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 travel to the UK to meet frame_the_toys.

My name is Mark Phillips, and I live in Leicester, England (on Instagram I am known as frame_the_toys).

I have Covid to thank for my introduction into toy photography as I was a newbie to photography and wanted to learn how to use my new camera, but the dreaded lockdown was introduced a couple weeks after I got it, so I resorted to raiding my kids toy boxes to find practice subjects. It was then that I realized there was a whole new world I had discovered.

The introduction to Macro photography then opened my eyes up to the wonderful world of Lego and I have been shooting both toys and Lego ever since…it brings out the inner child in me and sparks so much imagination

My style of photography is mainly focusing on outdoor photography using natural light and scenery as much as possible but, living in the UK, weather is always against you, and so I had to introduce indoor photography with the use of lights for those rainy days. I still have a lot to learn about indoor lighting, but I’m slowly getting used to it.

For my outdoor shots I try to incorporate practical effects but also effects via photoshop where practical would not be feasible……whatever helps to sell the storytelling. I’m a big fan of the drain unblocker tool to shoot dirt in the air and capture flying dirt particles as well as a spray bottle to capture “rain” in camera.

I mainly use a Nikon D750, but, as of a week ago, I now also use a Nikon z6 ii (still getting used to it), my lens is a Sigma 105mm f2.8 Macro, tripod is made my Benro, L bracket by 3 legged thing and lighting I use a Godox ad200, Nikon sb800, Small rig torch, Ulanzi panel light and 2x Lume cube air.

The Exclusive Photo: “One does not simply ride into Mordor”

For my exclusive image I decided I wanted to take a shot of my new Lego Back to the future DeLorean as I had not taken any images of it yet so it was a perfect excuse.

I wanted to make the whole scene tangible yet feel almost like a scene from a Lego movie.
The base was a spare sheet of plywood that I covered with PVA glue and sprinkled on a sand/grit mix to give a rocky desert appearance…no painting required thankfully.

I then used some Lego shrubs to scatter around the scene to make it look like an arid desert. I also wanted to make it look like the Delorean was going at speed so I decided to use some cotton wool for the first time; to create dust clouds and i honestly cannot believe I have never used them
before!

Lastly the sky was a happy accident, as I lined up my camera to take a shot, I noticed that the wood base I wanted to use was too small for my image, and so normally I would have to mask it out, but as I looked at the screen and noticed that the line of the wood ending was like a horizon, so I grabbed a blue sheet of card I usually use for a sky background and just placed it butt up to the wood and boom…..instant horizon blend.
Surprisingly I didn’t even use any special lighting for this image as my kitchen lights seemed to give the exact look I was after.

For the edit I kept it very simple by giving the wheels a spin blur effect and then gave a layer mask a path blur to give a feel of motion.
I’d like to thank Brick Central for asking me to be a part of the Artist Spotlight, I’m truly grateful.