As the New Year is upon us, I am sitting here staring at my screen waiting for the words to pour out of me, I can’t help but smile at the fact that I finally launched my website. The Blak Eye has been in motion (at least in my own head anyway) for about 5 yrs. Back in 2017, I stumbled across a hashtag that changed everything in regards to how I viewed my action figure collection.
That hashtag: Toy Photography was simple and to the point but the search results were nothing but. I spent countless hours escaping to a world I didn’t know existed. At last, a worthy endeavor that really brought the toys to life instead of collecting dust on a shelf, brilliant!
I’ve always been a collector but photography was something I never considered personally. My father dabbled behind the lens and even studied graphic design while growing up in Panama but ultimately chose the Navy over his own artistic endeavors. I remember telling him that I was going to try my hand at photography and the look he gave me will forever be etched into my mind. It was almost as if traveled back to his time in the darkroom, developing film and learning the art of angles and perspective. It was a beautiful moment, a father seeing his son share the same curiosity that pushed him to pick up a camera and start taking pictures in his youth come full circle. There are some differences though, for starters I have no formal photography training at all. I approached photography like I did music and began the process of learning through trial and error. Looking back, some of the earlier shots I posted on Instagram were pretty ambitious considering my weapon of choice for edits was always whatever smartphone I owned at the time.
Wait for it…
And there it is, no Photoshop or any mainstream computer based software for that matter. I decided from the start of this journey to push myself by using a smartphone screen as my tool and canvas.
Since my first Instagram post to the launch of the Blak Eye, I can’t pinpoint what excites me more, pulling off fight scene poses without any stands or combining multiple effects to create a new one that totally transforms the frame. Either way, Action Figure photography has provided me with the proper amount of escapism whenever I feel like the walls are closing in and music can’t soothe the beast inside of me. A hobby? Sure. Therapeutic? Without a doubt and I will be the first to admit that I never saw it coming. Well, my eyes are getting heavy so I guess I'll stop here for now. Let these words serve as a brief setup for future journal entries, thoughts, photography tips and the occasional Hip-Hop dialogue.
These are my Blak eyes…I see you.
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