How it all began

Well, at first it was all about collecting and sharing my new items on the forums for other passionate collectors to see. All the photos were extremely simple, on a flat surface or in a friend’s lightcube. Yes, I took some models (replicas, don’t get the wrong idea) outdoors for a couple of times, put them on the road and try to make some realistic photos; I got some mediocre results, with the models not fitting into the background, so I dropped it.

All this until I received the impressive Mercedes-Benz L6600 “Rungenwagen” in 1:18th scale as a gift for my birthday. Being such a big model, with a huge flatbed in the back, I wanted to fill it with some 1:18 logs. I took the model to the mountainside, began the search for some sticks to fit my preferences and cut them. The result, as you will see in the following photos, was pretty rewarding. Back then (i.e. the year 2011) I had my all-time-favorite phone everywhere, a perfect Nokia N95, a phone which I kept by my side for about six years. Anyway, I took the now fully loaded truck to find some proper existing places places to take some photos of it. I took it on the road, found some logs, some stones, some snow and got “down and dirty” with the model, taking photos with my trusted companion. As you might have guessed, the best way to shot a model is to be at it’s level, so pretty close to the ground. Here are a couple of photos from that “photo session”:

The “sets” in which I managed to integrate my truck were more than I could hope for at that time. I had my phone packed with a lot of shots and I was THE MAN.

Between all these shots, I managed to squeeze a more elaborate one, where I tampered with the background a little. Inside the parking lot where I was doing my preparations, there were some piles of dirt and gravel for some construction works that were taking place. I “stole” a couple of shovels full of very fine gravel / dirt to make my own road for the truck I was carrying around. I dropped down into my sniping position and shot it. This is the result:

Pretty much an ordinary photo, that did not raise my attention back then. I got home, downloaded the photos, I cropped them, did some adjustments and I was ready to show my tremendous work to my fellow collectors on our forum. Feedback was good, but there was always that comment that used to bring me down to earth: “the grass is too big”, or “that thing definitely brakes the scale of the photo”. I treasure all these comments now even if then they were braking my chi.

One of the photos was the most important, a photo which showed me the importance of a very carefully arranged set for my model, and I am talking of course about the one I last showed you. Yes, that simple photo of my truck on a circle of dirt made me rethink the way I photograph my miniatures. With a little crop, some adjustments (clarity, contrast and a little blur in the background), I received a lot of compliments and a little light bulb just got lit above my head. This photo has pretty much everything to do with the work I do today in my spare time, and I am happy I made all that back then. Thank you past Patriciu ! If I look now upon it, the shot was just lucky and sloppy,  because the far background (wall) was shady and it did not catch the viewer’s attention that much; also, the crop was awful, more like a banner than a conventional aspect ratio for a photo. And here it is:

Where all this took me, I will try to show you in my future posts. Thank you for your time, and keep a close watch !

Patriciu D.