Anyone who has ever played with action figures has had the thought. What would it be like to be as small as the figures and roam around with them in their vehicles, or what if they were as large as life and roamed around with us? Daniel Picard enjoyed collecting the high-end, Sideshow Collectibles 12-inch “statue” figures. He was also a photographer. So Picard blended them together and posted them online. He then sent some of his photos to Sideshow Collectibles’ management and the result is Figure Fantasy: The Pop Culture Photography of Daniel Picard, a hardcover collection of his creations, published by Insight Editions.
What makes Picard’s photographs work is the “magic” of lining up light and shadow so that his photographs of real world situations blend seamlessly with spliced-in images of 12-inch figures. The Sideshow Collectibles figures are exclusively used in this collection–these are the figures that sell for hundreds of dollars because of their highly detailed production quality. (Sideshow made the borg.com Best of 2016 list here last year, and we discussed the Star Wars line last year here). So this line of figures was ideal for Picard’s project.
The situations Picard selects, the clever humor, the juxtaposition of the fantastical and the mundane, all combine to make Picard’s work stand out from the standard attempts at similar combinations you might find on the Internet.
Images include Snowtroopers from The Empire Strikes Back shoveling snow, scraping snow from a car, and, of course, making a snow angel. A neighborhood of The Gentlemen from Buffy the Vampire Slayer walk their little dogs, the Emperor and Darth Vader go canoeing, Boba Fett and Jango Fett have a bonding moment fishing, and Superman takes on beach patrol duty.
Picard primarily uses Star Wars, DC Comics, and GI Joe characters in this selection. Figure Fantasy will have readers wanting to try this for themselves. You don’t have to be fans of all the genres Picard selects from to enjoy his imagery. What other great action figures should be edited into real-life photos to great effect?
Loot Crate released an exclusive edition of Figure Fantasy: The Pop Culture Photography of Daniel Picard in December, the original version is available here at Amazon.com, and a collector’s edition that includes three Picard prints and other extras is also available. All versions include a foreword by Simon Pegg and an afterword by Kevin Smith. Final Fantasy: The Pop Culture Photography of Daniel Picard is fun for pop culture fans of all ages.
C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com
