About

Toy Collector

Like many Adult Fans Of LEGO (AFOLs) and Action Figure collectors I started buying toys again (after a dark age) once I had the disposable income to do so …. and I got to an age where I stopped caring what people think.

Picking up toys I wouldn’t have been able to afford as a kid and the newer better versions available now gave me a nostalgic rush. However, it was when I discovered I enjoyed taking photos of them that things got interesting

Toy Photographer

I started sending photos of my LEGO purchases and built sets to my brother. This lead to fun photos and then an Instagram account. Then I discovered that lots of other people did this… and they were good at it… much better than me. I started taking more care with my shots and trying to improve.

Brickcentral

That lead to Brickcentral. The awesome Fourbrickstall asked me to help out with a relaunch of Brickcentral, a LEGO Photography feature account. This was reinvented as not only a feature account but a place for educating about Lego photography and celebrating the good work artists were doing. I was lucky enough to be a part of this and for the opportunity to shoot sets for LEGO UGC and for reviews of new sets. As we hit 2022 I left the BC team after almost 3 years to spend a little more time on my own stuff.

What Next?

Well after a few years of being very LEGO focused I also want to spend some time shooting other toys. After a year long flirtation with two separate social media accounts I decided I wanted all my work together so I merged everything back under the new name Freethefigures.

With Social Media now much more focussed on video content and in a constant state of flux I decided I needed a stable home of my own for my photos, which lead me to create this website in 2022.

While working for Brickcentral I discovered I loved doing toy reviews. Taking the photos and writing my thoughts down. its a nice addition to the photography and it helps focus my photos a little. So thats what this site is for, somewhere to allow me to stretch my writing muscles alongside my photos that is not tied to anyone else or any specific social media platform.

I am sure things may evolve over time and my goals may change, but right now Im looking forward to having somewhere I can just waffle on about toys and share my photos the way I want to.!

Thanks for stopping by!