You know, those new agile robots you’ve seen recently, the ones doing somersaults and dance moves, Chinese etc, I’ve been waiting for one of them to be fitted with a C-3PO exterior parts and given instructions to translate. I think this is a no-brainer, yet I haven’t seen it done yet. What gives?
Something to read over the Christmas holidays, or right now: Jason Eaton’s wonderful piece on the 1977 Star Wars X-wing filming models. I just love reading this stuff even now, 50 years later.
www.ilm.com/how-to-build...
Sample from the book. There is a music jam session in the ewok village. They’re playing music by a bonfire up on a platform in a tree.
A sample from the book. A sandtrooper caught by a surprise by a big rancor beast jumping on him from behind.
A sample from the book. The Millennium Falcon having a problem on a landing platform. There is smoke coming from the rear deck. Chewbaccca is on his way to fix it.
A sample from the book. Inside Jabba’s lair with some villains and Han Solo in carbonite. A dark and moody scene.
While the book was mostly made with photographs I already had, several were photographed exclusively for the book. These four, for example.
I think the book succeeded in capturing the essence of my discoveries photographing Lego.
Good times!
A sample from the book. Snowtroopers by a snow lantern next to a gigantic AT-AT Walker in dark Hoth night with a big moon on the sky.
A sample from the book. A Y-wing fighter landed in what looks like a forest. Maybe Endor. The pilot standing bext to it looks a bit startled.
A sample from the book. Darth Vader with red lightsaber walking in a blizzard dangerously close to several AT-AT walkers.
A sample from the book. Darth Vader standing in fierce Hoth blizzard. I find this one very amusing, you just have to imagine quiet bossanova music coming from inside Vader’s helmet. Regardless of the weather it is always very comfortable inside that costume (or is it armor?), I think Vader is wearing comfy pajamas underneath that thing.
Some photographs from the Small Scenes book. These existed before the decision to make the book was made. It is basically a collection of works I had managed to achieve by the time of publication.
Five different language covers of the Small Scenes book, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish and English. On the cover is a Lego Star Wars snowtrooper minifigure on skis jumping over a small knoll with snow flying around.
Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy book of my Lego Star Wars photographs was published exactly ten years ago today. Ten years! Time goes by fast when you’re having fun.
Pictured all five language editions that came out shortly after the original English edition.
All the Presidents Men hands down. It's ever so important and topical, a brilliant film with chilling undertones. Never grows old.
All the Presidents Men is one of my all time favourite films, I don't even know how many times I've seen it. It is as chilling as it is entertaining, a great film altogether. That and many more from the great Robert Redford. RIP.
Siinä on UCS Snowspeederin kaikki palikat. Ollut laatikossa (valolta suojassa) vuodesta 2017, purin osiin jotta pystyin varmistamaan että kaikki osat tosiaan on.
Making room for some new goodies, putting this in bags and up for sale. How much do these fetch these days? Prices on eBay vary wildly.
A photograph of a yellow 1967 model Ferrari Dino 206 GT parked on parking lot in front of a building with large windows. A super wide crop, lots of sunshina. The car has headlights on, it's just to show that they work. The photograph was taken with a scale model car, looks real even if I say so myself.
My new car, photographed it on a sunny day a while ago. I just love those curvy lines, what a gorgeous little car. They sure did good back in 1967.
Too bad it's less than 20 centimeters long, a scale model I built.
#scalemodel #ferraridino #toyphotography
The best Star Trek gif. 🙂
I don’t recall the last time I watched Star Trek tos. Must be at least 15 years or more. So, I watched City on the Edge of Forever, the Hugo award winning episode. Damn, it’s so good!
It’s a brilliant design, a seamless continuation of the Apollo program look.
Copper/orange coloured Maserati Boomerang scale model photographed on a white tabletop from two angles with front and rear lights on. The 1:16 scale Maserati Boomerand with front and tail lights. The pop up headlight mechanism on the model was not very good so I just glued them shut. The smaller lights below were doable so I settled for them. I didn't add dashboard lights to this because if you look at a real car from a little distance you never really see any lights on their dashboards. Less is more. Only, I regret not adding rear registration plate lights, they shoud be there.
Two Battlestar Galactica Cylon Raider models fly away from camera towards stromy cloud background. Engine lights burning bright with some lens flare. This was the one with the Photoshop cheat. There are three versions of this photograph, each with different clouds. The Cylon Raider model is old, I built it as a kid around 1980, or so, and it has no lighting. I didn't want to pry it open and rebuild it for this so I settled for a cheat. This time. This was a nostalgic one-off. I did consider buying the awesome big Moebius kit but let it go for now.
A yellow Ferrari Dino 206 GT scale model photographed from top front and top rear against black floor. The model has front headlights and tail lights on. This is my first attempt to try lighting a 1:24 scale car with glossy paint. Bigger car models are really expensive and I'm testing whether the small, more budget friendly scale works for creating realistic images. My modeling skills set some limits to this of course but we'll see. I'm still waiting for the paint to dry on some of the parts on this one. Photographing it a little later, maybe next week.
A Space 1999 Eagle Transporter scale model added to a real NASA photograph of an astronaut and a moon rover vehicle on the surface of the Moon. As if the Eagle was really there too. The Eagle model has some experimental lighting on the tubular chassis. I added red "emergency" lights in the structure thinking it might look cool in a photograph. It didn't and I've never really used them. In this photograph the small yellow light on the cockpit window adds a lot, I think. Small detail, a little splash of colour to tie the Eagle together with the coloured spots on the Moon Rover.
I sampled a few of the scale models with lighting for this post and added some background info to them. Random picks in no particular order. Let's call this a #FlashbackFriday post.
