Action Figure Photography S2:E1: 3lesie - Marcel Eisele

Posted by Bret on 10/18/17 at 01:00 PM Category: Action Figure Photography

Marcel Eisele can be found on Instagram as 3lesie. He allowed us to share photography and a bit about himself here.

Hi! My name is Marcel Eisele, known on Instagram as @3lesie. I’m from Australia, but currently live in Washington DC with my wife and two boys were I work as a freelance video editor and motion graphic designer. The whole toy photography thing began for me about two years ago after my sister kept telling me I had to check out these amazing action figure shots by a guy called x_captain_kaos_x. She insisted I sign up to Instagram and said we have to give it a go. She was right, his work was AMAZING, but I’m not a photographer so I wasn’t very interested in signing up to a photography app. She started an account anyway and posted a photo of a toy she found lying on the road. Here it is in all its glory:

After such an amazing start, and being told it would be a great way to justify all my toys, I decided to jump on board and couldn’t wait to start taking photos.

My sister eventually had to focus on her real work and left me to continue the account.

I’ve been collecting Star Wars toys since the 80's and still have quite a few of my original Kenner figures. I also collect Marvel Legends, Neca, some 1/6th scale, and others, but always seem gravitate toward Star Wars for my shots. There is just something very unique and special about their designs that other figures just don’t capture for me.

The thing I have the most fun doing these days is making custom figures to photograph. I saw the work of psyfoolrulez_customs early on and was really amazed at what he was able to make.

I try taking practical effects shots, but just can’t get the hang of it, so making customs is a good way for me to do something other than just having a figure stand there doing nothing particularly interesting. I still take plenty of those kinds of shots, but now they are slightly less boring with a custom figure in it.

Most of my shots are taken in our backyard or inside using Space Walls by gtptoys. But now, after seeing the fantastic dioramas of budfutu and hemblecreationscustoms I’ve been inspired to try making my own. I’m currently in the process of making a Tatooine one, but now want to make more and more!

I’m very glad my sister made me join the toy community and every time I log into Instagram, my feed is filled with fantastic and inspiring work. It’s a great time to be a kid again!