SiP goes Twenty Two

Twenty One is running its last mile.
And traditionally we look forward to what’s on the horizon and set out our new creative project for the year.
A creative photographic project.

A Reflection On Previous Projects

Now, looking forward means also taking stock of the past. 
A reflection on what came before.
Look at what went well, and what did not work as brilliantly as we had l hoped.

We started with twelve words in 2017, following the months of the year, and we turned that into 52 words for equally as many weeks in 2018. Exploring human values.
We continued in 2019 with 53 people that inspired us in some sort of way.
Yet, fatigue set in, and we explored a different route with SiPgoesTT and had to do a few resets along the way.
From the trinity of exposure to movie genres.
One needs to know when to fail fast.
Even in photographic projects.
And then there was Twenty Twenty itself which threw a spanner in the works in so many ways.
A global pandemic turned our world and way of working upside down.

No real life meet up in 2020.  

A Photographic Project, More Than A Year In The Making

And even in this turmoil, some of us managed to complete their photographic project with a beautiful series of images.
In secret.
Outside the spotlights.
Not for the instant gratification of a like on SoMe but for personal growth.
A project that took Maëlick more than a year to complete.

If you haven’t read the post of Maëlick, please do.
It is that bigger picture of how to look at a photographic project that may inspire you.
Just like Julien’s Death Star Project or Bev’s Cut

Creative projects that shared a consistent language and vision of the photographers throughout their journey.
Not something I am good at.
And I doubt I will be able to master it in twenty two.

Back To (Virtual) Reflections.

We had our very first virtual toy safari at the end of the year, and turned that into a success in 2021 following the four seasons. Our mission to find an exhibition venue was overruled by that little virus taking up almost the full greek alphabet in only a year. 

And then there was Friday.
Good old Friday.
From Feature Friday to Thank Godtfred it is Friday challenge which started as an experiment just after the Summer workshop, and continued to run full speed all the way into this last week of Twenty One. 

Old and new friends alike joined our growing circle of friends in Twenty One, and we welcomed Jennifer and Suné as new crew members in our little creative collective of toy photographers stuck in plastic. 

And then there was Discord.

Another successful experiment in this digital and virtual age. We started a few years ago with Google+ but when the alphabet killed its own baby, we experimented with our own chat rooms, slack and ultimately found our new home on the Discord platforms.
Like Natasja told us. Discord is the slack for the cool kids.  And you are invited to join our friendly community of toy photographers, LEGO fashionista and art lovers alike.

There are the workshop rooms where we work on top secret, and not so secret missions. The green rooms for a friendly chat, the A/B testing room for instant feedback on the choice of an image, a continous GIF only developing story and our yet to become famous Friday’s after works hangouts.

A fantastic community underpinning our creative journey. A journey of personal growth, and growing the world of toy photography and our love for all things LEGO also in Twenty Two. 

So, what do we take forward in our new creative project for Twenty Two?

SiP goes Twenty Two

Four Virtual Workshops, a Weekly Creative challenge, Twelve Newsletters. All focused on creative growth in Twenty Two. And there is more for sure. A Christmas Card Exchange is included. We will continue to review LEGO sets (nsfw) and shoot NON-LEGO sets. Real world exhibitions are on our radar. And we have some other secrets hiding in our closet.

SiP goes Twenty Two is a photographic adventure set out so you can join in at your own pace, and skip when it does not float your boat. A creative project that will hopefully make you grow also in Twenty Two while having fun with little plastic toys. And yes, it will have its own hashtag #SiPgoesTwentyTwo

The Workshops 

Four Virtual Workshops with limited seats available. 

As always we will start on Friday evening (all times Central Billund Time, or Stockholm, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, …) with the unboxing of the mystery box, followed by an intense (and sometimes stressful, but always great fun) Saturday deep dive session. The twist of this year is that we will have a special guest host included in each workshop and that the workshops are fully embedded in our SiPgoesTwentyTwo theme. 

Seats are limited and the sign up form for the first workshop will be available on Discord later this week.

Reserve the virtual workshop dates

Winter – Feb 4th-5th 
Spring – May – 6th-7th
Summer – Aug – 5th-6th
Autumn – Nov 4th-5th

And later on in the year a real life workshop in Tallinn, travel permitting.

Fifty Two Fridays

Yes, we decided to give #SiPgoesTGIF a more structured role in Twenty Two. 

Each month one of the crew will take the lead, and lead the way for all of us with their creative take grouped around 4 distinct themes

Numbers and Colors
The Master Challenge
Photographic Techniques
Specials

We even created for you a personal calendar you can soon download and plan and play ahead for yourself.
Unlike the original SiPgoes52 the words and challenges are not yet carved in stone.
The colors are known.
And so are some of the numbers.
The crew is drafted in, and we are working on our special guest stars.

The concept stays the same.
We continue to release the creative challenge on Mondays on Discord.
We follow through on Fridays on Instagram (and who knows, maybe on Flickr as well).

This year we celebrate and feature over the weekend some handpicked work from the participating photographers from Discord only.
So, one other reason to join in the fun. 

And of course, you can easily skip a week if the time is not right or the creativity is not there. But if you finish the full streak of 53 images in Twenty Two we have a special surprise for you.

Twelve Newsletters

Yep, we are acoustic.
And slow growing.
The original idea of our circle of friends date back to 2015 and G+ yet it took us all the way to late 2020 before we launched our close friends circle.
Slow growing.

And so are our newsletters.
We started the first round of letters in 2018, and have since then steadily sent an average of one letter per year. Acoustic for sure.

In Twenty Two we will give this one some TLC, and create not one but twelve letters, one per month, with an exclusive behind the scene written up by the Crew member of the month, and include one high end print for one of our readers. 

Always wanted a 36”*24” print (for us Europeans that is approx. 91 by 61cm) to spice up your LEGO room or make that meeting room at work a little bit more enjoyable, then now is your chance. In Twenty Two we will be actively exploring printing big. 
Not yet signed up?
It is still not too late, just subscribe now

And all of this focused around personal growth as a creative toy photographer with a passion for LEGO.
One week at a time.
Twelve months long.
Twenty Two is set to begin.

So, will you join us in this SiPgoesTwentyTwo challenge? 

Boris and the SiP Crew

Header image created by Bev in less as 90 minutes. And for sure we will dig into post processing and special effects in twenty two as well.

Boris

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