Toy Photographers Podcast

Recently Shelly Corbett chatted with Sabrina Perry and Chris Whitlow about one of our photo challenges: #TP_Geometry. We had a lively discussion regarding Geometry - what's it good for? It turns, a lot! Geometry is an important compositional tool and can turn your photos from ok to fantastic with a little awareness of how and when to use it.

With any good discussion, our insights were many. Here is a partial list of what we cover in this conversation:

• Using any word associate with math is probably not the best selling point

Check out all the image that we discuss over on the blog. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode; leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram! Also, please be sure to “revisit” the blog for all things toy photography-related! 

I was thinking the other day about how the Covid pandemic has changed my creativity. Soon I wondered "am I the only one?" There is success a definite marker between pre and post pandemic that I wonder if I'm the only one who has noticed a shift. I decided to reach out to members of the blog and see if anyone else has noticed any changes. Enter Sabrina, Joshua and Dave...all friends willing to come onto the podcast to discuss how the pandemic shifted their creativity and their process.

During this roundtable we tackle topics like:

• How did you use creativity in your life pre-pandemic?

Check out a the image that we discuss over on the blog. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode; leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram! Also, please be sure to “revisit” the blog for all things toy photography-related! 

For this episode of The Toy Photographers Podcast Shelly & Sabrina discuss minimalism in toy photography. If you're not familiar with the concept of minimalism the Adobe website defines minimalism as: “like other forms of minimalist art, minimalist photography is about stripping a subject down to its essence. Create photos that cut through the clutter with clean lines, empty spaces, and only the essential elements.” So we decided to challenge our community to create photos where 'less is more'.

Toy photography, like other photography communities, isn't immune to trends. In the past few years Ive seen a shift to elaborate set-ups featuring multi characters. We wanted to see what would happen if we eliminated complex set-ups. How would the story be effected if the viewer was presented only with the essentials? As always, our community came through with a variety of ideas that showcased the idea of minimalism and how this approach can effect both the story and viewer response. Check out a few of our favorites that we discuss over on the blog. 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode; leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram! Also, please be sure to “revisit” the blog for all things toy photography-related! 

In this final installment of the special miniseries focused on toy photography from the beginner's perspective, Terri (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel (@those_wonderful_toys) had the opportunity to chat with Ben Piper of Project Piper Customs (@projectpipercustoms)--what a treat!

Toy photography has opened up such world of opportunities and a world of creativity for us all; whether we came to toy photography through our love of toys or our love of photography (or somewhere in between), we've all found a home where we can create, share, inspire, be inspired, and collaborate. What better to wrap up our series than to chat with another member of the community who, like so many, came to the craft of toy photography through the hobby of collecting and, later, customizing toys.

Ben Piper is a UK-based creative and photographer, and his passion is evident not only in his creations but also in his photographs, his YouTube videos, and his social media channels--and, of course, in this conversation!

Listen in as we chat about:

• How Ben's journey to toy photography began and where it's taken him

You can find Ben on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/projectpipercustoms), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/projectpipercustoms/), and YouTube (https://www.youtube.com). And be sure to check out Ben's series on YouTube focused on beginners--each episode is chock-full of fantastic info!

Welcome back to the Toy Photographers Podcast and our special series exploring toy photography from a beginner’s perspective! In this episode, your hosts Terri Greene Henning (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel Figueroa (@those_wonderful_toys) talk about editing and post-processing images.

It's easy to look at a photograph and think only of the photograph itself--not all the work that went into planning and creating the photo or all the work that went into the image after we pressed the shutter. Some of us (Ariel!) love to edit images, while others (Terri!) much prefer creating and taking photos to making edits after the fact. Listen in as we discuss our styles and what works for us:

• What it means to "edit" our photos

Be sure to check out all the images discussed in this episode on the blog! 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Are you new to toy photography? If so, what questions do you have? Not new to the gig? Share your insights and advice—we’d love to learn from you! Leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram!

Welcome back to the Toy Photographers Podcast and our special series exploring toy photography from a beginner’s perspective! In this episode, your hosts Terri Greene Henning (@greenehenphotography) and Ariel Figueroa (@those_wonderful_toys) pick up where they left off in Episode 4 and their discussion of photo backgrounds, and move into chatting about lighting.

