This project started as my attempt to branch out and try my hand at still life photography.  I have never considered myself very good at the subject and wanted to try something challenging and also fun.  That is when I rediscovered some of the toys from my youth, or more specifically the toys I never new existed but would have loved.  I figured these toys would provide a great still life subject that would allow me to incorporate my love of portrait photography as well.  I have decided to start shooting in only B&W in an attempt to capture the very soul of these wonderful robots.  So far I have also limited myself to shooting with the toy camera the Holga.  While there is something very campy about shooting toys with a toy camera, I have to say that I am finding that the Holga lends an almost life like quality to the robots.  The low-fi images of the Holga seem to draw the viewers attention away from screws and metal making the images feel more like portraits of living robots than still life images of toys. 

Most of these toys are the predecessors to the popular toy line the Transformers.  During my research on these toys I discovered a large internet community of passionate collectors and lovers of all Japanese toy robots.  As a result the project has transformed from merely branching out my skill set to delving into this culture and what drives some people to love and collect these crazy toys.  I have to admit that my original plan was to set aside a chunk of money to purchase these robots on e-bay and other auction sites with the intent of photographing them and then reselling them, using that money to buy the next group.  For the most part I have managed to stick to that plan, but seemingly more often I find myself unable to part with some of these die cast masterpieces.  So it appears that I now have a small collection going myself.  I tell myself that I am just keeping a few reminders of what has turned out to be a very fun and refreshing project, but I am not so sure I have convinced myself…

If you are a collector of Japanese toy robots and would be willing to be interviewed about your collection please contact Andrew.