LEGO has published a wide array of books in recent years. My own (growing) collection of LEGO books includes how-to-build books, books about collections (often with collectible mini figures inside), story books featuring minifigures, and even an exhibit companion book. My children and I have spent many happy hours reading together, often finding inspiration for builds between the pages. What I hadn’t realized—until I read LEGO In Focus—is that my collection had been sorely missing an awesome photography book.

LEGO In Focus is everything a bibliophile could want in a book about photography. It’s got beautiful photos, glimpses behind the scenes, and great stories told both through text and in pictures. But to LEGO fans of all ages, LEGO in FOCUS is so much more than a great photography book. It offers a different avenue to enjoy this hobby that we love so well.

Cliffs Notes

Thirty-two photographers from Stuck in Plastic and BrickCentral contributed more than 100 pictures taken from around the world to bring together this stunning collection. With themes ranging from nature to urban daily life, fantasy to futuristic, the mundane and the magical, LEGO In Focus is a whimsical romp through space and time as seen through the perspective of LEGO minifigures and models. While the photos showed the photographers’ skills and techniques, I particularly enjoyed that each photo told a different story, proving true the old adage, “a picture paints a thousand words.”

Perhaps what impressed me most as an avid reader was how well the stories transitioned from start to finish. Clearly, much thought went into choosing the photos. This is no random mish-mash of pictures featuring LEGO. It is a thoughtfully curated collaboration, each page telling a story that blends seamlessly into the next.

Author’s growing collection of LEGO books.

I also appreciated that the pictures are accompanied by detailed captions giving voice to the photographer’s thoughts. I enjoyed learning about the process behind the photographs and the different reasons why a particular scene was made or a photo taken. In reading the photographers’ words, I found kindred spirits who understood that to us, LEGO is more than a toy; it is the embodiment of the power of imagination.

The universal appeal of beautiful photographs—and beautiful books—makes this book a must-have. Truly, LEGO In Focus is a gift to libraries everywhere from the LEGO community. One cannot help but take pride in the fact that AFOLs, working with The Lego Group (TLG) and Chronicle Books (CB), have produced such a beautiful work of art. While it may not be the usual brick-built masterpiece we feature often here at BrickNerd, it is most definitely, a brick-made masterpiece all the same.

In-Depth About In Focus

So how did the book come about? I chatted with Anna Bitanga from BrickCentral and Stefan Matthies from Stuck in Plastic for a deep dive into the process behind the creation of LEGO In Focus.

Inez: Where did the idea for LEGO In Focus come from?

Stefan: We have been working with LEGO as a recognized toy photography community for a while and so when they asked us if we were interested in a book project together with Chronicle Books we said YES. The idea of a book instantly had us and we could not wait for it to become reality as we like to take our photography beyond the digital screen and into the real printed world.

Anna: TLG reached out sometime in the late winter of last year to invite us to collaborate on a coffee table book about toy photography. I'm not sure where the idea of a book, in general, came from but it's an idea we floated to TLG when BrickCentral was first onboarded as a Recognized LEGO Online Community back in 2019. It's every photographer's dream to see their work in print and a book is the ultimate realization! The publisher, Chronicle Books, was already working on some titles and projects like the LEGO Ideas puzzle with TLG so it was great timing.

TLG and CB came up with the theme of the book and presented it to us. TLG has always been a big supporter of toy photography—we regularly collaborate with them on fan-created photos that they share with their millions of followers on social media. For the book, they were looking for something similar to what we already do, but they also wanted our photos to tell personal AFOL stories. They really wanted to make the reader stop at each photo and feel something about it, through the stories that the photo told or even what the photographer themselves told in a few sentences.

Their idea was to have LEGO minifigures and models out in the real world, interacting with humans and non-LEGO elements, rather than staging shots in a totally brick-built environment in a studio. Shooting out in the real world is pretty common in the LEGO toy photography community already, but TLG and CB also wanted that the environments had some importance, and weren't diminished by a shallow depth of field. That's photography jargon for "blurred out".

This book is a first for everyone, including TLG and CB, because nobody had ever done anything at this level with fan communities. There was a whole lot more collaborating than I think everyone was used to.

Inez: How long did it take to put together, from conceptualizing to printing?

Stefan: From saying yes to holding a physical copy in our hands, it took roughly 18 months. There was a lot of collecting ideas, taking images, handing them in, receiving feedback, reshooting, reviewing, etc. It was a long process but also very interesting to find out which steps had to be included in the process and having to patiently wait to see the book come to life.

Anna: The proposed timeline was concept ready by April 2021 and launch by August 2022. We ended up launching in October 2022 but that's totally understandable given we were all still working on this through some strict COVID restrictions in some countries. Our photographers are from everywhere and one was in South Africa which had the strictest lockdown of all.

