Funko photography saved my sanity. There was a point in 2020 that I started to go a little stir crazy. There was no where to go and nothing to do while we all tried to make sense of the global pandemic and how to say healthy. Jon and I started to take walks mid day and that helped a lot. As the months passed we started to lean into Funko Photography a little more. We’d see spots along our walks that looked like a good setting for a photo. We started to look at every day life and familiar places differently.
Tall bushes looked like a scene from Jurassic Park, while woodland eras looked like Endor. From that point forward we would pack a bag or backpack with pops before we went out on our walks. That turned into early morning weekend trips scouting out parks and paths across the city, looking for an ordinary place to become part of our extraordinary adventure, during very unordinary times.
The Funko Photo A Day Challenge got more exciting for us. It gave us something fun to look forward to but now through a new lens. Over the past two years we have definitely developed our photo-taking skills and imaginations. We normally have fun together no matter what we do, but this became very special and continues to be something we love sharing.
The Funko Photography Community
I’ve mad a lot of cool online friends through my Funko Photography. There are a lot of amazingly talented Pop photographers across the world, sharing their love for fandom and Funko on instagram. From real life settings to staged reenactments of moments from film and comics, the community is bubbling over with enthusiasm and creativity. I’ve picked up quite a few staging and lighting ideas from the many accounts that I follow. I was even inspired to start a separate Funko Photography account, @PhoenixForcePhotos to share the many, many photos I take.
With the good, always comes the bad. And in this instance, the bad attitudes of entitled fans. When and where this started, I’m not sure, but could point out a few bad seeds that thrive on it. October’s photo challenge took place on both Instagram and newly added, Twitter. To me, this was cool. Double the fun, right? Well, not for some. Quite a few Instagram accounts took to their stories in haste, bad-mouthing and complaining about the company they just claimed to love and adore. Excuse me?
No one has to participate in these challenges so the easy explanation to me, is just don’t do it. Instead, many chose to publicly complain and in my option it’s a sign of desperately needing attention. I know, I know, it’s Instagram, of course they want attention. THEN, the daily prompts were released for both social media platforms and the complaining got louder. Whining about the prompts, the lack of creativity, the lack of Funko caring about its “community” were loud and utterly annoying. Even more annoying, some accounts created their own “challenges” for the true “creatives.”
If you’re not in it to have fun, then don’t do it. If you’re going to complain about the one thing you swear to love, then you don’t really love it. If you’re only in it to see what you can win, then you’re always going to be unhappy. It really is that black and white.
Sure, I don’t love all the prompts, I especially don’t like food-based themes. Food is not something I like to shoot with/near/around my collectibles. I give it a try and if I can’t nail it, then I don’t do it. Do I love to win? I do. I love the cool, rare prototypes that Funko gives to winners of the daily challenges. I’ve won once and absolutely want to win again. Some people have never won, and should have that joy in their life. Everyone deserves a little joy where they can find it. Funko fans are lucky to have a company that actually tries to spark that joy.
There’s a new challenge starting next week. There’s also a new challenge starting right now, and that’s the challenge to look at life, fun and even Funko through a more clear lens.
Recent Comments