My first toy photo(s)

I’m not quite sure when I first started calling myself a toy photographer but it certainly wasn’t when I took my first toy photos on Christmas Eve, 2008.

I borrowed some of my little brother’s Stormtroopers and had them re-enact a ‘we three kings’ moment around my childhood baby Jesus.

They are pretty awful. They are out of focus and fuzzy – and not in a good way! They were taken on my first digital camera, a Fujifilm FinePix A345 4.1 MP Compact. I’m actually amazed I even still have the pictures saved.

I would never have imagined when I took these pictures where I would go with toy photography, and how much a part of my life it would become. Even when I took my second ‘first toy photo’, a quick photo of this stocking filler on Christmas Day 2012, I didn’t know what it would lead to.

This quick phone snap though, four years after the Stormtrooper photos, set the ball rolling.

Within months I was out of my LEGO dark age, and I had a growing collection of figures and sets. I was using LEGO, more often than not, as the focus of my 365 daily photo project. I was pretty much hooked, and I really haven’t looked back since.

It’s been quite the journey from these early photos to where I am today. It’s been a journey that has been filled with learning and new friends. It’s also one that I hope to continue on as I still have endless amounts to learn about photography, and many more toys to buy!

It’s also been an interesting experience looking back over my early toy photos. I had forgotten a lot of these pictures, and it makes me want to try to re-shoot some of these ideas. I’m home again this Christmas so maybe I will try and re-create my first toy photo and get something that doesn’t qualify as instant trash folder material!

What was your first toy photo? Was it an honest attempt at toy photography, or just messing around with toys that were hanging about? Have you looked back at these early photos? Did they make you cringe, or were you happy with the results?

Lizzi
@stepping_on_bricks