I’ve tried to keep diligent track of the photos I’ve taken this year, small scale and otherwise. My weekly recaps have helped me with this a lot and then monthly updates to this draft post. I think we can all agree that 2021, stemming from 2020, was weird, but despite that and life in general, being able to look back like this, I think I’ve been very successful in maintaining my creative practice. So let’s take a look at my 2021 photo review.
Making Art for Me
“The work we make, even if unnoticed and undesired by the world, vibrates in perfect harmony to everything we put into it – or withhold from it. In the outside world there may be no reaction to what we do; in our artwork there is nothing but reaction.”
– DAVID BAYLES AND TED ORLAND, ART & FEAR: OBSERVATIONS ON THE PERILS (AND REWARDS) OF ARTMAKING
I love for others to see my work, to find it interesting, beautiful, or better yet, for them to find themselves within it. But more than anything, I make art for me, art that displays my feelings about my world. I make pieces that resonate with me. And I think if I were to do otherwise, my work never would resonate with others because it wouldn’t be real.
I think 2021 has put me even more in touch with how to channel that desire.
I’ve gotten at least marginally closer to accurately visually depicting my emotions.
Each Month of 2021
Not linked in the listings below – the Color Your World Challenges and Tourmaline .’s Halloween Challenge. And not pictured below, me, my cat, my day-to-day, family, and friends. For a hint of that check out my weekly recaps or follow me on instagram.
January
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Creating Emotion
- My First Photography Foray
- Record of All Working Toy Photographers
- Is it time to bring back the Topic Generator?
- A Stop Motion Animated Film from 1934
- Oh the Places You’ll Go
- A Toy Photography Chat
- Historic Dabbling in the World of Toys – Bahaus, Fotografia Metafisica, Surreal
- Growth and Assurance in Self v. Instagram Clout
- Creating Anyway
- Miniatures and the Uncanny Valley
- Lenscratch Favorite Image of 2020 Show
- 2020 In Review
February
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Why I Won’t Write a Toy Photography How-to Post
- Who Invented Toy Photography?
- How do you do toy photography?
- Toy Photography Collaboration
- How Toy Photography has Changed Over Time: 1898 to Present Day
March
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Art and the Search for the Unconscious
- The Conception and Sensation of Time, 2013
- To Be Still
- Making Miniatures
April
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Current Working Toy Photographers Listing
- From Nature
- Leaves and Things
- toy.photography | This Blog in Summary
- Instagram wasn’t the problem
- Rewrite | Small Surrealism, Toy Photographers Blog
- Toy Photography | I don’t do this for fun
- Art isn’t Necessarily Therapy, but Creation Can Be
- Do you consider yourself an artist?
- The Line Between Art as a Whole and Surrealism is Very Thin
- My Poetry, 2015
- Knowing What your Work Means and Why you Made It
- Why I Don’t Believe in the Concept of Time Waste
- The Year of Re-Finding my Artistic Voice
Weekly updates:
May
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Establishing a Creative Practice of Your Own
- Fairy Tale
- And What Happens in Between
- Creating for Myself
- Pre-Columbian Figure of Gold
- Fake It Til You Make It
- Defining My Artistic Style
- Not Clown
- That “Oldest Action Figure” Picture You Keep Seeing
- Austin Anderson @toy.at.heart
- Glass Head
- My Green Period
Weekly updates:
- Weekly Recap: May 2 – 8
- Weekly Recap: May 9 – 15
- Weekly Recap: May 16 – 22
- Baseball, Museums, and Feeling Good – Weekly Recap: May 23 – 29
June
Images featured:
Blogs:
- The Freedom in Art
- Getting to the Next Question
- 2013, A Look Back
- You Are Full of Galaxies
- 2012, A Look Back
- Is 1/12 scale the best scale for toy photography?
- The Start of SomethingThe Start of Something
- Inverting
- How do you pose an action figure for toy photography?
- Connecting the Pieces
- A Piece of Me
- Outlook
- Schenectady Central Park Rose Garden
- The Degradation of the Term ‘Mentor’
Weekly updates:
- Schenectady Part 2 – Weekly Recap: June 20 – 26
- Weekly Recap: June 13 – 19
- New Photos Afoot – Weekly Recap: June 6 – 12
- Planes and Pizza and Products, Oh My! – Weekly Recap: May 30 – June 5
July
Images featured:
Blogs:
Weekly updates:
- Weekly Recap: July 25 – 31
- Weekly Recap: July 18 – 24
- Weekly Recap: July 11 – 17
- Weekly Recap: July 4 – 10
- Weekly Recap: June 27 – July 3
August
Images featured:
Blogs:
- Glitter & Scrapbook Paper
- How I Got Here
- Going Up and Sitting On, Stairways
- Have a Hand
- White Glowing Doorways
- How Toy Photography Fits Within Photography
- Shooting Monochrome
- Routine
Weekly updates:
- Weekly Recap: August 22 – 28
- Weekly Recap: August 15 – 21
- Weekly Recap: August 8 – 14
- Weekly Recap: August 1 – 7
September
Images featured:
Blogs:
Weekly updates:
- Weekly Recap: September 19 – 25
- Weekly Recap: September 12 – 18
- Weekly Recap: September 5 – 11
- Weekly Recap: August 29 – September 4
October
Images featured:
Blogs:
Weekly updates:
- Weekly Recap: September 26 – October 2
- Weekly Recap: October 3 – 9
- Weekly Recap: October 10 – 16
- Weekly Recap: October 17 – 23
November
Blogs:
- Sam’s Story
- Leaves – Behind the Scenes
- Full Circle
- Henk Tas, “the grandmaster of staged photography”
- Toy Photography: Through the Years
- Minis at the Car Show
- The Artist Statement
Weekly updates:
December
Images featured:
Blogs:
- WordPress Photo Challenges
- How I Compose a Photo
- Octopus as Strength
- Clinging to Childhood
- More of the Ponte Vedra Auto Show