Over the past couple of years I’ve noticed a small but growing cult scene of taking photographs of toys, especially popular movies like Starwars and Indiana Jones.

I was lucky enough to grab an interview with, in my opinion one of the best Avanaut, a professional illustrator and designer from Finland.

Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, so for all the people out there could you tell us what motivated you to work with toys such as Action man, Starwars and Lego ?

I want to document my kid’s toys with photography, to save them in a way while they’re still around. With the forementioned toys I got a little carried away and wanted to take things a bit further. I guess it’s has a lot to do with curiosity.

I also have to admit I was a kid when the Star wars first came out in ’77 and it had a profound effect on me. I kinda found it again thru the kid’s toys.

Avanaut – Rebel Trooper Portrait

Your work shows that you have a very stark bold style with a strong use of light, can you tell us who and what your influences are and how they effect your work ?

I am a professional designer and an illustrator and I like stories. I like if a story is told with visual elements, lighting is a big part of it. A little piece of text doesn’t hurt, however. In the past I have had the privilege to have worked with some of the best photographers over here, I have learned a lot from them. What they do with a camera and Photoshop is close to wizardry to me. I’m not even in the same ballpark, but hopefully I’m learning things as I go.

The use of light, I guess, comes from a realization that a toy doesn’t have to be a toy, it can be many things, a character, an abstract form, whatever I want. With lighting I have often simply tried to lose the toy in the toy and push them closer towards being a character with a personality. If a toy is lit like a portrait it looks weird. I like that.

My influences are probably a mix of a lot of movies, photographs, books, magazines and comics. I do not recognize any specific influence in my work other than that, I’m blind in that sense.

Avanaut – Breaking In the Tauntaun

How would you describe your style?

have a style? I honestly don’t know. I like strong contrasts, but that’s partly because I do not know how to create delicate soft images. I try to look at the little Lego minifigs not as toys but as characters in a one photo play I can write, stage and act. Not all of my shots work like that, of course, but in general I hope my photos can deliver entertaining little stories.

Avanaut – Chewie Misses His Mark

Some of your work has very elaborate set ups, snow shots with blizzards and frost covered faces, cave scenes with rays of light piercing down from the ceiling, can you give us an idea of how you achieve some of the photos and what equipment you use to do it?

I actually think my setups are quite simple. Yes, there is baking powder, milky water and slideprojector moons, but there is nothing extraordinary about that. I have tried to do my photos with whatever comes in handy. The ideas for the setups come from a lifelong affection to movie special effects, and of those I have always liked the simpler ones. As a kid the simple, analogical special effects were the only ones I could dream of and think possible to do, they are the ones I am revisiting now.

I have explained some of my shots in the comments sections, but they may be hard to find among the comments.

I guess the biggest thing was the use of water for miniature air.

Avanaut – Laser Blasting LEGO Stormtrooper

For a beam of light to show there has to be something in the air that makes it visible. Smoke, mist and dust is good in real life, but for a miniature that doesn’t work. I figured I have to miniaturize the density of air itself to be able to create a carrier for the beam of light. Water is dense, milk mixes with water and is perfect substitute for smoke. The beam of light has to be sharp, so I use a strong focused beam of light, my slideprojector, and a black cardboard mask with holes pierced in it. For straight beams of light the sun would be the best lightsource, but in Finland during the winter that is not an easy thing to have.

Avanaut – The Inconvenient Flaw of the Y-Wing

I also used water with plaster powder to create blizzards. That was fun.

Avanaut – The Big Freeze

The frosty face of the Action Man was an accident. The Man fell face down in snow while shooting, the fresh snow had a really small grain because of the freezing temperature and looked really good on the fur of the hood. I ditched my original idea of capturing the Man walking on a snow field and chose to go really close to have the tiny snow particles show. A lot of my shots emerge from something like this, if something looks interesting, I go for that regardless what the original plan was. Nobody will ever know

In January of this year (2010) you mentioned that you had found a love for what you had initially thought of as bit of fun and that you would now like to pursue another idea you had few years ago. Could you tell us a bit about your idea ?

It’s an old story I have cherished for years, but haven’t really been able to start working on it. Mostly excuses, but it’s a big thing and to commit to something like that is a bit unnerving. I have now worked on it for about two months, I’t been difficult but there is slow progress and I’m optimistic about it. I’m in no rush, though, this will take some time.

I was planning to create a sort of “in-progress” type of blog around it, but I became a bit protective about the basic idea and decided to postpone that. I think there has to be more than an idea to start the blog, a publisher would be good…

So, for now, I’m keeping it to myself, but later on some of that material will show up on my flickr photostream, I’m sure.

I would like to say thanks for answering our questions and allowing us to post up some of your work, but one final question before we wrap this up, what can we expect to see form you in the future?

My pleasure! Your questions were excellent.

I have not had a plan so far, I just go with the flow, I see no change in that. But I have been thinking of uploading some non-toy related photographs of personal projects later on. Expand a little. It’s not far from toys, though, but I’d say a bit more serious and ambitious. We’ll see.

You can follow Avanaut on Flickr