year to post daily to the blog.)

Earlier this summer I challenged myself with a rather large project and set Christmas as the deadline. Time (and good weather) is running out and I need to buckle down and get the rest of my photos shot if I am going to make this lofty goal.

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days where I finally nailed a pivotal photo I have been chasing all summer.  My earlier frustrations have been a combination of poor planning and lousy locations. But yesterday the weather was good, the kids were gone and I had no good excuses left to avoid this shot. 

I have learned that pre planning is everything. I have had enough experience with all that has gone wrong that I felt I was ready for success. By building the set before hand all I had to do was drop it into the location and shoot away. This way, all I had to concentrate on was lighting and camera angles, not the subjects floating away. 

I thought I would give you a behind the scenes glimpse into what that photographic journey has looked like. Now I have to get going on the rest of the photos...

~ xxsjc

Do you ever have an image in your head that you've struggled to capture?

Lower Snoqualmie Falls, June 2014

Lake Washington, August 2014

Puget Sound, September 2014

Magnuson Park, October 2014

Dinoczars

Why do I take photographs of toys?

For me, it's pretty simple. There is a very brief and special moment that sometimes happens in my toy photography. If I've done everything correctly, I obtain realism. At least, enough realism to make a viewer pause for a second, look a little closer and ask "how'd he do that?"

I am trying to show dinosaurs in a realistic way. That's pretty much the only thing I am consistently trying to achieve with my artwork. That is my goal and what I view as most important over everything else. That is my own measure of a successful photograph.

As I see it, there are 6 key components of toy photography to achieve a strong level of realism. They are; perspective, composition, lighting, depth-of-field, contrast and colors. To strike a strong balance between them is difficult to do and rewarding to achieve. I attempt 'realism' quite often and feel successful at it frequently enough to keep enjoying the process.

I share my photos on instagram (@dinoczars) and have a number of enthusiastic followers there. I also try to sell prints of my best shots from time to time in art shows and on my easy store (www.etsy.com/shop/Dinoczars). But both the fans on IG and the sales aren't my biggest motivators, I was shooting dinos before I was on IG and if the app crashed tomorrow, I would still be shooting dinos. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the positive reactions I get from people, and that certainly is a motivator, but ultimately, even if they all stopped paying attention to what I do, I'd still be doing it. Because I love dinosaurs and being able to recreate them in a believable way is a joy for me.

Why do I take photographs of toys?

I guess it boils down to this: I saw Jurassic Park at a very impressionable age and have been trying to bring dinosaurs back to life, in my own way, ever since.

~ Jaiken

Bridges

While Shelly is exploring the mystery fields of Big Inc. and wonders if the neocortex powers of the why are not overestimated and we all just need a daily dose of sugar to keep us motivated, I took a break from all these big questions of life and took a walk in the city.

A city walk I have to thank @legojacker for.
He reminded me on his IG feed of his participation downunder in the Melbourne InstaWalk. A walk to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Instagram (you can find the first pictures that started it all 4 years ago from the founders of IG).

I myself joined IG a year later (3 years ago !!!) and it has taken me on a photographic journey that is just starting.

A journey in the fields of digital lightroom and molded plastic.
A roller coaster from digital selfies (my very first post was a selfie on the ski slopes, taken with an iPhone 3) to epic stories of combined full frame pictures that took just a tad longer than a snapshot.

A voyage across galaxies, meeting new friends in the digital world to making a city walk in Stockholm just last weekend.

From smaller art galleries, long discussions on the Parisian boulevards and the peer recognition in the art scene in the fifties (or was it eighties) to IG, Flickr or 500px anno today.

The scene is shifting, the digital platforms are driving us in our journeys and explorations, yet there is nothing new under the sun.

We still want to connect, meet people, share our creative work and see that smile in the eyes when your image hits home and makes a connection.

And this is what Stuck In Plastic is all about.

Building plastic bridges between dinosaurs and young puppies alike.

Building bridges between a small and instant world full of plastic living in your mobile; taking the creativity to the streets of our cities. Exposing those photos on real walls, in a big format, for all of us to enjoy and connect.

Connecting our worlds, one brick at a time.

