Destination: Toy Photography | Prague Rooftop Snowboarders

This is the first of a dozen different shots and and behind the scenes videos I'll be sharing in the coming weeks. They were taken this past spring at different locations around the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary - an epic journey with a focus on toy photography. From shooting in underground graffitied skateparks in Prague, to shooting on the rock wall of an 11th century castle in Slovenia, to shooting in the quiet wooded forests of Hungary - our time spent in Europe was filled with extraordinary toy photography adventures.

The apartment we stayed at in Prague was in the Old Town area of the city. It had a beautiful little rooftop garden patio surrounded by centuries old buildings with red terracotta tiled roofs, distinctly European and nothing like you'd ever see anywhere in America. Our apartment was on Tyn Square, a small square where merchants traded in the Middle Ages. The stories that could be told if that square could talk! One of the views from our patio were the spired towers of the Church of Our Lady before Týn, a 14th century gothic church. I loved setting up the mini-snowboarders juxtaposed in front of the church spires, a scene I felt was completely unexpected and a bit magical. The church bells rang loudly as I shot this, adding to the magic.

The Travel Kit

I know myself well enough to know that if I brought my Canon R6 mirrorless body and Canon L lenses on this trip they'd never leave our apartments due to their bulk and weight. They are amazing in the studio, or when shooting in the backyard and in the Toi Pond, or anyplace I can drive to, but for airline travel to distant locations, and for walking around with all day long, they are just too much. So in the year leading up to this trip I began researching and putting together a kit specifically for travel. I'll do a separate indepth video and blog post about this new travel kit, and how it compares to my studio kit (surprisingly well!), but for now you can see it in the still image above. The star of this new lightweight kit is the small but mighty Canon R8, with a supporting cast of Canon RF STM lenses, made specifically for Canon's mirrorless bodies. I often find myself reaching for the reasonably priced, super light RF lenses over my pricey L lenses in the studio - they're that good. Also pictured is my DJI Osmo Action 5 camera, which we used for the BTS video content, and a couple SmallRig cube lights.

The Toys

When traveling I used to take one or two 1:12 scale toys with me to shoot. But in keeping with the theme of wanting to travel light, and to greatly increase my storytelling options, I decided to bring a couple of small plastic organizer cases full of 1:87 and 1:64 miniature figures. In the months leading up to our trip I put together a pretty well-rounded collection of mini-figures in a variety of themes, poses and activities. I wanted to give myself as many opportunities as possible to build stories around things or situations I might encounter while traveling. So I bought figures that were hiking, chatting, fishing, canoeing, mourning, and so on. There were some figures that easily adapted to a lot of different situations and environments, and some that were so specialized that I never found a situation that fit them. Yet.

Photographing these tiny toys is definitely a different experience than shooting the larger toys I'm used to shooting. They forced me to view my surroundings and the environment differently, to not take what I see at face value, to think beyond the surface of what I was seeing to find the story.

GEAR

• Camera: Canon R8 mirrorless camera https://amzn.to/3FArg5J

• Canon RF 50mm F1.8 STM Lens: https://amzn.to/4h1SsHT

• Canon RF 35mm F1.8 STM Lens: https://amzn.to/3JAE1PS

• Canon RF 28mm F2.8 STM Lens: https://amzn.to/4a6D4aR

• DJI Osmo Action 5: https://amzn.to/4gFOfK6  

• SmallRig RM01 LED Cube Light: https://amzn.to/45CGkKM

• SmallRig RM01 LED Cube Light Kit: https://amzn.to/4fUCEHP

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