Vesa Lehtimäki, AKA Avanaut, is a Finnish photographer who creates stunningly realistic images using Star Wars Lego figures. Letimäki told BuzzFeed: “My plan was to simply document my kid’s toys, to save them in photographs before they break, are given away or just vanish.” “In July 2009, I uploaded some Star Wars action figure photographs to Flickr to try out the platform and I found it very interesting.” “A little later I photographed some Lego snowtroopers in snow and I just got stuck with that.” “I use lots of Blu Tac. In some cases I’ve glued the minifigure down with hot glue. If there’s a blizzard in the photo, it was really there when I shot it.” “If there’s a moon in the sky, it’s there, not photoshopped in later. I have, however, photoshopped dust off from shiny surfaces and removed suspending threads or rods.” “Shots can take anywhere from one hour to four years. Sometimes a simple idea is shot and posted within an hour, it’s not all that common, though.”
“I’d say a photograph usually takes one evening, about six - eight hours from setup to upload.” “The hardest part is trying to be original, to come up with ideas that haven’t been around yet, but with so many people doing this these days, it’s getting harder and harder.” “I’ve had a couple of photographs up in Flickr thinking I nailed it, only to find out that the idea had been done before. If this happens, I add a link to the one that beat me.” “A favourite is The Last Ship to Rendezvous. It doesn’t look spectacular on Flickr, but I recently saw it printed on metallic paper, mounted on a huge acrylic plate and the atmosphere in that was just dreamy.” Lego Star Wars: Small Scenes From A Big Galaxy by Vesa Lehtimäki is out now. The book is out November 10 in the USFinnish photographer Vesa Lehtimaki began photographing his child’s toys back in 2009 as a way to preserve their memory before they either broke, were given away, or were lost.
At around the same time, he took some of his son’s Lego snowtroopers outside and photographed them in the snow and that is when he found his calling to make incredibly detailed action scenes of Lego Star Wars figures. He began uploading the images that he made to Flickr and found that he had a hit on his hands. Six years later, a collection of his images is now available in book form in “LEGO STAR WARS: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy,” (DK, 2015). Lehtimaki has created a stunning miniature universe where Lego Star Wars action figures come to life, from Luke Skywalker riding a tauntaun through snow to a Sand Scout riding a sand speeder bike. Some of the tricks Lehtimaki uses to create the scenes include using flashlights for illumination and hot glue to hold the figures in place, experimenting over and over again until he gets the scene just right. Stunning photos from Tibetan Buddhists’ Bliss Dharma Assembly Looking for gold in one of the most isolated mines on earth Inside the life of a modern day hermit
LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big GalaxyDetailsLEGO Star Wars in 100 Scenes FREE Shipping on orders over . DetailsLEGO Star Wars Character Encyclopedia: Updated and Expanded FREE Shipping on orders over . "For this shot, I imagined that a pilot who had never seen snow before took his TIE fighter down, climbed out, and touched snow for the first time. He even built a snow lantern." "I even coined a term... 'The Forced Atmospheric Perspective' effect." "At the time, I had realized that there were no photos of LEGO minifigures in which anyone had really explored old filmmaking techniques." One of the most iconic faces in the Star Wars universe belongs to C-3PO. Looks great as a LEGO minifigure, too. "The idea behind this image was that X-wings were not suited to Tatooine's rough terrain. In order to get this shot, I dropped the model from about half a meter and photographed it as it bounced, so that the 'sand' flew upward." The Walker in the Woods
"The tree stump on which I planned to shoot this was basking in sunlight when I set up the shot. Then the sun moved. As passersby watched, I stood in a bush next to a LEGO AT-AT walker waiting for the sun to come back." """"A perfect storm of LEGO, Star Wars, imagination, creativity, photography and fandom." — Bricknerd"Will delight any aspiring Rebel pilot." — TechInsider"One of the greatest convergences of geek interests." — GeekDad"Elevates LEGO sets into breathtaking works of art." — Paste Magazine"The force "[I]t should please would-be Jedi (or Stormtroopers) of all ages." — St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sixteen stories for the journey See more Age Range: 9 - 12 years Grade Level: 4 - 7 Series: Lego Star Wars Publisher: DK Children (November 10, 2015) 10.2 x 0.8 x 12.2 inches Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies) #142,405 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) in Books > Children's Books > Arts, Music & Photography > Photography
5 star82%4 star10%3 star3%1 star5%See all verified purchase reviewsTop Customer ReviewsLEGO and Star Wars: A Unique Perspective to that Galaxy far, far away...|LEGO Star Wars: Small Scenes from a Big Galaxy offers a unique look into the world of Star Wars, from the lens of Vesa Lehtimaki. When I pre-ordered this book a few months ago, I thought it would be a small-ish picture book that was maybe 30 pages long (and I would have been happy with that considering the low price tag), but I was pleased to find that it is a full-sized coffee table book containing over 170 pages filled with beautiful photographs and wonderful descriptions!One particularly interesting bit for me was the "Making Of" section at the back of the book, which contains photos of Vesa's photography setups for various photos that are displayed throughout the book. The book also details the various techniques for creating atmosphere at such small scale, trial and error with lighting effects, and the list could go on.