Toy Soldiers - 2007

This image came from my first photoshoot after moving to New York.

Shot over a weekend in my boss's studio, I brought a bag of figures and accessories, miniature barbed wire, wheat grass palettes, bottle of stage blood, and a only vague idea of a plan. Other images from the shoot included overly elaborate POV shots of soldiers fighting, mixed lighting between a Speedotron strobe and a Zippo lighter bought from the closest Duane Reade (that nearly melted the face off one of the figures), and a sprawling post-battle scene with wounded soldiers intended to be cut out digitally and placed into a woodland scene, yet to be photographed. And none of them really worked. This shot was the last setup of the day, and was discovered more or less by accident.

In keeping with my favorite photography creedo (KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid), one of the things I've always liked about this one is its simplicity. Since this shoot, I've always tried to stay aware of overlighting and getting the story across without being bogged down by production tricks.