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 fly to France to meet pirates016!
Hello AFOLs, my name is Grégory and I’m from France.
I was a huge LEGO fan during the 90’s. I’ve collected pirates theme but mostly city with trains. I also was a Star Wars fan and I’ve built MOCs of it, because there were no official LEGO sets at that time.
Four years ago my kids started to play with LEGO and when I saw my old Eldorado Fortress and Caribbean Clipper the flame reignited in me. At that time there was the new pirates of barracuda bay so I knew I have to build it. With this set I discovered so many new LEGO parts and building techniques that it was the beginning of a new era for me after 25 years of dark age.
My collection was growing but I was sad to see all these sets taking dust on my shelf after building them. It was at this point that I decided to make LEGO photo because it was kind of a new way to play with it
I started my instagram account three years ago to share my love for pirates theme.
Unfortunately I was a newbie in photography (and still I am ) and I began to learn some photo techniques with youtube videos and following account on instagram, like Brickcentral.
At the beginning, the easiest way to progress was to snap outdoors photos because it needs no set up or materials.
On the other side, I couldn’t shoot all my sets outside so I began to try studio photoshoot, which was more difficult for me because I had to learn how to use lights.
Talking about gear, I’m shooting with a Canon 550D and to light my scene I normally use a LED ring, a lume cube or a small LED kit.
To create my scenes I always use very basics products, like wood, tree moss, sand and printed wallpaper for the background. My goal is to recreate natural scene and so I want to use what I can find in nature.
The exclusive
For the exclusive photo I decided to use some techniques I’ve learned, mostly with Brickcentral. First I’ve created a frame with an arch on foreground and buildings on the side and background. Then I put my main subject in the middle, the bluecoat soldier from 1989., which happens to be my favorite minifigure, of course.
The story I want to tell is a simple moment we all live every day, a meeting with a stranger, a music you discover for the first time and just be grateful for it.
To light the scene I only use my LED ring as ambient light and my lume cube to create a rising sun effect.
At the end I hope my work can help other AFOLs to create their own photo with very simple stuff and techniques even if they are not photographer.
LEGO community is one the best I saw on the internet and I’m very proud to be part of it.