Princess Sara and the Frog's Quest

Ideas sort of start out randomly. I had this partial building that the grandkids had left me and wanted to try and do something with it.

I took out Princess Sara and her stick horse and set her in the building. I added another character and then just messed with ideas that bounced around in my head. [My husband says it is an echo chamber inside my brain!]

Some time ago, while bored, I watched a video about how you can extend a building for photography by using a mirror. I thought I'd try it. 

To create an optical illusion, I added flowers to the back where I took the wall down. If seen 'in' camera and slightly out of focus, the flowers and bricks seem to be part of the set.

The kids had left some holes in the walls of their build so I thought I'd try putting lights through them to make the scene a bit more interesting. These are some Ulanzi lights I purchased on the cheap for some other still life work.

What it looks like from above.

What it looks like from behind the camera.

I wanted to add a bit of atmosphere to the scene. There are all sorts of ways to add atmosphere. Photographer's Atmosphere [very pricey atmosphere in a spray can], fog machines [very pricey, but now they make hand held ones], and a simple battery operated face mister. The face mister has an arrow pointing to it....

To add the mist, I simply turned it on and lay it on its side next to the open space that the light was shining through.

The scene as it looked in camera.👆

I kept moving minifigs around and finally decided to have Princess Sara talking to a tiny frog. I mean all good stories have a Princess and a Frog right?

I swapped out the Acorn person for a Knight. Not just any Knight, I chose one female knight I call Joan. 
In this scene Joan holds Princess Sara's stick horse while she meets in the castle garden at night to speak to the Magical Frog.

I mean, why not? 

The mirror did its trick the castle garden seems to extend in the background forever. The lights and mist add mystery and Joan's eyes are watching over her Princess carefully.

The final shot:

For me, it was important to see Joan's eyes through her helmet. It seems silly that she is holding both an weapon and a stick horse, but that is the fun of toy photography. Anything you desire can happen.

After shooting this photo, I decided that perhaps Sara and Joan should go on the Quest that the Frog sent them on.

Do I know what their Quest is yet? Nope. I imagine if I follow them, I may figure it out eventually.

If you were my Grandma...

...that would be kinda cool. 

Such a wonderful compliment from a 10 year old. I picked up my pal Briar and took him to CrossFit with me where he read a book and I worked out. We headed home and he chatted about the weather, Covid, school, insects, history, and what he was doing for the weekend.

He was going to visit his Grandparents on mom's side. 

His mom and one sister had a doctor's appointment and for these appointments I've offered to help out by taking Briar to my house so we can take a walk or he can play with my neighbor's kids. 

After all, I have a bit more leeway in my schedule than most folks. 

After the kids gathered...

As Briar has said before. "If we come to your house we always walk to the creek. Always."

Water draws doesn't it? It draws us to it.

With the drought parts of the creek are dry. The kids were discussing what to do when I suggested a castle.

A castle for Teddy Bears...

A couple of Bears just happened to be in my camera bag.

And furious building ensued. The Bears needed a grand castle with sticks as a roof. Grass, moss, and bark were layered onto the roof to make it more secure.

And Groundchalier [not my name, but the kids came up with it] was born. Named as such because it was like a beautiful chandelier but it was on the ground.

I sat and watched and stayed quiet. This was all their fun. I was there just to keep an eye out in the woods.

Plans were hatched to build future huts for the army they were going to hire to protect the castle.

They asked if I had toys they could build huts for.

As

if...

Of course!

We headed back and stopped at the Forest Garden where they re-arranged the Gargoyle, unicorns, dragons, and dinosaurs. 

All was as it should be. 

Charlie was very sad to see his new friends go.

Until next time.