• Foam and printed dioramas

Be sure to check out all the images discussed in this episode on the blog! 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Are you new to toy photography? If so, what questions do you have? Not new to the gig? Share your insights and advice—we’d love to learn from you! Leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram!

For our January podcast challenge Sabrina (@theperrylegoadventures) and Shelly Corbett  challenged the community to show us their best hygge themed photos! We were so pleased by the response with over 50 entires this month! Clearly we all need to share a little hygge to combat the winter and Covid blahs!

What is hygge? The urban dictionary defines it as

A Danish word (pronounced HU-guh) meaning social coziness. I.e. the feeling of a good social atmosphere.

While most people associate a feeling of hygge with winter, it can be enjoyed in any season. Hygge's origins are from 18th century Norway but the Danes have embraced it and made it their own. According to visit Denmark - "in essence, hygge means creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying the good things in life with good people. The warm glow of candlelight is hygge. Cozying up with a loved one for a movie - that's hygge, too. And there's nothing more hygge than sitting around with friends and family, discussing the big and small things in life. Perhaps hygge explains why the Danes are some of the happiest people in the world"

According to our toy photography community coffee, hot chocolate, reading, going on walks, eating good food and sitting by the fireplace all represent hygge!

Check out our discussion and make sure you check out all the fabulous images from the tag #tp_sharehygge. This past month we learned that we ALL need a little more hygge in our lives!

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Are you new to toy photography? If so, what questions do you have? Not new to the gig? Share your insights and advice—we’d love to learn from you! Leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram!

Cinematic. That’s the word that comes to mind with even a quick glance at Tom Milton’s (@tomtommilton) images. Look further, and you’ll probably have a question: how does he do it? A few parts vision and inspiration, a boatload of talent, a fair share of intention—oh, and a really big and heavy camera setup! 

In this episode of the Toy Photographers Podcast, Shelly Corbett (@shellycorbettphotography)interviews Tom, someone whose work she’s admired for years. We’ll learn how Tom creates his images using two lenses (yup, two!!)—a fairly standard prime and an anamorphic lens bolted to that one. Manually focusing not only but two lenses and balancing a setup that weighs quite a few kilos, Tom’s images represent his style, vision, and intent. 

• Tom’s background as an artist and his journey as a toy photographer 

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts! Are you new to toy photography? If so, what questions do you have? Not new to the gig? Share your insights and advice—we’d love to learn from you! Leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram!

On todays podcast Shelly Corbett talks with Alan Rappa, Sabrina Perry and Joshua Kittleson about Criticism: how to find it, how to take it. We all want to get better at our craft of toy photography. One way to get better is to practice, but without constructive feedback, it's hard to know what's working and what isn't. But as I’m sure you’re well aware, constructive criticism is hard to find on social media. So where do you go?

In this roundtable discussion we will:

• Discuss the importance of constructive feedback to help take your work to the next level

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode; leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram! Also, please be sure to “revisit” the blog for all things toy photography-related! 

On this episode of the podcast Sabrina Perry(@theperrylegoadventures)and Shelly Corbett(@shellycorbettphotography) discuss the latest toy photography monthly challenge #tp_nostalgia.

Nostalgia comes from two Greek words Nostos meaning homecoming and Algos meaning pain or ache. For some people, nostalgia is about remembering the good old days fondly. For others, nostalgia is a bittersweet remembrance of the past. A lot of times it can be both. This challenged seemed to be the perfect way to end the year. It felt like a way to share a little bit of the good old days in our toy photography, and people did that. But, it also was a bittersweet way to remember the past. A time before the pandemic.

Is toy photography inherently nostalgic? Do we as toy photographers gravitate towards certain toys, and ideas because they stir feelings of nostalgia in us? What makes a photo nostalgic? Listen in as Shelly and I discuss these questions and more as we tackle toy photography and nostalgia in the midst of a pandemic.

As always, we’d love to hear your thoughts after listening to the episode; leave a comment below or join our communities on MeWe, Facebook, or Instagram! Also, please be sure to “revisit” the blog for all things toy photography-related!