Here we are again with a collaborative storytelling: we formed a group of photographers who had to choose sets from a selection belonging to a specific theme and build a single story or three distinct stories, but in any case, there should be something in common that could connect them in some way.

The theme chosen was part of what LEGO identify as Real Life Heroes and to be more specific, Firefighters!

We invited John Reiley and Rennerbricks, along with a moderator which this time was archiminibricks.

Working within budget parameters, they divided the sets as follows:

John Reiley
60413 Fire Rescue Plane

Rennerbricks
60374 Fire Command Truck

Archiminibricks
60373 Fire Rescue Boat
60412 Fire Truck with Rescue Boat

After many ideas and considerations, here is the story they created!

Story 1 – Regular day

Apart from putting out fires and other heroic actions like rescuing cats from trees, firefighters also have ordinary days. Days filled with all sorts of other responsibilities…or fooling around. Maintenance, equipment, washing, tightening screws, pulling tires, or racing on the water–this is what it looks like when, fortunately, nothing is happening. But when the alarm sounds…

Story 2 – Departure

Alarm!!! Alert!!! Something is happening and someone needs help! The water team quickly finishes the fun and goes into action. The mobile command center needs 30 seconds to move at full speed, and by the time you can spell FIRE, the air team is already leaving the runway. Where is the fire? What is happening? Over there!! Let’s go!

Story 3 – Into the action!

The command center has arrived on scene and there’s lots of smoke, but there’s no time to waste! They launch the drone. The view will be better from above. “Command Center-1 to Air Rescue, drop water, there is no time to lose!” Something’s still smoking! The water team has arrived at land and load the pontoon onto the trailer. They race to find the source but come across a fallen tree. On foot it is! They walk through the trees and locate the source of the fire… “Sorry, I think you burned your eggs, sir…”

Behind The Scenes

John Reiley

This is a look at the shot where the plane is flying toward the forest fire. In order to remove the clear duplo bricks holding up the plane, I took two photos and stacked them in photoshop: one with the plane and one without the plane. I put a small light behind the cotton balls acting as smoke to give it a red glow and backlit the entire shot with a large softbox to give it a dramatic feeling. I utilized forced perspective to create the illusion of a forest in the distance. 

Overall, shooting this plane was a challenge for me because I don’t typically shoot this many shots of one thing and I don’t really shoot larger flying objects. But it was fun collaborating with fellow toy photographers on a story that would bring everything together.

Rennebricks

This is the scene of arriving at the fire site. I made a road and a forest. I made fire smoke with a smoke machine and put a red light in the back of the forest to express the flame.

The drone floats using an arm and erases it with Photoshop. I made the propeller rotate by editing.

This time, I used macro probe lenses in many scenes. Because I thought that by shortening the distance to the subject and shooting dynamically, I could express the tension of the firefighters.

It was difficult to make the same story in different sets, but it was a lot of fun. Everyone has their own photo style, and it was a very interesting project to be in one story.

Archiminibricks

2 photos from how the setup for the final photo was made. The ground is sand used for the forest in a jar, water from a blue trash bag and a green background made of artificial plants. I used 100mm-120mm here to blur and zoom in on the background. A full power flashing lamp from the right side behind the bushes to give the effect of a sunny day… which caused all the fire alarms.

Collaborating in creating the entire story is a brilliant experience that I recommend to everyone. The task is not the easiest when three people scattered around the world, with different sets, have to create something coherent, but it gives great satisfaction. I’m glad that I could create with people who have completely different visions of photos than me, I learned a lot from you. Thank you Brickcentral for this great opportunity