(Written by Cameron)
Today I would like to introduce you to a highly skilled LEGO photographer I have been following for some time. He goes by the name Dwaas and runs a website called “Fooling LEGO”. I will give you some highlights of the amazing LEGO photography by Dwaas, and if you like them, you can visit his website for more. 🙂
Here is what Dwaas says about his interest in the LEGO hobby on his website: “I am Dwaas (Dutch for fool) and I’m a LEGO fanatic… a so-called AFOL (Adult-Fan-of-LEGO). Well, when I have the time that is. By day I work as a medical specialist , but once I’m out of the office and can find some time the LEGO fun begins. Like many kids, I loved playing with LEGO when I was young – mostly together with my brothers. As I got older the obsession died down a bit, but always remained a guilty pleasure. At the end of 2012, beginning of 2013 my interest in LEGO rose again (it didn’t hurt that my daughter reached the age when she also got into building). One day I was looking for a way to improve my photography skills and decided to put the two together to start the Foolish LEGO Project. In 2013 for 365 days I created a photograph and uploaded a LEGO photo daily. Wherever I traveled I brought my LEGO minifigures and bricks with me to capture the LEGO shot of the day. From the beaches of Miami, to the mountains of Nepal, to the shores of Turkey (but mostly at home) – wherever I went my LEGO friends were right there with me. Besides LEGO photography an other project started on August 13th 2013 (my daughter’s birthday), the Foolish LEGO Webcomic. What’s next for Foolish LEGO? Well, I still love taking LEGO photos and creating the Foolish LEGO Webcomic, so I won’t stop anytime soon. Who knows what the future will bring?”
As far as the 365 LEGO photography project, here is how it all began on January 1st, 2013; with a toast. Notice the great background-effects and lighting to create just the right mood.
On the 6th day of the LEGO photography project Dwaas introduces us to Cool Chef and his gang of happy bakers. As you can see here, it is perfectly all-right to mix LEGO into real-life settings, creating a whimsical and unique effect.
I’m skipping a lot of days here, and now we are on the 23rd day of this LEGO photography project, where Unethical Al steps into the picture. Simple set-up, but look at the facial-expressions; they tell the whole story.
On February 6th Dwaas takes a trip to the beach, bringing his favorite minifigure characters. There is actually a whole series of really great and funny photos from this day, so make sure you check them all out.
The following day the entire minifigure gang goes to the beach! Again, there is a series of great photos of their adventures.
I’m again skipping a whole period of great photos, focusing on an excellent shot from June 27th, where Voldemort gets his picture taken. A photo of a photo-shooting. Great concept, even greater execution!
Here is another excellent photo, this one from July 16th. Dwaas is not just a great photographer, but also an excellent builder; check out the LEGO furniture and the micro-pirateship!
On September 12th Gingerbread Man gets his revenge on Cool Chef. Why? Well, you will just have to check that out yourself (see all 365 days here).
On November 15th Dwaas and his minifigs take another trip, this time to Nepal. You can follow along their adventures in the upcoming days.
There are many more great photos – often more than one per day for the entire year – so check them all out. You can find the archive of all of the 365 days here, or go to the main 365 day project page here.
And here is the first page from Dwaas’ LEGO webcomic that I also really like. Not as long-standing as some of the other LEGO webcomics out there, but I think it’s still great. The story is funny and the photography excellent. There are 43 episodes so far, you can see them here!
So what do you think of the LEGO photography and webcomic from Dwaas? Do you like them? Have you ever considered a project like this yourself? If you have any questions or comments feel free to share below! 😉
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this was awesome 😀 im totally checking his website out RIGHT NOW >:)
Yeah, I thought they were really good too. Excellent photography!
😀 awesome job! thumbs up!
I started doing the taking-LEGO-with-me-on-trips things a couple years ago when I was briefly travelling for work, mostly so I could put funny things on Facebook for my wife while I was away. Then I started bringing them on other trips and vacations. We always take Gandalf (what would you expect from a wandering wizard) and recently have added minifigs that look like us. I’ve found that having a minifig to photograph makes you take pictures of things you wouldn’t normally capture because the minifig scale brings a whole different perspective to your surroundings.
So far though, I haven’t had the time or consistency in photographing to take on a project like Dwaas (and his photography skills are a bit better than mine). I do plan on compiling the some of the pictures into a personal photobook at some time though for friends and family to enjoy.
These are great pictures! I’m taking a photography class, so I’m getting better at this stuff. Lego things are my favorite picture makers.
That third picture, though, with the girl handing over the lollipop, the skin colors don’t match up: the girl has tan skin (it’s Pippin’s face from Lord of the Rings, I think), and the guy has yellow skin.
Still looks good though! 😉
Hah, you are absolutely right! In hindsight the skin color irritates me too! It was one of my earlier photo’s (even on the first photo there is a skin color difference). One of the great things on doing a 365-project like this is that you learn a lot! And one of the things I decided / learned later on is to only use the yellow faces and not the flesh-colored faces 🙂
I actually also prefer yellow skinned minifigs. Unless I’m working on a historical project or something. 🙂
Let mi share with you my 365 in Flickr and Tumblr.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/geekoteca/
https://unlegoaldia.tumblr.com/#_=_
There’s only 52 photos left to be taken! I hope you will like them
Thank you Cameron for your very kind words and showcasing my website. 😀
*bow bow bow*
Awesome project! Doing one myself, I started this Jan 1st… I am not as good photografer as him but if you guys want to check it out, Look for me on Instagram Tabis2911!!
My brothers went and looked at all 365 pictures on the website. A lot of them are really funny!
Unfortunately now they’ve made hiker minifigs and are trying to make interesting pictures with them on the furniture (we all have cameras) 😐
You’re welcome Dwaas.
Foolish LEGO produces some great work. I’m a big fan.
Love it! It looks like he’s still posting daily photo’s. Is he going for another 365 this year?
I once put all my minifigs in a big bowl and accessories in another. And let all my birthday visitor build them selves with all the parts. I put them all together and photographed it. the photo was then used as a thank-you card. It was amazing how many of the figs where easy to identify. Im an AFOL from Sweden who left the dark ages in 2009.
That’s a very nice project! Great idea! 🙂