The impact of the pandemic continues to affect many people around the world. Here in Australia, the states of Victoria and New South Wales are currently under lockdown/stay at home orders, to minimise spread of the delta variant, while vaccines are rolled out.

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This coincides with the weather stating to improve, as spring approaches. I was hoping to catching up with some friends in the near future to go on a Toy Photo Safari. We were looking forward to taking our LEGO Minifigures and other action figures out into the wild, getting our cameras down to their level, and taking a few pictures. The restrictions currently in place for Victoria and New South Wales are likely to put a hold on those plans for the next couple of months.

The limitations of the current situation came up in a chat with some friends in South Australia, who recently cancelled their real world Brickstameet due to a short local lockdown. And so we have decided not to wait, and take the meetup online.

This weekend, The Rambling Brick, and South Australia’s Brickstameet team are looking forward to working together to host ‘Snap!’ a virtual toy photo safari.

Working in the comfort of your own home and garden, take part in craft and photo challenges, develop your LEGO Photography skills and hopefully inject a little bit of fun into what a lot of people are finding a challenging time. Entry is free, and open to all ages.

What’s Happening?

On Sunday morning, we will kick off with a short welcome on Instagram live. There we will announce the themes/ challenges for the day. Then you can go out around your house and garden to take photos. Take as long as you like. There will be a couple of short presentations during the course of the day, before we formally close the event at 5 pm.

What will you need?

• A photo taking device: it doesn’t matter what it is: phone; Point and shoot; SLR; Mirrorless. All are good!
• Something to take photos of: Minifigures are great, but you can also use non LEGO toys. I hear these exist…
• Somewhere to take photos: Natural light is great, but might not be available where you live.
• Lighting: I’ll post some more about this on Instagram this week. The options are endless: torches, bike lamps, christmas tree lights, desk lamps and more…
• Any props you might want to use
• You might want a setting for your minifigure: it could be with a LEGO Building. Or a Doll house. Or a Cardboard Cut Out Diorama. Even a pot plant! Mixing and matching your subjects is great.

To start, I asked @simplelovelyuseful for her favorite top toy photo tips. As an experienced Photo Safari host, she had this tip card close at hand:

Anything Else I Need To Do?

• Do not break any local public health regulations.
• Images should be captured within the confines of your home and garden – even if you are not currently in lockdown.
• Participants will have a week to post their favourite images of the day in Instagram, using the tag #ramblingsnapmeet. There will be prizes related to images related to the themes and challenges set on the day.
• This is an inclusive, family friendly activity: please keep your entries within appropriate subject matter. Unsure what that means? Check out our Fine Print.
• Follow @RamblingBrick and @Brickstameet on Instagram, to get updates during the week, and look out for the shared Ramblingbrick – Brickstameet Instagram Live Stream at 9am Sunday, 29th August for our launch.

Challenges, as well as the theme for the day will be posted on our Instagram channels, as well as broadcast during the streams. Don’t worry too much if you miss it.

While this event is primarily being run for the benefit of people in Australia, we welcome participation from all over the world. Unfortunately, we will only be able to mail prizes locally.

Finally: Spread the word! This event will be more fun, if we have more people taking part. If you know someone who is looking for something to do while in lockdown, why not share this post.

And until next time… Play Well!