At the end of 2017 I decided I was going to challenge myself with a personal photo project, where I would create a new image every day for a month. Why 28 Days of Toy Stories? Let me rewind a bit. I first discovered toy photography at the end of 2015. The timing was perfect, as it coincided with my decision to leave wedding photography, which I had been doing full time for 7 years. I photographed well over a hundred weddings in that time (and have the battle scars to prove it!), but made the decision to not miss any more weekends with my family, which is the big downside of wedding photography. When I first started taking toy photos 2+ years ago every shot was about creating and discovering something new - about the process, about technique, about stories, about myself. It was the beginning of a journey. Not long after taking my first toy photo I realized that this was something I'd love to make a career of, and spent every waking hour after that realization focused on that one goal. The first year, 2016, was spent learning techniques specific to toy photography, building a portfolio, and developing a style and brand. It was an incredibly fun year! At the beginning of year two, 2017, I hit the ground running and that goal of having a career in toy photography fast became a reality (I'll save the details on how that happened for another post). In all I created over 200 images for clients in 2017, most of them for Mattel. It was fast, furious, and an incredible learning experience. But as you might imagine, creating that many images in a year left little time for creating personal work. I set the creative direction on all of my client campaigns and images, so the work was still immensely satisfying from a creative standpoint, but it's still not quite the same as creating work for yourself. Which brings us back to the present, and 28 Days of Toy Stories. This project is a way to challenge myself to create new, personal work every day. I knew some days would produce amazing images, and others perhaps less than that. But each image would come from a place of creativity, and hopefully I'd be learn something from each. Today is day 11, 10 done and 18 to go!
