Action Figure Photography #1:  chezpics66 - Christopher Lynch

Our first photographer is Christopher Lynch. Read a little about him below, along with several pieces of his work that caught our eye.



Hi, I'm Chris "Checkers" Lynch. Known as "chezpics66" on Instagram. I'm an amateur photographer who got sucked into the world of toy photography about 2 years ago. I had previously taken to doing nature photography and especially macro photography of insects and plants. I live in Boston MA with my wife and daughter, but spend quite a lot of time on Cape Cod where I do quite a lot of my outdoor shots.

"There can be no witnesses..."

"Tessek, tell Jabba his prize is here..."

After my daughter was born I used to set up her toys at night after she went to bed so she would wake up in the morning and find a "scene" or some sort of set up going on. She loved it quite a bit and has always herself loved to do set ups or "dioramas" with hert toys. When she got older (about 2) she started asking for Star Wars action figures (She insisted on "One's where the ankles move!" in the 3.75 inch scale, one of my prouder moments as a parent!) From that point on I started doing set ups with her Star Wars figures and other toys we had available. (Playmobil/Fischer Price stuff.) I started to take pictures of the set ups that I'd do, or that we would do while playing together and I started to post them on Instagram. From that point on I started to discover a whole world online of toy photographers out there searching through various hashtags. After awhile I discovered some photographers doing some really amazing stuff, guys like sgtbananas, x_captain_kaos_x, swittpics and mr_gizmo_. Whether it be their outdoor shots or work with dioramas, it really got my brain going and I dived right in.

"Like fire across the galaxy, The Clone Wars spread."

At first I only did shots utilizing 3.75 scale figures. I'm a HUGE fan of The Vintage Collection and I am still playing catch up with that line. I sadly missed the boat when it was being released initially. Psyched that its making a comeback and hopefully it makes a huge impact on its return. I'm already formulating plans for photographing that Hovertank they unveiled at SDCC this Summer!

Eventually and against my instincts I started to pick up 6 inch Black Series figures and trying them out for photography. It took a little while but I got hooked on them as well. I think it was after getting a couple of Sandtrooper figures that really did it. From a collector standpoint/parent I'm 3.75 scale all the way, with a big preference for super articulated figures, but as a photographer i have to concede that you can get a greater sense of realism with the 6 inch figures than the 3.75 ones. But then with the 3.75 line there is just so much more variety and all the vehicles that can be utilized as well to add a lot of fun to shoots. And I have to say that TVC's Dengar figure that Hasbro did may be the best figure they have ever made in ANY scale. The facial sculpt and paint job on that figure alone make it amazing. It looks better than all the other 6 inch humans they've done.

Scarif Days

"The Rebels will pay dearly for this..."

With my work I really love trying to imagine "cut scenes" or things that may have happened in between movies. Or like now and for the coming months, what WILL happen in a movie. Getting the new figures for Force Awakens/Rogue One/The Last Jedi really gets my imagination going and Its great trying to imagine scenes from these films before they come out. I think it really tends to bring out the best in the toy community as a whole. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with in the coming months!

I'd like to thank the crew at BanthaSkull for asking me to participate in this feature and to debut some new pics for the first time!


Chris was kind enough to share the following images, and we're excited that he allowed us to premiere them for him:







We're floored, Chris, and we thank you for sharing!

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