Small Scale Fabricated Photography, Toy Photography History, Art Creation Musings
A collector's magazine, popular in the 90s. I picked it up at a used bookstore in Texas for $1.99. It has everything from prices for figures to a tutorial on how to customize your own action figures. If you know more the history of White's Guide to Collecting Figures, let me know. While I can... Continue Reading →
The Place of Play We begin to play as soon as we're born, moving our arms and legs, discovering the new world we've come into. Eventually toys get added to play. Whether store bought, or found sticks, objects become representative of the world around us, and we learn through our play with them. While not... Continue Reading →
Today we're not going to talk about the Polly Pockets, Fashion Pollys, Barbies, Bratz and Beanie Babies. Although all those things hold a very important place in my childhood and in my heart. We're going to instead talk about the toys that got away, the ones that still pull at my heartstrings and the ones... Continue Reading →
"What makes these objects so evocative for us is that they hold the memories of people, of relationships, of places and moments and milestones that speak to our own identity." We like to criticize consumer culture, and with good reason. But as with everything, there is also good that comes with inanimate objects. A finding... Continue Reading →
"There's a vast difference between inspiration and imitation." Jamie Windsor recently released a video on nostalgia in photography, and while I tend to make response posts to things I disagree on, I whole heartedly agree with his video, and there are so many parallels to toy photography - this niche in which I reside. So... Continue Reading →
Sorry to be a downer... The Rise and Fall Toys R Us was the first ever big box toy store. A realized dream of its creator Charles Lazarus. Coming back from war Lazarus noticed a hole in the market, considering all the soldiers were talking about coming back and starting families. While his first store,... Continue Reading →
I recently dug into my old 1990s Polly Pocket stash. They're back in stores these days, albeit with a very different look, and it was time to sift through my own collection. I'm definitely missing some of the figures or a building to go with certain figures etc. I matched up what I could however,... Continue Reading →
I was a kid in the 90s and early 2000s. I remember fervently looking through the toy section of the JC Penny's catalog, dog-earing pages and even cutting out the pictures of the best toys and placing them in my view binder cover. Target, Walmart and Amazon all released printed versions of their catalogs this year. Worse for the environment I have to admit, but I was also stoked about it.