Every month, we pick a LEGO photographer active in our community and share some of their work and a little about themselves. This month we flight to New Mexico to meet sdphoto_bricks!

My name is Stephanie DeFranco and I was born and raised in Roswell, NM.

I’ve been a full-time photographer since 2017 and haven’t looked back since. Creating photos and watching stories come to life in front of my camera is a feeling I wouldn’t change for the world.

I would describe my photographic style as whimsical, authentic and colorful! I always try to make sure the subject will pop out of the photo with a burst of color or authentic movement.

My favorite subjects to capture in photos are characters that already have a little bit of a backstory, ex: Star Wars, Harry Potter, but putting them into situations that aren’t necessarily true to their canon story.

My go-to gear includes:
Nikon z6
Lensbaby Velvet 85
Lensbaby Sweet 35 + Macro Convertors
Lensbaby Twist 60 + Macro Convertors
Video Lights


I’m currently living in New Mexico with my two cats, Jasmine and Ella, but traveling is my passion. I want to be able to experience new culture and document life as I live in that moment. A few other random facts about me: I love coconut iced coffee.

I have a passion for thrifting and collecting old film cameras. And when I’m not behind my camera or on the road, you can find me on my couch streaming Disney+ & Netflix.

The exclusive

I choose this storyline because I had the arcade builds that I really wanted to use. I love setting a scene and making the story fit around that atmosphere. This particular scene started with the alien character finding the joys of candy and cokes for the first time with his buddies at the arcade. And who didn’t used to spend hours putting quarters into the machines and eating all the sugar and snacks while there. That’s the essence I wanted to capture with this storyline.

The challenge that I faced most was the lighting. I really wanted that dark neon look like you get when you walk into an arcade, and when combining that type of light in camera, it’s really difficult to get the balance of color. Toy photography requires soooooo much patience between posing the characters correctly and repositioning if they fall. To making sure there isn’t a weird light on one of their faces or if one is slightly out of focus and making sure the eye line is correct. So in having three different toys in this scenario made having that patience even more of a process.

I also wanted to mention how the integration of the Lego lights made a world of difference for the atmosphere. I initially shot this photo with just the video lights and something felt off. After looking at the scene on a full screen, I realized it didn’t feel authentic without lighting up the actual games. Bringing in those little extra Lego lights not only brought in the magic of an arcade, but it really brought the entire photo to life and made it seem like a real arcade.