Toyznotagame

Valentin Phoreau is a photographer from Bordeaux, France. He can be found on Instagram at Toyznotagame.

What led you into toy photography?

I started photography in 2014 as an extension of my graphic design passion. The first years, I was shooting — like all beginners I guess — family and cats. In 2017 I decide to upgrade and focus on models/glamour photography which is still my first hobby — Animagyne on Instagram. Summer 2018, french web show "20th Century toys" with Joe Hume and Ben Renaut made me want to buy toys and shoot. Today, I think toy photography is my excuse to buy a lot of action figures.

What’s your motivation?

I think toy photography is just a lovely term to describe adults playing with toys like they did in childhood — my nickname says the opposite, I know. Nevertheless, it’s a very cool way to be creative with colors, practicing lighting and story-telling.

What’s your gear?

I'm using a Fujifilm X-T3 with few lenses. 80% of my shots with my 90mm macro. When I need more field of view, I'm using 35mm or 56mm. I'm not a diorama photographer — it’s my weakness — but get first one few month ago. I use some accessoires, walls from Tamashii for exemple, but not so much.

For lighting, I'm using Lumecube, Manfrotto Lumimuse and some yongnuo stuff. I used atmosphere aerosol for a long time. It’s a cool trick to add smoke. Three months ago I bought a fog machine which is a lot cheaper, easier to use but more heterogeneous and, of course, did much more smoke.

What does a typical photo shooting look like?

Sometimes I write ideas on my phone but most of the time I get an idea the day of the shot. My living room is my "studio" 90% of the time but when I shoot animals/dinosaurs, I prefer to go to the park to get real nature on my shots.

My workflow is simple : put the toys in action, light on and choose gelatines, placing smoke machine, set my camera, running my fujifilm app on my phone to use burst mode without touching the camera and… that’s it! Once I'm satisfied, I put my SD card in my computer, select best pics and process with Capture One/Photoshop.

Any advice for a beginner?

To be inspired by other stuff likes movies, comics, classic photography before toy photography. Gear and toys are not the most important. Learning how photography technically works is the first step. Way more than retouching. For exemple I see photographers using photo compositing without knowing how depth of field works. It’s a non-sense to me.

Who is your favorite toy photographer at the moment, or the one who inspires you the most?

I have to mention Joe Hume. He is the first toy photographer I saw and a very good one with "mystic" or "dreamy" look. Then, I would like to put forward Monsterlaut for his unique color science and theOneCam for his mastery of the composition.

Finally, If you had to keep only one toy, which one would you choose?

Well, I’m not a big collector but if I were forced to choose one figure, it would be a atman.

Cheers 🤘