At BrickCentral, we wanted to take advantage of the different seasons and landscapes we had since we all live in different parts of the world so some of the shots were taken in summer or winter, in the mountains and in the sea, or even cleverly inside our homes. We also wanted to make sure that there were some small MOCs in the book, and that they weren't all commercially available sets, so that took a little bit of planning for some of us.

We shared our photos in a group folder where everyone on the BC team could see each other's work and offer feedback. Crucially, we wanted that everyone had a unique photo and there wasn't an overlap of ideas. We had a Discord channel where we could talk about our ideas, and if maybe somebody said they were going to be shooting in the forest, another might change their approach and shoot on a beach or in the city so there was a variety of landscapes represented. We delivered our final photos by the end of September 2021 so that was a few months of shooting.

Once we had submitted our photos, most of the work fell on CB to make selections, create a layout, and find a way to make all 120 or so photos flow. CB also had to work with TLG to make sure the photos met their brand values, content guidelines, and didn't contain any IP elements. We self-policed at BC during the shooting stage, especially about IP stuff, since we have quite a few people on the team who spend way too much time (and money) on BrickLink and Bricks and Pieces so they really know the catalog.

CB sent us the layouts to review to make sure we were happy with how it looked overall, and to check for spelling or add captions or details that were missing. The BC team all got into a video call for those layout review sessions so everyone could ooh and aah, but also get to work on what CB needed. I think that was probably my favorite part of the entire process! It was so fun and fulfilling to have us all together in these video calls looking at all of our efforts in something very close to what we would have in our hands months later. I had the shared screen up on one monitor and the other monitor had the video call with all the faces of the team so I could watch their reactions when they first saw their photos in the layout. It was really cool and rewarding.

Inez: How were the photographs/photographers chosen? Did you/LEGO have specific criteria in mind when the photos were chosen?

Stefan: Through our annual toy photo safaris and our online community we already had a group of creative friends and contributors in mind. And so we asked on our Discord who wanted to be in. Last words on whether an image was to be included or not was on LEGO and Chronicle Books but everyone that said yes made it in the book.

Anna: BrickCentral has a huge following but not all are LEGO photographers. We definitely have more fans of the kind of LEGO photography that we do than we have photographers. TLG and CB left the criteria to us, and the way BC approached it was to primarily look for LEGO photographers whose photography style matched the brief and that were active in our community.

We also looked for people who could work together and be able to critique and receive critique. Since we set out with the idea of collaborating rather than just collecting submissions and handing them over to the publisher, the people on the team needed to be able to give and take meaningful feedback. This is a skill that's really underrated in the art community in general but so, so valuable. You have to be among peers and have trust. So we ended up with about 12 photographers who we knew shared the same values and had the same goals we have at BC.

Inez: How did you coordinate with photographers all over the world for this project?

Stefan: There were several rounds of reviews. We communicated via our Discord server and through Google Hangouts and emails. But meeting digitally and talking together was way easier of course.

Anna: We only had to coordinate among ourselves at BC and we did that mostly on Discord. We had a private text channel for discussion, voice/video channels for calls, and a group folder for images on Google Drive. But definitely being spread across different time zones was challenging, as was the language barrier. Not everyone speaks English... or French, or German, or Spanish, etc. so I tried to keep everything on text channels whenever possible. It's much easier to translate text.

When we had to do video calls so I could share the layout on the screen for review (I never posted the layouts anywhere for confidentiality), we might have a photographer with a spouse who had a better command of the language join the call or had another team member who spoke the language well enough to translate. We definitely made sure that our photographers on the other side of the Atlantic were able to have a cup of coffee in the early morning before attempting any decision-making. I did do one-on-one calls with each as well to get private feedback as well. Sometimes people are shy in a group, which is something I totally relate to as an introvert myself.

Inez: Why did you choose to make a printed book when photos are now so much easier to share and reach a wider audience through the internet?

Stefan: We love to see our work in printed form. There is a moment of reflection in it. From Xmas postcards you can pick up time and time again, to real live exhibitions at art galleries and LEGO conventions around the world, we do like the real print so much more than a digital flick that is gone in a second. So, a coffee table book fits perfectly in this world. Most people underestimate the huge difference between a digital image on your mobile/tab/computer vs a printed image that you can feel and view from different angles and with different light throughout the day. Being able to hold a book, feel its weight, and being able to physically flip through pages is simply incomparable. I’d say the added value is priceless. Especially when your very own image is included in a collection like this.

Anna: We didn't choose it but we're sure glad it happened! I think most artists want to see their work in print. And not just print, but a book, because it validates what you do. Some of us have our work shared on social media that potentially reaches LEGO's millions of followers but I would guess that any photographer on our team would rather have just one photo in an official LEGO book than a feature on LEGO's social media.

Inez: Little LEGO pieces look pretty hard to photograph. Why do photographers use LEGO as subjects for photos in the first place?

