PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - EQUIPMENT

This single light source has a hood and diffusion screen in front of the lights to avoid hot spots and light reflections on smooth objects. This complete item has been available on eBay for $100.00.

This background and lighting set-up comes complete and can often be found for about $100.00 on eBay. I purchased a similar version two years ago. It does take up a lot of space but I have the room for it.

45 Watt 5000k Compact Fluorescent Daylight Balanced Photo Bulbs. These are available on eBay for various prices and often are included in lighting set-ups.

Three Fold Presentation Board is a great simple background that is lightweight and easy to carry outside or store away. At STAPLES for under $10.00

Graduated backgrounds come in many different colors. I use a dark brown to light brown version. The laminated paper version is about $20.00 on eBay but I don't recommend it because paper tends to wrinkle. The vinyl version is a bit more expensive, about $65.00, but is almost indestructible and worth every penny.


While cameras vary in price from one hundred to several hundred dollars it often becomes difficult to select one that will give the doll photographer the best results. Of course today everything is digital so that is an easy decision. The second consideration (for me) is ease of use. I don't need a camera with a hundred options and functions I will never need or use. However, I would want a camera with a close-up function that avoids distortion when the lens is in close for detail images. Currently I use a very basic CANON Power Shot that cost under $200.00 a few years ago and still works perfectly.

The other consideration is studio equipment -- lighting and backgrounds. There are many items you can buy for about one hundred dollars if you buy them on eBay. Photo shop sellers often offer items at auction with a low starting price and that is when you can often find a bargain. And, they often offer items at a very inexpensive BUY NOW price just to move merchandise.

THOUGHTS ABOUT BEING A FATHER

My father was a difficult, complex man who had a brilliant mechanical mind that created many inventions. Most of his life he worked for the government starting in WW2 and then with the space program in Florida. He was charming with friends and strangers but had an angry dark side only the family saw. Today we would call his actions abusive but back in the fifties it passed as discipline. We had our differences and in his later years we finally parted company. His father died when he was fourteen and I don't think he ever got over it. He considered himself a fatherless child and often remarked that he had no background for fathering.
I became a father the first time at eighteen. My wife died in childbirth and I was totally unprepared to be a single father so for the first five years Christopher was raised by my parents. Fortune smiled on me and I got a good job and was able to bring Chris to live with me in New York City. I could afford a Nanny and I learned to be a father "on the job." Actually, I think all parents learn on the job. Back then it was unusual to see a single father and child and there wasn't much support available. That just meant we had to figure it out together.
I didn't marry again until I was forty. Julie and I had a son and daughter together. Adam and Alexandra grew up in California in our little community that eventually became a sort of creattive commune where we got together with other artists to home school our kids. It was the 1970s and the free spirit of the Love Generation inspired and infused everything. Chris was a wonderful older brother and our family enjoyed many happy times together.
Later, when my Teddybear character HUG became the spokesbear for SAVE THE CHILDREN, I joined the program and we adopted a child in China. Over the years I exchanged hundreds of letters with Tom and finally we brought him to America to become a permanent part of our family. Now he a student at Princeton.
I guess the measure of a good father is how happy his kids are. We teach what we can and they learn what they want. My daughter was her mother's child and they were always very close. But, in her teens Alexandra decided that I might have important information about men and she became much more interested in what I had to say.
I was asked once what was the greatest gift my parents gave me. I answered, "They left me alone." My parents had a terrific partnership and seemed to always be in a world all their own. They left me on my own to discover who I was and what I was going to become. That was a wonderful gift. It has always been difficult for me to step back and let my kids stumble and tumble and take risks that got them bruised. But I wanted them to have the same freedom of expression and investigation that I had enjoyed. I guess the most important thing we can do is just love them.
And now that I am a Grandfather I have new things to learn about that role. I know that I'm now allowed to spoil and indulge my Granddaughter because that's what Grandfathers do. And every now and then I get to do some babysitting -- but not often enough.
I do hope she grows up to like dolls.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - SHADOWS

Another element of the storytelling aspect of a photograph is the presence of cast shadows. In the adult world, photos are full of cast shadows that add dimension to any image. In the world of dolls cast shadows are just as important to creating a sense of space and reality.
One good trick is to use a "presentation board" -- a three-fold cardboard background that can serve as a wall or corner in the photo. They are available at stationary stores or it is easy to create one.
Looking at the top photograph you can see a faint vertical line behind Sasha's head that indicates the corner she is standing in to create this type of cast shadow. The other images were created by moving the wall closer or setting it at an angle from one side or the other. No matter how you position the board a cast shadow will help to create a sense of dimension and reality.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - BACKGROUNDS

