Comic Book Man
14th January 
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This weekend was the exciting one when the Convention center in Toronto got invaded by aliens, Comic book, Sci-fi and Anime fans. If you are a comic book fan and live in Toronto, there is a good chance that you have made your way down to the coolest comic book store around, the Silver Snail. Then you must already know George, who runs the place. But this is not a story about the store or about comic books, this is a story about George.
George let me come into his house and photograph him in his Kingdom filled with his favorite art and collectibles.
It was a cold winter day and there was next to no light available. I had to light it all and I really didn’t mind. Somehow the subject needed more than just available daylight.
All of the action figures, three dimensional pieces of art stand out better if lit in somewhat dramatic way. Especially since they are very dramatic fictional characters, lighting them this way makes complete sense to me.
George has a massive collection of action figures and wide range of replicas of weapons. Everything from the shields of Spartans from “300″ to swords of the knights from the “Lord of the Rings” to the fabulous Captain America shield and a helmet George finished himself. And as I learned while visiting him, he is not only a collector, but also an artist and an illustrator. He has been collecting action figures since he was a little boy and the Green Lantern was always one of his favorites. No wonder there were many of them, couple of hundred scattered all around his house. You can wonder around for hours and keep on discovering new fun stuff!
There is something really cool about people that have the drive and commitment to create a huge collection of whatever it is that floats their boat.
The time and resources it takes to acquire a collection like this is a huge deal. But what I like the most is that a part of this collection George made himself. There are some very unique pieces and some that have an enormous amount of craftsmanship invested into them. Even George’s cat looks like a character from a graphic novel. It’s not only his wicked two colored eyes and beautiful long hair that gives him a mane like a lion’s. His personality follows the suit. Curious and inquisitive, calm and cool, he almost seems wise if that can be said about a cat! He fit right in with all of the decor. Almost as if he were one of the Superheros surrounding him all around. He can best be described as a Cool Cat!
I admit, I am a voyeur and I love being invited into peoples homes and photograph their lives. It’s an honor to be trusted with someones personal privacy and get an insight into their reality. I guess that is the unique advantage that being a photographer offers.
But there is another advantage, I don’t have to be the one to clean this house. Can you imagine dusting this place?!