Stefan: Good one. There may be several reasons why people choose to take images of LEGO elements, especially the minifigure. First of all, there’s the instant connection. LEGO as a medium is most familiar to many as they probably all have played with it as a child. Some photographers are still in their youth, for others, those days may have gone by for a longer time. Still, the emotional connection is there.

Another reason may be that the classic minifigure has such a positive appearance. They smile. What’s not to like? From there on you can create minifigures to suit whatever mood or situation you want to capture. Want to take a photo of a happy couple? Easy. Do you wish to recreate a scene from your favourite movie with your favourite character and the matching backdrop? Go on and build it. There are almost no limits. And you can mix and match the realms as you like. Darth Vader meets Gandalf. Mickey becomes Batman. You have a whole creative world at your fingertips. And then there is the community. Once you have taken that first LEGO image, and you discover on IG and Flickr a whole world of toy photographers sharing the same passion you are hooked.

Anna: The easy answer to this is that LEGO minifigures in particular are just too cute and irresistible as subjects! But I think Simon Garfield, the author of In Miniature: How Small Things Illuminate the World, makes a great point: "The miniature world embraces control. The toys we enjoy as children invest us with a rare power at a young age, conferring the potency of adults, and possibly giants. Toy cars and dolls and plastic construction kits are not merely pliable in our hands; they render us conquerors. We may never have such dominion over the world again, unless we continue the play into adulthood." (Source: Small World: Why We Love Tiny Things | The Guardian)

As AFOLs, we certainly continue the play into adulthood. The tiny brick models and minifigures are perfect subjects to create worlds within a world. Some people make avatars of themselves and document their sigfigs on their travels or even daily life in a photo. Others, like myself, create fantasy worlds with rules and norms of our own design. We can play in such different ways. Then, of course, it's hard to discount that LEGO and phone cameras are so ubiquitous these days. LEGO photography is really accessible.

Inez: Could you share with us an anecdote about one of the photos you took? Perhaps something that wasn’t mentioned in the write-up of the photo?

Stefan: One image (and the story to it) that instantly comes to my mind is one from Ian. In the book he describes how, after his father had passed, he found out that they had both collected toys. Unfortunately, many of these had never seen the light of day. That’s when Ian decided to take the toys out and take their photos. Or as he put it: What use is a collection (of toys) if its joy is never shared? And so when you browse the book and read the stories, you discover something new every time.

Ian’s photo and story, as shared by Stefan. This is also my favorite story in the book!

Anna: I tell a story in the book about how seeing me take photos of this (MOC) around Palma made lots of people smile. Some of these horse carriage drivers wanted to have a photo with it so I obliged. They were really so thrilled to see themselves represented in LEGO form! Big smiles, and they even lined up their carriages for me so they can have a group photo. Later, a UK councilor also saw me taking photos and asked for her photo to be taken with the carriage. She was vacationing here and it was a unique memento. She said her daughter (adult) loves LEGO so she would be so thrilled.

Anna’s MOC and photograph, as published. Photo taken and provided by Anna Bitanga.

Inez: One last question. You probably get asked this a lot, but for the sake of our readers, what are your top three tips for aspiring LEGO photographers?

Stefan: Number one: Do it. Grab a toy and the next camera in reach (your phone, a DSLR or a disposable analogue one) and start taking images. Have fun. Number two: Get on eye level with your subject. This will add a natural feel to your image. Number three: Print your result. Again, it is such a huge difference to look at a digital image vs. having it printed and holding it in your hands. The bigger the better. (And number four: Join our Stuck in Plastic discord community and share your experience and learn and be inspired.)

Anna: LEGO photography is easy to get into: all you need is a LEGO minifigure and a phone. But if you want to elevate your work, you need to do a few things: 1) Shoot a lot. And I mean A LOT. You only learn from practice. That doesn't mean you have to share everything you shoot on social media; in fact, I'd advise against that. Shoot for your own enjoyment and learning. Likes and followers tend to shift your priorities and trap you in a style.

2) Analyze photos that you love and articulate why. When you can identify what you love about a photo-- the light, the composition, the areas in focus, the story, etc-- you're halfway there! But if you find yourself saying, "I don't know, it's just cool!" and try to create something similar, you'll end up really frustrated. Take the time to study the photo and you'll start seeing like a photographer.

3) Experiment. If you normally shoot minifigure close-ups, try something bigger like a vehicle. If you shoot primarily outdoors with natural light, try taking photos indoors with a desk lamp. You really only appreciate others' work when you have tried it yourself and shared the results. And you can't grow without doing something different.

Inez: Thank you for taking the time to chat with us!

DISCLAIMER: A copy of LEGO In Focus was provided to BrickNerd. Any opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. If you would like to buy a copy of the book, you can get one from LEGO, Chronicle Books or other sites where LEGO books are sold.

What do you like to take pictures of when it comes to LEGO? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

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