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The journey to become a LEGO photographer

You might remember that a few months ago I shared with you some fun LEGO posters I found on eBay by a store named Silly Brick Pics (see: Unique LEGO Posters to Decorate Your Walls!). Since then I have been in touch with the owner of the store, Robert Rhatigan Jr., and he shared with me some additional details on how his LEGO photography developed. As I know many people dream about making their LEGO hobby into a full or at least part-time business, I thought Robert’s story may give you some inspiration and insights. 🙂

LEGO Posters on Ebay

During our discussion Robert shared the following: “I have to tell you, it’s funny what roads life takes you down. I have roughly 15 years of photography experience, and I worked as a graphic designer at an e-commerce costume company for 10 years. In February of 2012, the company that I was working for became a victim of the economy and decided to close their doors. At that point I decided that it was time to take the reigns and take up photography full time.

LEGO Poster 3 by SillyBrickPics

Over the first year and a half, I did mostly portrait work. A lot of it was for local athletes and fitness instructors. I also mixed in some fine-art landscape work that I presented at fine-arts festivals in my area. Then, about a year or so ago, I came across a cool picture of a LEGO Stormtrooper online. I loved it and found it clever. You see, I was in the fourth grade when Star Wars came out. My uncle and aunt took me to see it and it blew my mind. I have loved the franchise ever since. And I have also been a LEGO fan since childhood. And now, having two boys aged 6 and 7 (who absolutely love LEGO as well) I decided to create a couple of LEGO art-scenes for them. They liked them and we hung them in their bedroom. Then I decided to make a few more to frame as posters in our basement, and I became hooked. I continued creating these LEGO scenes and infusing a little humor into them. I then started selling them on Etsy and eBay with some success, and also developed my own website SillyBrickPics.com. (UPDATE: this website is no longer active.)

Outrageously Unique Home Decor, featuring Funny LEGO® Inspired

A few months ago my wife mentioned that I should consider displaying my LEGO Star Wars posters at some kind of Star Wars convention. I though it was a great idea and figured I’d look into it at some point. I got a bit freaked out when the very next day a gentleman from Wizard World Comic Con called me on the phone. He said that he had seen my work online and that I should really consider doing their conventions. I could not believe the timing; right after the suggestion from my wife! I have signed on to do three of their conventions in 2015; I will be displaying my work in Cleveland, OH, Raleigh, NC and Philadelphia, PA.

Outrageously Unique Home Decor, featuring Funny LEGO® Inspired

Then a couple weeks ago I got a call from the Art League of Long Island, here in NY. They too found my work and told me that they have an upcoming exhibit called “Art After Dark” in which they feature 2-3 local artists and their work. They said that my photography is a great example of Pop Art and invited me to be a part of their show in October. Then I discovered that you guys have included me here on your blog! My head has been spinning as this has all been quite a whirlwind.

LEGo Posters & LEGO Art Prints

So over the past year, my whole photography model has shifted from taking photographs of real, actual people to taking photographs of little plastic people! I have to say, I prefer the latter. The little plastic people are always on time, wonderful about posing and holding the pose, and they are not demanding at all! I believe that I have found my happy little photography niche and I find that super exciting. Again, it’s funny what roads life takes us down. As a result of all this exposure I got “discovered” by Newsday, which is a major newspaper and website in the Long Island and New York City area with almost half a million subscribers. They came to my home and shot a video that ran on their website the following day. The exposure was absolutely phenomenal. You can view the video below:

As you can see in the video, my “office” is really a “man-child cave”. At 45 years old, I’m a product of the 80’s and have a huge fondness for nostalgia. We have two arcade machines with over 100 classic video games installed; from Space Invaders to Pacman, all the big ones are there! I also added fooseball and air-hockey to round out the fun. And of course the decor is finished with LEGO art! As I mentioned I have two young boys (although my wife would say she has three boys because I’m just a big kid). One of my favorite ways to spend time when not working, or taking the kids to soccer, music lessons, cub scouts, etc., is to hang out with my kids in our little home arcade. In an age of much fancier and advanced video games and technology, I love the fact that my kids also really enjoy the old classics.”

LEGO Posters by SillyBrickPics

If you would like to check out all the wonderful LEGO art-prints from Robert, you can visit his website at SillyBrickPics.com. He offers frameable prints in several sizes, giant wall-posters, and even LEGO printed iPhone cases with his hilarious LEGO Star Wars and other LEGO minifigure scenes. And if you have any questions, comments, or request for Robert, feel free to share them in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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First wave of 2015 LEGO sets now available!

Just wanted to bring to your attention that some of the 2015 LEGO sets are already available at the Online LEGO Shop. This includes LEGO Creator, LEGO City and LEGO Technic sets. So if you are looking for some of the newest sets for the holidays, you should still be able to get these on time. 🙂

Shop 2015 LEGO Creator Sets

2015 LEGO CREATOR SETS AVAILABLE NOW: The #31027 LEGO Blue Racer, the #31028 LEGO Sea Plane, the #31029 LEGO Cargo Heli, the #31030 LEGO Red Go Kart, the #31031 Rainforest Animals (this is a really sweet set), the #31032 LEGO Red Creatures and the #31033 LEGO Vehicle Transporter can all be purchased now at the Online LEGO Shop. There is also a LEGO Creator Collection combo pack that includes three of the sets (#31027, #31029 and #31033) and you can save $5. Check the LEGO Creator section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Shop 2015 LEGO Creator

2015 LEGO CITY SETS AVAILABLE NOW: The #60075 LEGO Excavator and Truck, the #60065 LEGO ATV Patrol, the #60082 LEGO Dune Buggy Trailer, the #60083 LEGO Snowplow Truck, and the #60085 LEGO 4×4 with Powerboat are now all available at the LEGO City Section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Shop 2015 LEGO City Sets

2015 LEGO TECHNIC SETS AVAILABLE NOW: The #42033 LEGO Record Breaker, the #42034 LEGO Quad Bike (both with pull-back action, which is really fun) and the #42032 LEGO Compact Tracker Loader are now all available at the LEGO Technic section of the Online LEGO Shop.

Shop 2015 LEGO Technic

More of the 2015 sets should be available as we get closer to the end of the year/beginning of next year. In fact, many of the sets are already listed at the Online LEGO Shop, and while you can’t buy them until January first, you can check out all the details and pictures. This includes the super awesome #75060 LEGO Star Wars Slave I, a brand new wave of The LEGO Movie sets, the highly anticipated LEGO BIONICLE sets, the #21301 LEG Ideas Birds set, the #10246 LEGO Creator Detective’s Office, and the gorgeous #41062 LEGO Elsa’s Sparkling Ice Castle. You can find all of them under the What’s New tab at the Online LEGO Shop.

Shop 2015 LEGO Sets

As you can see, lots of good things are on the way! Looks like 2015 is going to be just as exciting as this year has been. What do you think? Which of the 2015 LEGO sets and new themes are you looking forward to the most? Did you get any of the 2015 LEGO sets already? Feel free to share and discuss in the comment section below! 😉

And you might also like to check out the following related posts:

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