Why

A most hectic week is coming to an end.

From crazy staff meetings with Darth on the latest flavor of the marshmallows being served in the Canteen on the Death Star to visiting other big Inc. headquarters near the origin of mankind in Europe in the surroundings of Heidelberg.

One question has been brewing in my mind since our epic journey came to an end and new adventures are kicking in.

A very simple question™.

A question™ that goes back to the old philosophers in the ancient world and beyond.

A question™ Simon (re)introduced and made easy in the corporate world when he spoke at TED a while back when he talked about the golden hour circle.

A question™ that we should all ask ourselves.

A question™ Shelly and I do talk often about in our posts and in our talks.

Why ?

Why are we shooting little plastic pieces most people call toys ?
Why are we going to great lengths in getting that right piece of brick ?
Why do we put our friends and family in awkward situations when we go to great lengths to get that fantastic shot ?
Why do we give selfies to our close friends and believe our pictures should be stuck to a wall.

We are not the first to shoot plastic.
We are not unique in our photography.
We are not the rich and famous.

Yet, both Shelly and I believe that being stuck in plastic here with you is the right thing, even if we don't have all the answers yet.

Why ?

That is indeed the question™.

A question™ we will be exploring in more details the coming weeks.

From neocortex to art statement.
From limbic to printing big.
From IG to RL.

Stay Tuned.

What a Difference a Year Makes

Recently my life speeded up and I feel like I am moving at light speed. There is so much to do and so little time!

No matter how fast life is moving it is always good to take stock of where you are and how far you have come. I know I have talked about my first lego photo. I'm not shy about how bad it was. But somewhere in the last 2 1/2 years and thousands of photos, I improved. I don't know where or how, but it happened.

Last spring I was asked by friends to do a series of photos that would substitute for their engagement photos. One thing led to another and these photographs ended up in The Huffington Post. I had my 15 minutes of fame and it was fun.

I promised my friends that I would take one of the images and create a framed piece as they're wedding gift. Unfortunately the image they chose I had grown dissatisfied with and decided to re shoot it. This ended up being a great way to bench mark how much I have grown and learned in the past year.

Personally I was surprised by how different the photo came out. I do feel it represents my current style, which make me wonder what it will look like if I retake it a year from now?

Next time you have a moment, stop and compare the photos you have taken recently with the photos you took a year ago. And while you are at it, give yourself a pat on the back because I'm sure you have made some significant improvements along the way.

~ xxsjc

Do you ever look back at your photos and notice how much you have learned? 
Do you have a photo you can re-shoot for a side by side comparison?
If so, would you share it with us?

Winning the Lottery

I'm sure for most people winning the lottery conjures up images of piles of money but for a fan of Lego it means scoring a rare set at regular price.

A few weeks ago I tried to purchase set #21110 The Research Institute and set #21109 The Exo Suit and found out that they were either "Sold Out" or "temporarily out of stock" on the Lego web site. They were not to be found at either of my local Lego stores; in fact they were going for double and triple their original asking price on the secondary market.

Aggggghhhhhh

Well, who should come to my rescue but my daughter, Sierra. My daughter is amazing. While I have coped with the excess of Lego in my house by photographing it, she went and got a job at our local Lego Store. This has both it's pluses and minuses, trust me.

First she found set #21110 at our local toy store Math 'n Stuff. I love Math 'n Stuff because they sell Lego, they have an amazing set-up at our local BrickCon and they often have older sets at regular price. The staff is always friendly and did I mention they are only two blocks away? Sierra happened to be in Math n' Stuff last week to get a new puzzle and spied a case of #21110 behind the counter. One thing led to another and before I knew it I had purchased The Research Institute. It seemed there was hope after all!

Yesterday Sierra came to me and told me that her store was getting in a big Lego shipment and that the Exo Suit was listed on the manifest. The hunt was on! I wasn't taking any chances on this one. We arrived at the store at opening but alas they had not had a chance to unpack the shipment. We decided not to hover and wandered around the mall. Before we knew it Sierra received a text from Sean, back at the store, that he had found the sets and they were waiting for us.

Woooooo hooooo

Seriously I felt like I had just won the lottery. I'm pretty sure buying Lego shouldn't engender this kind of emotional response in an adult. But that is my reality.

~ xxsjc

How far have you gone to score that hard to find set?
What set did you miss that you still regret?

My apologies for not having an image that is more appropriate. But life is moving pretty fast right now. Hopefully I will be more on point in future posts. 

Moving Beyond the Instagram Toy Community

I love the fact that the toy photography community on Instagram is so incredibly supportive. Most people are generous with their "likes" and comments and it's a wonderful place to play. But occasionally it feels a little insular and it's nice to branch out into other communities. It's always fun to make new friends and expand peoples understanding of toy photography along the way.

