Toys and Joy

Many of my friends and followers have asked me about my sudden interest in action figures. Actually — there’s nothing “sudden” about it. I have always been a big Sci-fi/fantasy guy. And toys are a part of that community.

While most of you reading this are younger than me and probably came upon these characters in movies and TV shows, for me it was comic books. Long before Marvel introduced Iron Man to movie audiences, I knew of him from my childhood, reading comic books.

My parents didn’t believe in giving their children gifts for birthdays, Christmas, etc. so as a young boy, I didn’t get the chance to play with toys, unless I went to a friend’s house and played with their toys. So for me, the thing I COULD afford on my own based on the $.50 cents a week my dad paid me to mow the lawn, was a comic book.

That version of me used his imagination to create all sorts of fantasy worlds. Now, as an old man with a few dollars in my pockets, I can go buy the action figures that represent those old comics and have as much fun as I want.

Lots of people think you outgrow this phase. I feel sorry for them. To them it may seem odd that I am fixated on photographing these toys, but in this article I will try to explain it for those of you who think I’ve lost my mind. (You may still be right.)

I’ll try to keep this brief.

I used to collect movie posters. The only “action figures” I had seen were the little green army men you bought at the five and dime store. But once Star Wars came out, movie merchandising really took hold and I started grabbing anything Star Wars I could find.

That is where the beginning was for me. I wasn’t interested in photographing those items. That came only recently. I just enjoyed the feeling I got from going back to the days of my youth, pretending I was a space man because I read it in a comic book.

Then, I was in New York in the 1980s visiting RIT and of course Kodak. I had extra time on my hands and discovered the Strong National Museum of Play — basically, a toy museum.

Here I learned that thousands of years ago, children were playing with toys. A child’s tomb discovered in Egypt that has been found to date back around 3000 to 4000 years ago contained crafted balls. King Tut’s tomb even had a spinning top found among his relics and treasures.

For some reason this intrigued me and a seed was planted.

I’ll skip over most of the rest because it’s not relevant to this article. But let’s break down what happened when the pandemic hit.

I had a good career as a bird/wildlife photographer. I achieved the rare honor of being asked to be an ambassador for a major camera company. (Olympus.) I had a TV deal in China. I had private client workshops that sold for tens of thousands of dollars. I had images under license, book deals, endorsements, etc.

All that came to a screeching halt during the early days of the pandemic. I knew it would all come to an end, but I never thought so abruptly. There was light at the end of the tunnel. I had been hired to be a second unit DP on some big budget wildlife documentaries. So I gave up my stills career and started the process of mastering cinema cameras. Then those jobs also got cancelled because COVID kept on coming. Back to square one.

I did manage to pull off a couple of workshops during COVID but those were never even close to a main source of income for me. I saw my income drop by 90%. I don’t care who you are — that hurts.

So I did the only thing I could do. I just re-invented myself as many times as I could in an effort to stay relevant. Add my age, to poor health and a shrinking economy and I got the message. I needed to think about trying to retire (again.) I’ve tried multiple times in the past and it never took. People kept drawing me into projects and I had a hard time saying no. But this time, it doesn’t seem that is going to be a problem.

I have to make photographs to live — not to make a living. There’s a difference. Communicating my point-of-view through my photography is part of my DNA. So I started photographing my guitar collection early on in the pandemic. I built a photo studio in my house (and then a second studio to follow) and I made pictures of my guitars. I made a little money from it but that wasn’t why I did it. I did it because I need to photograph something.

Then, I uncovered a box in my garage that hadn’t been opened for a long time. In it was all my old Star Wars memorabilia. That triggered something in me and around that time, I saw an ad for an estate sale. I went and there were all sorts of action figures in the estate and I bought them.

I had seen some pretty impressive toy photography online and thought to myself, “Hey — I can do that.” So I started acquiring both more figures and more knowledge of how to make good toy photographs.

Now this is where the plot thickens. I came upon this entire community of action figure collectors and photographers and was blown away by several things…

1. It’s a large community
2. It’s full of people of all races, religions, genders and age
3. It’s generally a friendly, welcoming community
4. Even an old man like me was welcomes
5. And this is the most important part — it’s the most fun I’ve had in a very, very, very long time.

Photography is supposed to be fun. For those of you who are stressed out about it or unhappy, well, you’re doing it wrong. If it isn’t fun start over. Because I can tell you that all my life, even though it was my job, I’ve considered photography to be fun.

But toy photography — action figure photography — for a guy like me — that’s fun on steroids.

Like I said, I am a sci-fi/fantasy genre fanatic. I read books and now consume movies and TV shows that fit that genre on a daily basis. And it turns out I know a whole lot about the collecting part and the backstory part. There is where the magic happened.

You see when I was a professional bird photographer (I no longer call myself that) I was mostly successful because of my unabashed love for birds. (It is possible to have more than one hobby or interest — for those of you who are confused.) And that love for birds translated to passion and translated to me being a good bird photographer.

I have a lifelong passion for the sci-fi/fantasy realm and once again, that passion is translating into me being good (not great) but good at photographing action figures.

I get to start all over — and for the first time in my life I am just making pictures for the fun of it. Most of you started in that place and some of you progressed to professional photographer some time AFTER you gave it up as a hobby. Well it was my first job and I never did any photography as a hobby so now I get to play.

And it’s the play — the chance to start with a literally blank canvas — and have it all be up to me — to make something, that’s cool. And unlike bird photography, I am in complete control. I don’t have to search for and wait for my subjects. They are down there in a box in my living room (now camera room) ready for me any time I want to go work with them.

It’s incredibly empowering and whether or not anybody else gets it or cares is of no concern to me. I have always been a big kid at heart. Now I am still a big kid — I am just stuck in an old man’s body.

This is the final chapter in my life and my health is very poor. I will make one last trip to Bosque in Winter and co-lead a workshop with Bob Davis. He’s actually going to run the show, I’ll be second chair. I don’t plan to do any field workshops — group or private, after that.

Unfortunately, I just don’t have it in me (physically) to do my old job. But there’s nothing to cry about. This new found style of photography is something I can do without leaving home. I have flown more than three million air miles in my life. Now I can stay home and sleep in my own bed. I won’t miss airports or hotels or — well you get the idea.

I am having the time of my life and meeting and connecting with all sorts of new people who at first glance, seem to have nothing in common — but underneath it all — no matter our differences, we all remember that fun we had as kids creating our own little fantasy world. And we can still do it today.

If you’ve read this far I’ll leave you with the most basic way I can sum it up.

Toys are joy.

Who doesn’t need a little more joy in their life? If you’re interested in this genre, go for it. I am a padawan toy photographer but if I can help I will.

I am starting a new Flickr page dedicated to nothing but my toy photos. If you’re interested, you can see it at https://www.flickr.com/figphotosdotcom/
If you follow me on Flickr, I’ll follow you back.

P.S. I have a new moniker — and logo to go with it. It’s called FIGPHOTOS — for action figure photography. If you follow me on social media, that’s what you’re going to see. If you’re expecting birds, I am sorry. I am now just a guy who enjoys bird WATCHING — I already have more than a half million bird pics. I don’t need any more. But I only have a handful of toy pics so I’ll be in the sandbox. See you there.