Talking Toy Photography with Oliver Peterson

As I proudly complete a third Dan’s Papers cover featuring my toy photography for the Halloween season, my fellow editors asked that I write something personal, instead of answering questions in yet another interview. While I’ve been a mixed media painter and collage artist for many years, I began exploring toy photography in 2013, and it’s been an interesting ride.

Action figures and art have been constants in my life since childhood, so combining these two things I love made sense, though it took some time before I was any good at it.

Over the last dozen years doing this, I’ve enjoyed some exciting opportunities, including some partnerships with toy and gear companies, teaching a workshop for kids, and writing fun reviews and pieces about toys and the art of toy photography. In 2016, Hasbro chose one of my photos of their Star Wars: The Force Awakens action figure line to be featured in an international #HasbroToyPic promotional campaign that went on display at that year’s San Diego Comic Con.

These little feathers in my cap helped me feel validated, especially as some questioned why I would step away from painting to pursue something so unusual. But beyond any minor accolades or the 5,000-plus Instagram followers I put together — before the switch to video put an end to that growth — I’ve found joy in the hobby. And if we’re not finding joy in our lives, what are we doing here?

My toy collection, which is definitely much larger than it should be, goes back many decades and covers numerous eras, intellectual properties and scales, from Star Wars and Marvel, to pop culture icons, characters from hundreds of classic and modern films, video games, literature and even political figures. At the same time, I also customize figures of real people and characters I want, and build dioramas to photograph them in, often from scratch. This is where the real fun begins.

For example, this week’s cover was created using items selected from my vast library of props and bits, as well as a handful of figures pulled from a range of source material. The idea was to put our founder, Dan Rattiner, in a creepy graveyard, while also keeping the feel light and fun — not terrifying like my gory Hellraiser photo of Clive Barker’s Pinhead standing among chains and tortured souls (which we can’t publish here).

To make it happen, I used a 6-inch John Hammond figure from Mattel’s Jurassic Park Amber Collection to represent Dan, and I grabbed some skeletons from different toy lines to lurk in the graveyard, which I populated with headstones that came with horror movie, wrestling, The Walking Dead and DC Comics toys, and pumpkins from Power Rangers and a couple different Michael Myers toys. I used fake grass mat sold by the yard at Home Depot, and a wall-mounted moon light to hang behind the figures. From there, it was just about setting up an additional six lights of various colors and brightness, and adding some Atmosphere Aerosol spray to give it that spooky fog. Then I just had to get my camera settings right and snap away.

Sure, this particular composition required a lot of preparation and effort, but for anyone interested in trying toy photography, it can be done with one figure, an iPhone and a single light — and even the light isn’t necessary. Try placing a character in an outdoor setting that appears to scale properly with its size. Create a realistic and compelling pose, shoot from a low angle and see what you can do.

One can find a wealth of tutorials on YouTube or on websites like ToyPhotographers.com, where I’ve written a bunch of stories about this hobby and others continue to write great stuff regularly. The toy photography community is incredibly welcoming and helpful, and photographers will usually jump at the chance to help others learn, so find some artists you like and ask them some questions!

I, of course, also welcome anyone to reach out to me via my Instagram account, @oliversees. I look forward to hearing from you, and I hope you’ll come follow me as I have some exciting new projects in the works.