I came across this Hoth Lego series when I was browsing my favorite toy board, Spawn.com.  Not only is the set fun but Vesa, the photographer, set everything up before the shoot.  This can be really time consuming but the final product speaks for itself.  Below is my interview with Vesa aka Avanaut on Flickr, as we discuss his love for Star Wars and the process behind the project:

NERDSociety (NS) : How did you come up with the idea of shooting Lego’s?

Vesa (V) : The Lego is just something among my kid’s toys. I do not have a Lego builder/enthusiast background, nor do I buy them for myself. Granted, I think there are more Star Wars Lego in our house that there would’ve been if I hadn’t taken up photographing them, but they were all given to the kid to own and to play with first, and then shot. I guess just got a little carried away when photographing the lot.

NS: How long does it take you to shoot a series?

V: It depends. A lot of the Hoth shots are a result of experimenting with different materials for snow effect. So, a lot of time can be wasted with just messing around with the stuff to see how it acts. Simple shots take a mere couple of hours, but some take several hours to set up. I don’t like to add any elements on the photos after they’re shot, all the effects on my shots are done in-camera. I do, however, spend a lot of time on the processing sometimes. I use layers on Photoshop a lot.

NS: What else do you do for fun besides photography?

V: I build stuff in the wee hours when the kid sleeps. At the moment I am not able to work on my dear original ’64 Pontiac (problems with the carage), so I tinker with smaller stuff in the basement of our house, I have recently found working with steel to be quite enjoyable. I watch a lot of movies, Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Wes Anderson, Coens, Jeunet… Classics and contemporary. I read books.

NS: What did you think of the prequels

V: I think they were a trio of merchandising platforms treating the audience as fools. George Lucas allegedly did not make the prequels for the same audience the first trilogy was made for, that audience is all grown-up and the new trilogy was made for their children. I would buy that if Lucas’ claims about making children’s movies would show in the finished prequels. Instead what he delivers is a huge pile of pseudo-politics, talking heads and brutal, pointless violence. I don’t get it, it’s so totally different approach to what he previously had. Have children changed so much in a mere 20 years, or so? I don’t think so.

I am, of course wrong, it wasn’t ALL that bad, the prequels have a strong following and a wonderful band of characters (proof of which is the Clone Wars animation series, which is quite good actually). The overall design that was put into the movies was very rich, I think there were some very nice spaceships and locations but, to me, the best part was the design of the new clone armors. That was a job well done, I like the Phase 2 armor design a lot. I also think it was a wonderful idea to individualize the clone troopers, Cody, Bly & others. Those characters had potential to be much more than they were given chance to be.

NS: Is there a website people can check out your work?

V: Yes, I have a website. It’s really old, outdated and clumsy, I hope to redo the whole thing later this year.

www.linjamiehet.fi

I’m the guy on the left.

NS: What’s your favorite picture and why (please send me the url)?

V: It is never easy to single out one favorite, this is what I ended up with this time:

Tomorrow it might be something else. 🙂

If this had snow flying around it might be easier to choose from the lot. I’m quite happy how the AT-ST is present with only the feet visible, it sort of gives depth to the story: it’s about the guys, not the machines. The background mountains came out quite nicely, too, they are made of tin foil, hehee! I like to crop pictures to a widescreen format, I feel it is sometimes more cinemaesque.

NS: Thanks for the interview!

Make sure to check out Vesa’s website for updates and his Flickr account for more awesome Lego photos!

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