When I joined the photo sharing site Streamzoo (RIP), I was introduced to the wonderful world of macro photographers. Now that Streamzoo has ceased to exist, many of those same photographers have migrated to Instagram and I have continued my relationship with them. Sure this community has a penchant for bugs, flowers and water droplets, but they also recognize and support toy photography.

If you are interested in branching out beyond the regular toy community tags, here is a list of the macro communities on Instagram that I am aware of. Feel free to check them out and see if there might be a good fit for your own work. 

@BNWMacros

@Colors_Hub

@Flair_Macro *

@Flawless_Macros

@Global_Nature _Macro

@HDMacros *

@IG_4every1

@IG_Closeups *

@JJ_JustMacros

@Macro_Champ

@Macro_Perfection

@Macro_Premier

@Macro_Secrets

@Macroclique * 

@MacroStalking

@MD_Macro

@MyDailyMacro

@Nature_Obsessions

@TGIF_Macro

@Visual_World

The communities marked with an asterisk have been the most receptive to my work, especially @HDMacros. If you are looking for exposure beyond the toy community this is a great place to start. 

~ xxsjc

Are you involved in any communities on Instagram other than toys?

If so, what are they and why?

Bunnies and flowers! What is there not to like??

Louie

Selfies™

Today Clark crashed the name giving party of little Louie with a signed selfie.

While Professor Gildroy Lockehart may have been an inspiring role model for our young Clark when he stated "Celebrity is as celebrity does ..." we are wondering if you ever packaged your own Art™ work when crashing a party ?

Let us know below in the comments.

Curious we are !

Mind The Gap

Mind The Gap™

It has been a busy week to say the least.

After our epic friendship dinner and some tears and hugs the day after (when we all said our farewells and goodbyes), Shelly got in an epic write up mood and not only wrote a fantastic sequel on being grateful, followed by an interesting observation on art as the conversation topic of choice for bankers in the weekend but also continued to reveal the century old secret ingredient of lemonade being lemons.

If this all was not sufficient, we got reminded on the honey trap we all face when we go out on our favorite social media platform of choice looking for instant recognition and gratification.

A true Roller-Coaster™ for the mind.

In the meantime I was stuck in corporate boardrooms with Darth, discussing his latest and greatest top secret projects I can not talk about (remember these silly NDA's ...) without a decent connection to the internet (WiFi on the Death Star is restricted).

So, when I came back from my corporate deep dive I got completely energized by all the food for thought Shelly put out there.

Food for discussion.

Food for our brains and our heart to take in, absorb, dissect and include in our work.

I for sure will respond on some of the posts in more detail (I still believe bankers talk shop in the weekend and likes can help you grow your skills as an artistic crowdsourcing) but for now I can only wholeheartedly agree with Shelly when she reminds us of the gap between following our own artistic self and seeking instant gratification on our social media of choice.

Mind the gap.

Me2

The "Like" Trap

This was posted on G+ the other day by a photographer I follow:

"I may have hit the inevitable conclusion that more I try to find a fit for my photography in other's lives, the more unhappy I become. Social media has inevitably turned from the place of hope to just the typical empty echo chamber that it is. I really need to find a way to go back to shooting for myself and not others." ~ Anonymous

After reading the comments it seems that he is looking for validation for his photographs in terms of "likes" and favorites. It is easy to fall into the trap of having lots of followers who give feedback to feel like you are moving in the right direction. But this is an ugly trap.

Social media, be it Twitter, Facebook, Google, Flickr or whatever, will not give you the feedback you need and most likely crave. (Let's be realistic, we all have egos that enjoy an occasional stroking.) I talked earlier about the sheer volume of photos posted daily to FB and G+ here. With this volume of photographs being posted you need to find your motivation from within yourself or from with the work you are doing. It's near impossible to be seen in this onslaught of imagery. Lets face the harsh reality, more than likely you will be making work that no one really cares about except you.

So stop chasing "likes," chasing followers, chasing the latest photo trend and create the work that makes you happy. If it's photos of babies and cats, then make them the best photos they can be. Be it toys or water droplets it doesn't matter...the only one who is setting the rules is you.

And you know what, if you do the work you love, you never know who is going to start following you. Sometimes miracles do happen.

~ xxsjc

I used an image of a Chima because I have noticed that they usually get 50-100 less "likes" on Instagram than any other image I post. If I was going for the most likes per image I wold post only Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle photos. But I love Eglor and all the characters of the Chima tribes and I will continue to explore my universe with them.