Daily Instagrams May 19, 2017 at 08:44AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2q0PKJB Snack time
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#lego #legonofilterfriday #desert #redrock #jimbricksters #snacktime #minifiguresbigworld #afol #legominifigures #toyslagram_lego #instalego #legostagram #brickcentral #legoart #legography #legogram #joecowlego #brickpichub #bricknetwork #toyartistry_lego #lego_hub #brickshift #vitruvianbrix #stuckinplastic #brickculture #toy_photographers #utahtoycrew #helios44_2 #legacyglass

Daily Instagrams May 18, 2017 at 09:21AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2pXE0rc Trying something new! These are a few bronze leaves I made – the coloring from oxidization made them look so real! ???
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#leaf #bronzeleaf #art #metalwork #sculpt #fired #oxidizedbronze #bronze #natural #pendant

Daily Instagrams May 17, 2017 at 07:53AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2pU0sl5 He didn’t get the memo – Totally thought it was an ice planet…?
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It’s kind of like showing up to a disco dance in a full tuxedo… except more deadly. ?
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#halo #desert #white #snowcamo #nosnow #stickoutlikeasorethumb #toyphotography #toyartistry #stuckinplastic #toygroup_alliance #justanothertoygroup #joecowtoy #toptoyphotos #megaconstrux #megabloks #toy_photographers #minifiguresbigworld #minifigures #minifigure

Daily Instagrams May 15, 2017 at 04:31PM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2qKTAL9 It’s a rather awkward suit for surface exploration…
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#rocketboy #rocket #lego #minifiguresbigworld #afol #legominifigures #toyslagram_lego #instalego #legostagram #brickcentral #legoart #legography #legogram #joecowlego #brickpichub #bricknetwork #toyartistry_lego #lego_hub #brickshift #vitruvianbrix #stuckinplastic #brickculture #toy_photographers #utahtoycrew #series17

Daily Instagrams May 15, 2017 at 07:10AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2qjM6wU The Wild West has some very interesting history… even in utah there were many mining towns such as Frisco, that were full of ruthless roughians with an insatiable greed for riches. Many died because of a killed or be killed lawlessness… kinda creepy!
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#bw #blackandwhite #wildwest #friscoutah #utah #greed #gold #silver #desert #macrophotography

Daily Instagrams May 13, 2017 at 07:42AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2rd0lCu Jim found another rare bonsai Juniper tree while hiking the redrock wilderness!
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#lego #minifiguresbigworld #afol #legominifigures #toyslagram_lego #instalego #legostagram #brickcentral #legoart #legography #legogram #joecowlego #brickpichub #bricknetwork #toyartistry_lego #lego_hub #brickshift #vitruvianbrix #stuckinplastic #brickculture #toy_photographers #utahtoycrew #bonsaitree #bonsaijuniper #jimbricksters #redrock #utah

Daily Instagrams May 12, 2017 at 10:21PM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2qcZmUp What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us. ~ Henry David Thoreau
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#flower #bokeh #bokehliscious #rokkor50mm #macro #desert #wildflower #triple #white

Daily Instagrams May 11, 2017 at 06:01AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2qXyjNM Shreddin’ the fresh pow in a knarly blizzard!???
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Wampa found an old emergency stormtrooper raft – not sure why they had it; nothing’s been thawed on Hoth in millennia…?
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#lego #wampa #snowboarding #knarly #hoth #blizzard #shreddin #shreddinthegnar #minifiguresbigworld #afol #legominifigures #toyslagram_lego #instalego #legostagram #brickcentral #legoart #legography #legogram #joecowlego #brickpichub #bricknetwork #toyartistry_lego #lego_hub #brickshift #vitruvianbrix #stuckinplastic #brickculture #toy_photographers #utahtoycrew #mexturesapp

Daily Instagrams May 10, 2017 at 07:39AM


via Instagram http://ift.tt/2pwhd56 I’m thinking this looks like a haunted Ecto-1…???
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#abandoned #car #classiccar #crashed #junkyard #desert #beryl #utah #southernutah #olympusem5 #jupiter37a #orangefilter #rusty #rustbucket #lightroommobile #grime_lords

Rocket Boy discovers Limitless Cheetos and cheeses

Limitless Cheetos and cheeses galore; Rocketboy has claimed the moon - what a score! ? ? ? .
Limitless Cheetos and cheeses galore; Rocket Boy has claimed the moon – what a score! ? ? ? .

Rocket Boy discovers limitless cheetos and cheeses

I have been waiting to get my hands on a Rocket Boy from the new Lego Collectible Minifigures Series 17.  When contemplating what to do with the endless possibilities of a kid dreaming about space – I thought of cheese.

I love cheese and I love cheetos and I love space.  My obvious choice on moon landscape from a kid perspective equaled cheese.  In the past I have done real looking moon shots with the Lego astronauts; but I felt the rocket boy needed somethig more on the imaginitive side.  The scribble-colored space flag would have looked way out of place in a hyper-realistic shot.

I went to the store specifically for rare cheeses, but found out quickly that rare cheeses are quite expensive.  I wasn’t ready to drop $60 bucks on edible props.  Maybe it would’ve turned out better with goat cheese, Munster cheese, Gouda cheese, or some fancy aged cheeses from some obscure Italian countryside village; but I just couldn’t do it.  I wanted to taste all of them.  I realized I was shopping hungry and was getting a bit carried away. ?

Taking it all in
Taking it all in

I settled on a large family sized bag of crunchy cheetos that my kiddos could dig into after the shot.  Taking into account future meals, I selected cheeses including some sharp cheddar (block) cut into wedges. Feta cheese for some contrast. Shredded Mexican blend (we go through lots of quesadillas), and a crumbly cheese that didn’t make the cut.

Setting the flag
Rocket Boy setting the flag

Making the background

I made the background with just a white sheet of cardstock colored with various shades of orange crayon.  I wasn’t about to create the background with real cheese… too much waste of this golden amazingness.  Wallace and Gromits – “A Grand Day Out” was an inspiration for this shot and I thought of their rolling hills of cheese that the alien robot was able to ski down.  That’s the background I wanted.

At first the background was too close and didn’t lend to the depth I wanted – it looked flat and colored, which it was, but I wanted some depth.  I ended up moving the background further away and using a long lens (Jupiter 37a 135mm), to make the DoF shallow and blur the background totally.

Look at all the cheesiness!
Look at all the cheesiness!

I even tried taking a picture through an orange filter – but that idea canceled out all my wonderful crayon shading and it felt a bit too orange on everything.

Through orange colored glasses
Through orange colored glasses

Feta cheese “boulders” made for a perfect contrast in the endless orange landscape of the moon.  After I was done my kiddos made a quick job of cleaning up the cheetos – and I cleaned up the feta cheese!????

How many shots does it take you to get that perfect shot?

Just this morning I was going through all my shots and I took nearly 60 pictures just to get this one finished Rocket Boy moon shot that satisfied me.  I was thinking about this artistic process of coming up with an idea and the work that goes into that idea to make it a reality.

It really is quite fascinating – the image I had in my mind.  How come the first shot didn’t fit?  I had all the props, the tripod, the outdoor lighting… but still didn’t achieve what I wanted for another 60 shots in different poses and background depths.  Different exposures and lenses… maybe it was the vast amount of options that were at my disposal that made me take so many iterations?

Do you all have similar usage of space on your memory cards?  How many shots does it generally take to satisfy your creative ideas?

~ Joecow