On Assignment is a Stud Shooters community event where members are sent a LEGO set to photograph. The photos are published on the blog and shared with other LEGO fans and photographers across social platforms.
Last month, I sent the winner of the Land Rover Photo challenge a copy of the LEGO Land Rover for a photoshoot assignment in nature and now the photos are ready to be shared!
The idea of the challenge was to bring a small LEGO set outdoors and just have fun with it. To enter the challenge, LEGO photographers had to submit a few outdoor photos on the Stud Shooters subreddit to demonstrate they were up for the task, and then I picked one person from the pool.
Here are some photos by Perryplatypus69 that convinced me that he was the person I was looking for:
It’s clear this photographer enjoys nature and taking photos of his LEGO out there so getting to shoot the Land Rover could be some good fun.
The Land Rover 40650 is a small set of just 150 pieces which makes it a perfect LEGO subject for outdoor photography. It’s colorful, cute, and compact with loads of storytelling possibilities. It’s also cheap at under $15.
You don’t see a lot of photos of land vehicles in the LEGO photography community, partly because the majority of the models LEGO releases are race cars, street cars, or monster truck types that are more suited to urban settings. The Land Rover is an exception and can fit in any environment, but especially a natural one.
Here’s what Perryplatypus69 got up to with it:
Perryplatypus69 said he thought of all the adventures the owner of the Land Rover would go on and tried to show her living her adventurous life: kayaking with her dog, driving off-road through overgrowth, exploring the lake, and stopping for a picnic in a lush spot. She even caught the eclipse with a carload of enthusiastic kids (last photo in the gallery)!
All the photos were taken with a Nikon Z6ii with a 40mm f2 lens:
“Shooting the Land Rover required a wider angle than I normally use in order to include the whole set and some surroundings. It was a challenge at first, but I really enjoyed being able to include real trees and clouds in the scene.”
Getting the environment was key for these photos because the Land Rover is about taking the scenic route and off-road adventure.
He normally likes to take photos of minifigs, placing them in an interesting scene and looking for dramatic light in his yard to start with. Some of the photos of the Land Rover were taken there as well as the neighboring lake.
Perryplatypus69 usually shoots minifig photos with a 105mm macro lens or the 40mm f2 lens with extension tubes, but he left the tubes off the 40mm for this assignment.
If you’re a minifig photographer who likes to shoot in nature, the Land Rover is a great subject to experiment with.
Placing a vehicle on uneven ground is so much easier than posing a minifig, which can be frustrating if you don’t have the right support or a lot of patience. Wind isn’t much of an issue either.
While I always recommend staying away from grass in the immediate surroundings of minifig-scale subjects because of scale and distracting sharp shapes, the Land Rover is one of the few models where grass might even help tell the story of wild adventure.
Your phone camera could work really well with models like the Land Rover too because of the wide-angle lens and the deeper depth of field that can capture more of the environment.
The LEGO Land Rover is a LEGO exclusive that’s available now for $14.99/14,99€.
If you’re a LEGO photographer who wants to join in on challenges like this and find a community online, join Stud Shooters on Reddit.