Tag Archives: Photography

Morning at the Museum

True story; I had a chance to work after hours at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. I was contracted to paint display backdrops for a Mars exhibit. It was late at night, long after the patrons and staff had gone home and a security guard and I were the only two people there. I can say with confidence that a museum at night is a strange and eerie place. Some lights are on, others are off and incidentally, they leave the animatronic dinosaurs turned on so they were moving and roaring throughout the night. This LEGO creation called Morning at the Museum by Alex Eylar reminds me of that experience. To be clear, the skeleton T-Rex is from this set but the environment Alex has built for it and the lighting makes this a stellar creation indeed. Alex is quite good at setting a mood in LEGO. Check out what I mean in our archives.

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This sun-dappled battle is pretty brutal

Sun Tzu said, “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.” However, if you absolutely have to engage in combat, then why not take a leaf out of LEGO builder Simulterious‘ book and deploy a band of fearsome samurai armed with a cartload of rockets? This is a great little battle scene — soldiers scrapping over control of a pagoda-styled tower whilst gunpowder-driven projectiles fly all over the place. The walls of the building are nicely textured, creating a weathered effect and a sense of age, and the surrounding landscaping is well done with the rockwork suggesting a craggy hilltop in a wider forest. But it’s the photography and lighting which elevates this model into something special. I don’t know if this battle is taking place at sunrise or sunset, but the low hazy sun makes for a very pretty skirmish indeed.

LEGO soft launches Fan Moments featuring fan made photographs of LEGO built sets [News]

LEGO has stepped up fan engagement and constantly looking for new ways to engage their customers with the astronomical success with the LEGO Ideas platform and many other programmes. Today we noticed a new feature showcased on LEGO Online Shop called Fan Moments. It appears as a gallery showcased between the product highlight and the product specifications page. The section features images that LEGO fans have photographed of their set purchased and built and sourced from Instagram

Click to find out how you can get your LEGO set build highlighted

On the shores of the sea comes the end of our fellowship in Middle-Earth

The bittersweet ending of The Lord of the Rings is a scene that impacted many readers and viewers such as myself. It is the last we see of our beloved heroes after so many trials and tribulations in their story. In this scene, our heroes join the elves on a boat departing Middle-Earth to “a far green country under a swift sunrise.” Many see this as an allegory for death and the journey beyond, whether it be heaven or something else. Like Bilbo, I like to think of this in a more optimistic way: a new adventure in an unfamiliar land. JNJ Bricks captured the moment in the Grey Havens right before their departure in a striking, immersive LEGO scene.

The minifigures of Frodo, Gandalf, and the hobbits stand in the foreground, out of focus and facing away. The elves wait by the boat, ready to take them on their journey out of the completely brick-built harbour. LEGO parts make up everything in this scene, from the water to the sunset sky between the cliffs. My favourite detail, the arches, and towers across the water look just like the movie, despite being so small. The boat, being grey, is distinct enough to not blend into the background. The accuracy of this scene invokes the same emotion in me as I experience while reading the book or watching the movie. Now I am in the mood for some of Tolkien’s poetry…

Quiet solitude

Sometimes it’s all about getting the right camera angle… And maybe some fantastic vaulted ceilings. This monochrome shrine, built by David Hensel, is an exceptional marriage of LEGO architecture and photography. The lighting gives the whole scene a sense of somber and noble peacefulness. And the way that the pieces mesh together provides an element of age. It’s bold yet austere. If you have never tried to build curves like this, take a crack at it. This style requires a patient hand!

David recently made another completely different monochrome build. This time photography comes into play in a different way. Also take a look at some of these other awesome monochrome creations in our archives.

YEEEEHAAAAW!

Boy, LEGO builder Yuri Badiner sure makes lunar exploration look like fun, doesn’t he? I was under the impression that space travel involves following strict procedures and abiding by careful measures and counter-measures. But this photo makes me want to switch careers to become an astronaut. These two are having a blast on their Apollo rover. While the build techniques are fairly basic you’ve got to give props to his excellent photography. In fact, excellent LEGO photography seems to be Yuri’s thing. With photos this engaging, we’ll be sure to be on the lookout for whatever other hijinks he gets his LEGO minifigs into.

