A child-like perspective

Photographer shares his unique hobby with local kids

Why would a middle-aged man carry around a large tub of toys in the trunk of his car? If that man is Jay Grammond, the answer makes sense — as long as he has his camera with him as well.

Grammond, a kid at heart from Princeton, MN, is a toy photographer. A toy photographer?

Yes, those toys in his car are not just toys; they are the main subjects of his unique work.

Grammond has made a hobby out of placing toys — things like dinosaurs and Star Wars figures — in random settings. He uses forced perspective to make small toys appear life-size, and on Monday at the Wheels Across the Prairie Heritage Center, he showed area children just how it works.

“Toy photography is an activity that is super creative,” Grammond told the kids. “I’ll try to teach you some of the basic composition things today. Toy photography is using an object like a toy in a tiny environment — you think about the scale of the item.”

After his talk, he and the dozen or so children, headed outside to the Wheels campus, so they could give toy photography a shot. The kids eached grabbed a toy — or used one that they brought with them — and placed them in natural settings. Using their Smartphones, the junior photographers seemed to take a liking to the exercise.

“This is the first time I’ve done this with kids,” said Grammond. “This is an activity that they can do out in their yard, or they can do it with their parents.”

The event at the heritage center marked the first time Grammond has demonstrated toy photography to kids. He has also visited senior living facilities to share his craft.

Grammond, who has been doing toy photography for about six years, presented a slide show of his work to the children, showing the different environments where toy photography magic can take place.

He has taken his photos in a wide variety of settings, from snowy backgrounds and tall grass, to state and national parks. He has used a number of different backgrounds, including farm sites and parking lots. His subjects, which he usually shoots with a professional camera on a tripod, include, a dinosaur and one of four of Snow White’s dwarfs building a snowman, as well as a toy horse he photographed with a barn in the background — a photo he took from the side of a road one winter.

“I wouldn’t suggest kids do that,” he said. “When cars went by as I was doing it, they probably wondered what I was doing! You can do this just about anywhere, just look for different sceneries.”

Grammond also said the kids can use a laptop scene as a background if going outside is not an option.

There was no charge to Monday’s event, which was sponsored by the Tracy Public Library and the heritage center, but attendees were encouraged to bring a donation to the local food shelf.