Life Happens

Time flies when you are having fun, the saying goes.
And for sure, fun it is.
Hectic times as well.
Lots of creative preparation going on here at SiP behind the scene.
And with all that creative energy, one easily forgets to update the blog or if you are like me, are even guilty of missing a few words in our SiP goes 52 challenge. Life happens, they say.

So, here we are to take a quick stock of what is all brewing in our plastic kitchen and look at this weeks word. Respect.

Locations, locations, locations, …

First of all, we have a few folks scouting locations for different projects.

SiP goes Paris

Julien is making sure that Paris is all prepared for us visiting in June and even took a little side tour to Italy to see how they do things locally down south. So far it looks like Paris will be the biggest SiP Toy Photography Safari to date and it is not too late to join in the fun. Just go ahead and join the FB group, and complete the survey. Full details available here.

Airports, Runways, and old Berlin.

Stefan has been seen laying on the ground in various parts of Berlin and one wonders if he has been scouting for next years Toy Photography Safari or there is something else on the horizon. Time will tell.

Spring is coming.

And while Julien and Stefan are thoroughly enjoying the first warm days of Spring, Maëlick is dreaming of the days without snow and the first light of the midnight sun. For now, he is preparing his speaker notes and PowerPoint presentation skills for his mission to turn the whole of Finland into enthusiastic toy photographers. Soon LEGO will have to open an official LEGO Store in Oulu to keep up with the increased demand of the new AFOL Photographers.

If you happen to be in Oulu, do join in the fun. And if you want any of our SiP Crew to join your local photography club in Paris, Hamburg, Berlin, Stockholm, Vaxholm, London, Brussels or Granada, don’t hesitate to pop us a mail. We love to talk about our work. And get you inspired to take pictures of your toys.

Reviews, Deadlines, and good old Procrastination, …

And then there are our creative reviews.
We have a few in the pipeline.
Some of them are pretty new, others date back to January but are just not completely ready and miss that final image before we can get them out.

When there is no deadline, things tend to take a little bit more time and procrastination kicks in. A thing we talked about in the past. One word that did not make it to our SiP goes 52 series but for sure drove my shooting style in the last few weeks.
And that newsletter we talked about.
Well. It is coming.
We promise.
Somewhere in 2018 for sure.

Respect

So back to our little creative challenge.
This week word is Respect.

According to Wikipedia:

Respect is a positive feeling or action shown towards someone or something considered important, or held in high esteem or regard; it conveys a sense of admiration for good or valuable qualities; and it is also the process of honoring someone by exhibiting care, concern, or consideration for their needs or feelings.

Lady W. continues to explain:

Some people may earn the respect of individuals by assisting others or by playing important social roles. In many cultures, individuals are considered to be worthy of respect until they prove otherwise. Courtesies that show respect include simple words and phrases like “thank you” in the West, simple physical gestures like a slight bow in the East, a smile, or direct eye contact, or a simple handshake.

Thank You.

Yet, when I reflected on the word respect it did not directly relate to the word “thank you”.
The first connotation that entered my visual mind was respect for elders and wisdom and grey hair.
My mind got an image of the LEGO Judge.
And I started to drift off to the football game I enjoyed to document yesterday.  That season is also starting again and I have a good 2K images I still need to sort.
Not from plastic LEGO men, but from adults running behind a round object and kicking it away as soon as they reach it. Respect.
Respect in sports and I briefly considered to make a little plastic homage using the German World Cup Minifigures.
But also that idea did not stick.
There was more.

Respect for others.

It is about respect for other people.
Of different cultures.
All sharing the same planet.
The same universe.
Respect for different species.

And then it dawned on me.
I knew what I wanted to shoot.

A reshoot.

Of a transformational image.  An image I took a few years back (whoops, more than 5 years ago it seems).

An ambassador in the Galactic Senate. An anti-war movement spokesperson. A co-founder of the Rebel Alliance and the biological mother of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa.  The mother-in-law of Han Solo and the grandmother of Kylo Ren.

Padmé Amidala (née Naberrie), the Princess of Theed and Queen of Naboo.

And so it is maybe after all about a simple thank you.
A token of respect.
A glimpse of hope.

That’s all folks.

Euh. Wait. That is not all.

[instagram-feed type=hashtag hashtag=”#SIP_respect” num=16 cols=4 showcaption=false]

You all shared your view on respect.
Some of you struggled.
For others, it came naturally.
And I enjoyed exploring all of them.
Thank You.

PS.

We have a fantastic surprise waiting for all of you.
A surprise you will want to celebrate with us.
Something special we have been working on for you behind the scenes.
A creative challenge that involves an awesome price.
A special kind of …
But wait.
That is for tomorrow.
Keep an eye on the blog as you for sure don’t want to miss that one.

Boris

Taking plastic places.
Exploring my inner child and following Me2’s wanderlust into untold stories for generations to come.
100% Stuck In Plastic.