Two young friends, exploring the world together

I deeply admire those who can take a LEGO build and create a story using beautiful photography. That’s exactly what Orient R Minesky has done with this pair of adventurous school girls. The builds themselves are well done, but their interaction with non-LEGO items brings them to life. The collection includes several great shots, and we wanted to share a few of our favorites. Here they’re spending a beautiful day taking pictures in the park.

Click to see more of the series

The story behind LEGO’s 1981 Classic Space Christmas card [Feature]

Last year, we shared an article on vintage LEGO holiday greeting cards. The LEGO Group has established a tradition of giving their employees exclusive Christmas themed sets like the X-Mas X-Wing for the holiday season. Even longer than that, since at least the 1970s, the LEGO Group has produced special Christmas cards for employees (and, occasionally, the UK LEGO Club). Each year brings a new card, with artwork ranging from carefully staged minifigures to elaborate brick-built designs. You can find blank examples that were used to send personalized messages, as well as cards with printed holiday greetings from LEGO’s leadership, such as owner Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

Continue reading for the story behind LEGO’s spacey 1981 Christmas card.

May your days be merry and bright

Ah, Christmas morning. Is there anything more magical as a kid? I argue that there is not. And architeclego captures the feel perfectly, as a child ventures into the living room to see the presents left by Santa Claus. The lighting is beautiful here, mingling the warm, gentle glow of the tree lights, the strand over the window, the lantern, and the fireplace with the cool moonlight streaming through the window. Perhaps the kid got up right after midnight, because Saint Nick is still on the premises, peeping through the panes to see the presents being received. The immersive scene is delightful, with a tiled ceiling with exposed rafters, bare brick walls, and well-varnished hardwood floors. Here’s to all Christmas mornings looking this good!

Now, I’m ordinarily a purist when it comes to everything LEGO. But the inclusion of some evergreen sprigs and an LED string here improve the presentation so much that I can hardly object. The Dobby socks over the fireplace look great, and that is probably the best use of a bow I have seen; I mean, it’s a bow on a present, but still, it looks much better than it does as a hair accessory. The best part, though, is that the kid is getting a vintage LEGO police car for Christmas. He must have been a very good boy this year.

Fabian’s marvelous marbled bricks [Feature]

Last week, we showed you more of Beryll Roehl’s wonderful LEGO test brick photographs. Today, we’re going to look at Norwegian collector Fabian Lindblad and his equally enjoyable snapshots of marbled bricks. Marbled bricks are named such after the swirls of different colored plastic they contain. Some elements are intentionally marbled for sets, while others are the result of changing over the plastic in a mold from one color to another. In the past, LEGO employees occasionally took them home to share with their children. Today, the standard procedure is to recycle them so they don’t leave the building. However, if you are really lucky, you might just find a marbling error in one of your latest sets.

See more awe-inspiring images of these highly collectible bricks

These LEGO test bricks are fantastically photogenic [Feature]

When it comes to LEGO, Beryll Roehl is both a collector and artist. LEGO test bricks are the focal point of her collection, and she takes this hobby to the next level by beautifully photographing pieces alongside objects with similar colors. LEGO’s test bricks were produced in a multitude of materials and colors for the purpose of research and development, and they have an exciting history. To learn more about these unique relics of LEGO’s past, be sure to read our informative interview with Beryll. Since then, Beryll has photographed even more bricks like these black BASF bricks with a little bumblebee. How cute!

See more of Beryll’s beautifully photographed test bricks

I’m only happy when it rains

Photo-realism is very hard to achieve when you also include LEGO minifigures as the protagonists. Sure, LEGO enthusiasts are comfortable with the not-quite-human proportions, but there’s still that feeling that you’re looking at, well, toys. Not so with the work of Lego_nuts. This builder is also a photographer who knows how to transform a well built set into a stunning composition that feels like a frame from any on-screen Marvel movie. In Raining Battle, Iron Man and War Machine face off against a horde of alien nasties, amid the backdrop of a drenched New York alleyway. Rain and water are everywhere, diffusing the light and giving an air of menace to the scene as a whole.

The alley’s LEGO details include trash cans and waste bins, a newspaper box, and plenty of railings and fire escape ladders. But the vertical span of the buildings is what gives this image such a sense of depth. It feels like our heroes are at the bottom of a very deep hole. I’m sure they’ll win, though.

We recently featured another beautiful LEGO photo from this artist, featuring the entirely different fantasy world of Harry Potter.