Toy Photography and the History of
The term ‘still life’ was coined in the Netherlands in the 17th century, but the practice itself dates back to ancient times.
As a basis, a still life is “a piece that features an arrangement of inanimate objects as its subject” (My Modern Met). Meaning, for you toy photographers reading this, toy photography is a form of still life!Continue reading “The History of the Still Life”
I have been enamored by the work of Chris Shaylor of Empire Toy Works for quite some time now. His intricacy, detail, colors, and so much more, intrigue me. I am so excited to share this interview with you. I hope you enjoy learning more about him, or maybe being newly introduced to him. Let us know your thoughts in a comment below!
I started building wood based playsets sporadically over 20 years ago. It was mostly just random scenes/settings inspired by vintage playsets from the 70’s and 80’s. Fast-forward maybe 10 years later and I started getting this itch to one day create an entire functionally playable city. The idea was there but it wasn’t until I was constantly watching Deadwood while also playing Borderlands that the idea really grew into sort of a mission to prove to myself that it could actually be done. I toyed around with the notion of making a sci-fi version of a roadside carnival. Complete with rickety rides and alien carnies but I eventually decided on a full city sized spaceport as it would give me tons of individual play venues to build the city up. I knew if I kept the universe it’s based in generic or rather vague that could have it inspired by ALL the sci-fi movies and TV shows I grew up watching. As a kid, I would jump from watching Blade Runner on VHS to Sanford & Son to Battlestar Galactica to One Day At A Time to Star Wars to Laverne & Shirley and instead of watching them as individual movies or shows, in my head, I would mish-mash it all together. Alien families trying to pay rent or old cyborg junk dealers being chased by an evil empire. So I wanted to create a gritty sci-fi dystopian complex that still had everyday life settings within it. So instead of ‘climatic hero scenes’ I have details like porta-potties and a med clinic with waiting room magazines and coloring books. It’s those little things that you know probably exist in those big cinematic universes but you aren’t going to see them on the big screen. I took a dollhouse approach to its design so there are countless accessibly open venues to play in. My intention was to make it as detailed as possible but structurally hands-on for actual play. It was after I was halfway done with the city, I named Rotgut Station, that I eventually posted a few pics on several toy collector forums. Requests started pouring in for me to create similar structures as commissioned orders and I started making playsets as a side job. Which eventually led into a full time business.Continue reading “Empire Toy Works”
Click the names to find out more and comment below what you think should be on this list!
I’ll reblog with more tiny standouts as the year progresses.
Photographers who at least dabbled in photographs of toys, miniatures, figurines and the like, a timeline.
Click the names to learn more.
Links and Photographer listing will be updated as I find more to add.
[Last Updated August 10, 2020]
Continue reading “Toy-esque Photographers | Onset of Photography through the 1980s”
Went to a very cool antique store this past Saturday. EcoRelics sells architectural salvage, reclaimed construction materials and antiques.
That makes for a wonderful photography opportunity. Well I mean, and also is a good place to buy all those mentioned things, but I came away only with photos this time around. Check ’em out, and then go check out the store too if you’re in the area!
Click an image to open the gallery. Continue reading “EcoRelics, Jacksonville, FL”
Today, August 2nd, is Doll Day and in realizing this I knew I had an interesting opportunity to talk about Hans Bellmer, an artist I recently came across while researching another post to come.
Bellmer was a surrealist photographer in the 1930s. In his work he almost only photographed life-sized dolls he built beginning in 1934 with the help of his wife. The dolls were made of wood and metal skeletons covered in plaster and paper mâché. His work is quite surreal, and also intriguing. It is believed that much of Bellmer’s work stems from his own childhood trauma. The images seem to reveal that pain.
I’ll admit, viewing many make me uncomfortable. This is because I empathize with the state of the doll in each image, and in a way, with the state of mind of the artist. This lends a lot of power to images of toys and dolls. We can see ourselves within these representations and experience emotion along with the inanimate objects.
I’ll leave the googling of other works, and theories up to you, but here I’ve chosen a couple that I find quite captivating.
See more surrealist figure work of this time period here.
Let me know what you think of this artist and his work, and separately, in the spirit of doll day, share all your memories of dolls in your life.
“A lot of things we talk about today we talk about as unprecedented. It’s important to look back and see how these same concerns and issues have been raised at many points throughout history.”
-Katlyn Carter, American Historical Association
Calvert Richard Jones, Capuchian Friars, 1846
“Photography’s reputation for objectivity and veracit has always made it an indespensible tool for persuasion.”
Photography was invented in 1840, and we see evidence of faked photos as far back as 1846.
We’ve discussed faked photos using toys, as a way to convince someone of some thing or event, but photo fakery goes even deeper. And with faked news photos coming up over the past few years, I thought it was time to discuss the history of this practice.
Paper purchased in 2004, some toys and plants placed on top in 2019, and it worked out great!