Have a great weekend!
A closeup of a K-2SO Star Wars scale model droid head with brightly lit eyes. I was adamant in lighting K-2SO's eyes. There was very little room inside the head and I had to carve out lots of plastic to fit my lighting in there. It worked out well eventually.
A white custom painted N-1 Starfighter from The Phantom Menace / The Mandalorian photographed against black with bright overhead lighting. Engine and cockpit dashboard lights are on. Amber engine lights because blue reads terrible on digital camera sensor. Tight fit here as well but nothing too complicated. You can see a power socket next to the left wing root, the three small round holes. No batteries inside this one, external power only.
A Dune Ornithopter scale model photographed on tabletop, dark with overhead lighting with the front floodlights on the vehicle burning brightly. The Dune Ornithopter had powerful floodlights on it in the movie. The small 1:72 scale model had the light pods too but not much room to add actual lights in them. I sourced some very small leds from my pile of leftovers from earlier builds and gave it a go. The lights on the model were meant to be movable, you could turn them sideways and up and down but due to adding the lights I feared the movement would wear the wiring and end up severing them. I decided to glue everything down just in case. I haven't photographed this model much, never with lights on, but I will use the lighting option some day.
Star Wars B-wing Starfighter photographed from front and rear quarter angles. Amber engine lights and a couple of red light dots seen in the cockpit. The B-wing engine lights were a no-brainer. The Bandai model even had a sort of optical lighting system with the kit, only the light source was needed. The cockpit however, was a different story. I spent a lot of time to get that to work as I wanted. There are just a few tiny optic fiber lights in the dashboard and rear wall of the cockpit but the whole thing rotates freely without the light cutting off, unlimited 360° with constant light. Now, that took some head scratching.
I think using Photoshop for adding light takes away the fun. If I photoshop lights on then where's the limit? It never ends. There is an appeal to that as well of course, nothing wrong with it, but I enjoy the limits of what can be done with some leds and optic fiber. It feels more real to me.
The Aries 1B Lunar Ascend Vehicle scale model from 2001: A Space Odyssey film standing on a light table with black background. The model is brightly lit from below with some lights from inside the cabin can be seen. Lighting the Aries 1B was a lot of work. All those ceiling light panels were lit separately. Also I cut open the floor in the elevator pit to light it as it was in the film only to have it concealed inside the model, never really to be seen from the outside. This model was the biggest effort with the least outcome in terms of lighting.
Closeup of a Bandai RX-78-2 model head with light in its green eyes. The Bandai Gundam RX-78-2 model didn't need lighting, it already had it. I didn't know this when I bought the kit and it was a pleasant surprise, I was prepared to hack it but I didn't have to. The light looks nice on it.
A scale model of the EVA pod from 2001: A Space Odyssey film photographed against black with all the lights on. The bright headlights and some cockpit dashboard lighting visible. The 2001: A Space Odyssey 1:8 scale EVA Pod was a lot of work! A LOT! The dashboard wasn't really designed to be lighted and was a bit awkward to accomplish. Many have done it though and with great results. Mine works well enough for me. It's actually quite beautiful a model when all lights are on, one of my favourites.
The Police Spinner car scale model from Blade Runner photographed on top of a spread of an old Cinefantastique magazine. In the magazine an article about making of the life size filming model car can be seen. The longest build, this took years to finish. I messed up the wiring at some point when originally building this and it pissed me off enough to box the build. After many years I admitted defeat, took the model out of the box and finished it with what I could get to work. So, no flashing lights on top but there are some dashboard lighting and what's most important everything on the front works.
Sometimes I get questions about the lights on the models in my photographs. People are curious to know whether the lighting is real or if it's photoshopped on. Well, the lights are always real (with one exception).
Captions in ALT text.
They have their heads in the clouds.
A single Star Wars AT-AT walker standing still, towering high above lush green treetops in thick fog.
You don't really get how big those walkers are until you see one on a foggy day.
#scalemodel #starwars
A bee in flight approaching a white flower in closeup.
A still from 2001: A Space Odyssey movie, the Orion shuttle approaching the rotating Space Station 5.
I was unwinding from a busy week the other day, leisurely photographing garden flowers on a sunny day. Just playing with the camera, no plan, having a moment. Then a bee arrived and before I knew it The Blue Danube Waltz began playing in my head. You know?
The underwater cinematography is astonishing.
Yeah, it's a Finnish game, they snuck some references to Finland in it. :)
It's life, Jim, but not as we know it.
A slightly frosty, misty hayfield, early morning, hay cut short. On the foreground a small dog (a borderterrier) is having a poop, on the background sitting on the field with boarding ramp open is the Millennium Falcon.
The Pit Stop (2015). When you gotta go, you gotta go.
The dog in the photograph is still with us, turns 14 in September. #FlashBackFriday
Saw the Spiegelman exhibition in Angoulême, 2012 (he won Grand Prix in 2011). Reading Maus from the originals was a profound experience.
Maus is essential reading for everyone.
Yeah, the Ukraine flag reference was clear I think. The final shot was loaded with meanings.
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Three Star Wars Stormtroopers in dark and smoky atmosphere, one trooper fires his blaster and it emits bright red ray of light. This image is a digital painting.
I opened some folders in the archives to look for something. I found this instead. From 2009, I had bought Corel Painter software and I was figuring it out by making random illustrations with it. Not using Painter anymore but for a while I used it very much.
My lightsaber. A charming little thing.
#maythefourthbewithyou #starwarsday
Got one, a Graflex. It’s an oddly captivating item to hold.
Roger Christian’s book Cinema Alchemist offers great insight to the birth of the lightsaber and more. I liked it a lot.