Grateful to Big Inc.

I won't deny it has been a heady week and its time to come crashing back down to earth. But before I get mired down in the day to day of my life I want to take a moment to tell you all how grateful I am for the last week.

The week started with one of those days of a life time on my family road trip, many birthday wishes from my IG family and ended with another fun BrickCon with my photo buddies...it's been an amazing week by any measure.

Nestled in this already awesome week was lunch with Julie Broburg a Lego representative from the Mothership. Julie's job (as I understand it) is to act as a liaison to the AFOL community in all it's forms, including us legographers. I find it amazing that there is a corporation out there that is interested in what their fans are doing and are willing to support, nurture and learn from that community. I know I can be very wary of Big Inc., but it is hard to disparage a company that values it's fans as much as Lego does.

So thank you Julie for all you do for all the AFOL's out there. If you get a chance to meet Julie in her travels make sure you go up and say: "Hi" and be sure to introduce yourself as a legographer.

Now I have one more thing to be grateful for: I am grateful to be photographing a great product and being a part of the Lego family in my own small way.

~ xxsjc

Fairy Godmother Julie

ps. I am pretty sure +Me2 had other ideas planned for todays post, but since he got caught up at his own Big Inc, you got me instead. We will pick up with our "Why" series later this week. Cheers!

Putting Social Back Into Social Media

#wwim10stockholm is the hashtag of choice amongst these fine folks behind me2

Today was the 10th World Wide InstaMeet (try #wwim10 out on Instagram)  with folks around the globe taking their cameras and phones alike out for a group walk and meeting other IG people in real live.  

I have always thought about joining a photowalk like these, but never took the deep dive into the unknown (I am most probably not the most social brick around).

Meeting strangers in real live. 

Shaking hands and exchanging lenses. 

A very nice experience I will for sure explore again.

 

After all, we are a social species. 

A species designed to connect and exchange creativity ...

Why are these photographers walking in our picture - 50mm lens from another IG'r

People ?!?

Special thanks to:

@iggersstockholm for inviting us to the party, we for sure want to join again ... 

@dasha for being such a great host and patiently herd the troops along ...

@xxsjc for pointing out the obvious ...

Why? vs Motivation

"Why?"seems to be the question of the day. We have been asking it here on the blog and have been blessed by a handful of guest posts that answer that question from various view points. I was recently reading Beautiful Lego by Mike Doyle and it is filled with artist essays that directly tackle the question of "Why?" from a Lego builders point of view.

In all the answers I have been reading there are plenty of similarities: emotional connection with the audience, expression of an idea, new ways to interact with a beloved childhood toy and the element of surprise at seeing a familiar toy in a new way. But is "Why?" even the right question to be asking?

Sure it is, if you are marketing to a particular audience; it would be important to know what drives your audience so you can sell more product. But if you are an artist, the bigger and far more important question seems to me to be: "How do you stay motivated?"

How does the creative individual stay motivated to get up everyday and strive to make something new. How does an artist keep creating day after day in relative anonyminity. No matter what your creative tools may be (a camera, lego bricks or your words), how do you keep going day after day pursuing an activity that will bring you only intangible rewards?

Of all the responses we have had so far to the question "Why?" I think that Legojacker was the closest to addressing the more important question: How do you stay motivated?

~ xxsjc

So what DOES it take to stay motivated? 

Legojacker

The Poetry of the Streets

There is 

a thrill to walking 

the empty city

at dawn,

plastic hidden,

feeling the cold

biting your neck

racing the morning light

as it creeps over the tops 

of the buildings.

There is a quiet 

that follows

as you slip into

dirty laneways 

dripping with 

brightly coloured 

street art,

and walls 

plastered 

in the scrawl

of invisible souls. 

Choose a spot.

Choose a figure.

Shoot.

Repeat.

At first

you may not see

the poetry 

of the streets 

alive with toys, 

but then it comes, 

tiny drifting souls

echoing desperate 

cries and laughter

among the everyday debris. 

Solitary 

back alley visits

shooting

unfeeling plastic

by the gram

to feel 

a shared humanity

in a world 

turning faceless

by the second.

~ Legojacker