Sea Harrier
Action Man was my favourite childhood toy and what got me into photography, needing a more family friendly pastime after the children were born. I 'collect...
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Action Man was my favourite childhood toy and what got me into photography, needing a more family friendly pastime after the children were born. I 'collected' initially, but fed up with just looking at them on the shelves, sought to rekindle some of the childhood fun, albeit from an adult's perspective and several decades of military service.
Eight years old at the time of the Falklands war, I had recreated the battles seen on TV on the living room carpet with my action men. In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the conflict, I sought to recreate of some of the iconic images through the eyes of that eight year old child, but from an adult perspective and produce a book to raise fund for Help4Heroes and Combat Stress. Sadly, the South Atlantic Medal Association did not appreciate the perspective and had rather a sense of humour failure so the initiative was dropped.
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Eight years old at the time of the Falklands war, I had recreated the battles seen on TV on the living room carpet with my action men. In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the conflict, I sought to recreate of some of the iconic images through the eyes of that eight year old child, but from an adult perspective and produce a book to raise fund for Help4Heroes and Combat Stress. Sadly, the South Atlantic Medal Association did not appreciate the perspective and had rather a sense of humour failure so the initiative was dropped.
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Aug, 2016Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in Exmoor National Park as part of a series produced in commemoration of the Falklands Conflict of 1982.Time
My friend and fellow Vintage Action Man Enthusiasts forum member Daren and I traveled to Exmoor to access landscape more in keeping with the bleak and barren terrain of the Falkland Islands, than could be found in North Wiltshire. Having been to the area previously, I had a few possible locations in mind and we drove around to find just the right spot. The shot was taken on 5th October 2013 at 12:34 in the afternoon on the northern tip of Exmoor just west of Porlock with the Bristol Channel in the background. The composition with the Welsh coastline just visible in the distance, was aimed at suggesting at least a passing resemblance to San Carlos Waters in the Falklands.Lighting
A head-on shot such as this with a real aircraft would be pretty difficult to obtain but I felt would make a great image, with the model mounted on a fishing rod rest. The time of day put the sun high over my right quarter lighting the subject perfectly, requiring a small aperture (f11) to offset the intense light.Equipment
This was shot handheld with a Canon EOS 7D with EF-S 15-85mm (Image Stabilised) Lens at 46mm.Inspiration
Action Man (GI Joe) was my favourite childhood toy and what got me into photography, needing a more family friendly pastime after the children were born. I 'collected' initially, but fed up with just looking at them on the shelves, sought to rekindle some of the childhood fun, albeit from an adult's perspective and several decades of military service. Eight years old at the time of the Falklands War, I had recreated the battles seen on TV on the living room carpet with my Action Men. In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the conflict, I sought to recreate of some of the iconic images through the eyes of that eight year old child, but from an adult perspective and produce a book to raise funds for Help4Heroes and Combat Stress. Sadly, the South Atlantic Medal Association did not appreciate the perspective so the initiative was dropped.Editing
The shot was processed in Canon Digital Photo Professional and left virtually unedited, just having the white balance tweaked from Auto to Daylight and the rod rests crudely cloned out in Paint Shop Pro.In my camera bag
The 7D is now my backup Camera, succeeded by a Canon EOS 7D II which has been a great step up. The EF-S 15-85mm f3.5-f5.6 IS this shot was taken with remains my main general purpose lens, a role which it performs brilliantly. I also have an EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-f4.5 for wide angle, EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS for low light and portraiture and a Canon EF 28-300mm f3.5-f5.6 IS L for my children's sports.Feedback
Seeking to make toys 'come alive', it's vital to get down to their level. Muddy knees, sore elbows and funny reactions from passers-by are therefore a given, so an understanding wife, thick skin and a smile are key :-)
