I recently had the pleasure of being invited to share some of Toy Photography images ( or as I’ve heard it described “any excuse for an adult to spend money on childhood toys“) and Dioramas to the members of Breffni Camera Club. Give the niche nature of this genre of photography I’ll admit I was initially apprehensive but was quickly encouraged by engagement and range of questions the members had relating to the techniques used to setting up a shoot to build dioramas, the materials used and the inspiration for some of my work.
I discovered Toy Photography after I read an article on the work of Mitchel Wu. Mitchel’s work is super creative but always has a good side of humour in each image. As I’m a fan of collection action figures I looked further into the genre and came across other creatives over the years, one of which; Anthony Schmidt is a brilliant young man who uses forced perspective techniques to combine model cars with real life structures such as roads, buildings fences etc to create a scene. I strongly recommend checking out his website and be amazed. I’ll also include links to other creatives that product truly stunning work and also a range of YouTube videos on techniques for building Dioramas.
After the presentation the members jumped straight in and started working with the sample dioramas I brought with me setting them up and making a wide range of photos.
Below is a list of other creatives that have been an inspiration to me on my journey in Toy Photography, I hope you take the time to admire their work and find a bit of inspiration for yourself also.
- Isaiah Takahashi @blksrs
- Max Sabin @favmodels
- Jared Middleton @sir.dork
- Alex Bane @umbratoyphotos
- Anthony Schmidt @anthony_ryan_schmidt
- Mitchel Wu @mitchelwuphotography
- Felix Alejandro Hernandez @hernandesz_dreamphotography
I’ve also put together a post with a list of resources for diorama building