Connecting the dots through photos… Authored by Michael Surtees

LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

And so it begins once again–started a running series last year, continuing to document this year.

For the second year in a row, over the month of December I'm taking time each morning to build and photograph a small LEGO Star Wars piece. Each piece is part of a larger advent calendar counting down to Xmas. This process just adds to the fun of the month. Its nice to kick off the morning with a slightly different way to be creative. Its like a morning mental exercise to get things moving. After the build I try to photograph things from a number of angles. By being active with a photographic eye, it helps expand on what I already see.

There's a couple things that I've changed slightly from last year. The first shot for instance is of all the pieces taken out of the package. Last year the first shot was in their plastic package. The second difference is that I'm using a white light booth instead of just shooting it on the table. This helps focus on the LGEO build as opposed to what's going on in the background. The biggest final difference is that I'm using a macro lens along with my normal iPhone camera. This allows me to really play with the scale and view the tiny LEGO pieces at a giant scale. By focusing on some details and blurring out others, there's a fun colour play going on.

Will I do this again next year—probably. I'll just have to mix it up to keep it interesting.