Monday, May 28, 2018

My Kind of Toy Photography

Art Sparker, who does some mean toy work herself––(her IG; most of her concoctions are on her on-vacation Etsy though)––pointed me to Toringlock's Instagram

Toringlock records my sort of toy life, complete with stories I relate to and a smattering of religion presented with both a respectful affection and a dubiosity I share
––or so it seems to me, in, for instance, this wonderful portrait of Ursine Beatitude.

Below, some of Toringlock's toys departing to join a cult because he "hadn't been paying them enough attention"  [scroll right for full posting]

I love it, but this photo worries me. I want to know what's happened since––ARE THEY ALRIGHT? 
That tension, the tug of the hook, pulling you forward--that's all part of a good (toy) photograph.

Also, the care with which they're packed in (that doesn't just happen), complete with doilies, and a sock––for a sail? a flag of surrender? or of dingy but unflagging hope?

I think––delightfully––of Eward Lear's Jumblies "who went to sea in a Sieve…
"With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast..."

And, not so delightfully, of immigrants crammed in steerage, the movie Ship of Fools, and of refugees on the seas, and children joining cults of all kinds, flying into buildings and the like...

But I take hope from the Jumblies:
"In twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, ‘How tall they’ve grown!’" 

The photo (well, and the words) invites all sorts of extensions---that's a good toy story.
I've been enjoying the Toy Photographers blog, and some do tell a good story, but I haven't joined because... I don't see anything much like what I do, or want to do. 
Specifically, no stuffed animals or even fabrics.

There's a lot of fantastic LEGO minifig & action figure photography out there, and while I admire much of it (some, very much!), it doesn't call to me the way the touch of a lone, dirty sock does.

3 comments:

bink said...

Cults are one thing...drowning is another...I do hope all those innocent toys are alright!

Unknown said...

hey hey hey! torin glock here - just found this. i love the Jumblies, and i feel the pull of the lone dirty sock! i have been getting quasi-religious with snails on my insta recently. Mostly i repress my quasi-religious tendencies, but sometimes you've got to just let them run wild!

Fresca said...

BINK: Sorry I never responded---I sense they probably are alright, but we'll just have to wait 20 years, like with the Jumblies.

TORIN: Hey! Thanks for commenting---so glad you found this. I was on Instagram for a few minutes, with Susan Sanford/Art Sparker's encouragement, but quickly felt overwhelmed---on the high seas.
I like floating about on this little pond of blog.

I LOVE YOUR TOY LIFE! I saw the snails & statue, which reminded me of bringing snails home when I was a kid---they disappeared! Where did they go?!?! Never saw them again, not even in 20 years.
Also reminded me of glass-fronted boxes of religious scenes, mounted in public places I saw in Sicily. No snails, but lots of exposure to the elements.

Looking forward to checking out your blog on Blogger too---though I see it's not current, old stuff is good.
Sail on! with dirty sock!