March is usually the best month of the year. Yet, I feel I didn’t properly enjoy it. At least from a toy photography perspective.
Progress
Last month, I ended my post with a todo list of projects to finish. I’ve been able to check several items off that list. Most importantly, I took my last photo for SiPgoesTT and wrote a concluding blog post at Stuck in Plastic. I’ve also made progress on several other items, but I still have photos to edits and thus cannot tick these items off yet.
Spring and outdoor toy photography
I usually consider March the best time of the year in the North. Still, despite the progress and the improvement over last month, I have that feeling of not having enjoyed enough March. With the temperatures rising and snow slowly melting, this feeling also extends to the whole snow season.
I had the same feeling last year. Still, when I looked back at my toy photography during the summer, there was plenty of photos I was happy with. Maybe the same will happen this year too. Yet, something seems different. It’s not just the lack of photography that concerns me. I’m also frustrated by my own photography and I feel the need for change.
The past year has been different in many ways. (And no it has very little to do with the COVID-19 pandemic.) I went back to indoor toy photography and my final selection of photos for SiPgoesTT contains a majority of indoor photos. This all results from the frustration of not being able to make the photos I want to make, the need to experiment, and the fear of my photography stagnating.
I now wonder what the remaining of 2021 will be like. Will I still consider spring the best time of the year for outdoor toy photography? How important will outdoor toy photography be…?
Kilpisjärvi – part 4
As I’m writing this post, I’m sitting inside a cottage in Kilpisjärvi, looking through the window at Saana covered with snow and reflecting the yellow sunlight.
Since December, I’ve had in mind to come back here around Easter to complete my “season collection”. I didn’t have any concrete plan though. I ended up, as I usually do, improvising a trip by booking a place to stay in the evening, pack my bags, and leave in the morning.
My 10-day stay in Kilpisjärvi is now coming to an end. Before going back home, I’ll spend the Easter weekend further South in Lapland. I’ve done everything I wanted to do here. Still, I managed to add a few items to my list in case I come back during the summer.
This trip has been a success when it comes to enjoying the outdoors. (I’m nearing 100km of skiing/snowshoeing in the fells.) However, the same can’t be said about toy photography. Despite this being my fourth time here, toy photography is still a challenge. This is partly due to not getting the light I wish at sunset, the physical exhaustion that comes with being active all the time, and the strong winds that usually blow on top of the fells.
That said, I managed to take the toy photos I wanted to take here. I’ve also been playing with a new “toy” I recently bought. It should provide me with both the ability and motivation to create better quality behind-the-scenes videos.
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