Selecting the right background for a photo can make a great difference in the final result. I have a couple of favorite backgrounds when working in the studio.
A solid black background will always give you the most beautiful photograph of your subject. Next would be a dark color. The photo with the dark turquoise background has the same light setting as the one with the black background. Both backgrounds are made of felt because it gives the softest, most even, background tonality.
The center photo with the textured ivory background has similar lighting but appears to have much less contrast or drama. The texture is just a terry cloth towel that creates a lovely, soft pattern to the background.
Another wonderful material to use for backgrounds is a professional gradual tone professional vinyl sheet. You can use it with the tone going from dark at the top to light on the bottom, or reverse it from light to dark. Or, you can use it from side to side and create an interesting shadowed effect the way the bottom photo demonstrates. You can see this background was used in other photos on my blog.
You can create background boards by stretching fabric over display boards so that you can use them outside if you prefer working in natural light.

ENJOY.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - BACKLIGHT

Another favorite lighting trick of beauty and fashion photographers is BACKLIGHT. This effect can be achieved both indoors and outdoors. And it usually is combined with BOUNCE LIGHT.
The light source, sun or lamp, is positioned behind the subject. A bounce card is usually placed in front of the subject to illuminate the front of the face. Or two bounce boards, or secondary lights, are placed on either side of the subject.
Very often a fashion photographer will combine BACKLIGHT, BOUNCE LIGHT, and WIND to achieve a more dramatic effect.
The end goal of any photograph is to tell a story and in the case of Sasha, whose expression is fixed, it can be made more realistic by the position of the head and the various ways the lighting is used.
In these photos her expression almost seems to change from image to image simply because of the lighting and the tilt of her head.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - WINDBLOWN

Beauty and fashion photographers love to use wind machines to create free flowing effects with both hair and clothing. A photographer without a wind source is limiting their fun effects. A standard room fan is too large and too powerful to be used with a Sasha doll and difficult to focus on specific areas. I use a hand-held hair dryer set on either high or medium to get the windblown effects that bring Sasha to life in photos. The trick is to focus on blowing the hair without getting it all tangled up. Point the hair-dryer towards the front of the doll slightly below the shoulder lever so that the hair lifts up behind the doll and doesn't blow into her face. Once you figure out exactly how to get the effect you want it is time to play with various other positions like from the side or from slightly behind the doll.
The pictures above were taken this way and the hair-dryer was set on high for all of the shots.

HAVE FUN.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA - BOUNCE LIGHT

The most typical light source for taking photographs is the sun. Whether outside or inside by a window, the sun is the most extreme version of single point lighting. Professional photographers working outside often use large white or silver reflectors to "bounce" light on their subject in order to soften the shadows.
If you are inside by a window, and that is your light source, it will improve your pictures if you use a reflector to bounce light to the darker side of the object.
A very basic example is demonstrated here where the top photo shows Sasha with light coming from one side. The face is illuminated on one side but quite dark on the other. This is dramatic but not very flattering. The middle picture shows the result of using a white board placed close to the doll but out of the picture focus range. Now the face is illuminated on both sides with one side still in shadow but more softly illuminated.
The bottom photo shows how close the white board is to the doll. Typically, bounce boards are either white or silver. A mirror will reflect almost 100% of the light source while a white or silver board will reflect about 50% of the original source -- creating a softer shadow side to the face.
This technique works both inside and outside. It is always best to avoid photographing a doll in direct, intense sunlight as it tends to create very deep dark shadows. These can be softened with a bounce board but you will get even more beautiful results if you work in a slightly shadowed area on the fringe of direct sunlight or on slightly cloudy days. Or, you can take photos late in the afternoon when the sun is not as strong or directly overhead.

Have fun.

PHOTOGRAPHING SASHA

The glamorous photographs of the great 1940s Hollywood beauties by George Hurrell are a superb example of single point lighting. When photographing Sasha I have often been inspired by his style to create drama in my black and white images. This single point lighting can involve more than one light source but the overall effect is that there is just one spotlight.
Cameras with a flashbulb often give this effect, more by accident than design. But, if the flash is too strong it will tend to bleach out the center of the image.

In the days ahead I will be sharing a few quick and easy photography tricks so that you can all increase your fun with photography. The most important thing to remember is that it is not the camera that takes the photo -- it is your eye looking through the lens that makes all the difference between a dull photo and a charming one. A good photographer can use any camera to get beautiful results.

Remember the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words so every image should not only tell your story but provoke one in the viewer's mind as well.

MY BIRTHDAY SASHA

Please say hello to my Birthday Sasha. I discovered her several months ago on Shelly's website and was smitten. She is very similar to my other early 1970s girls but, of course, has a personality all her own. It took several months to pay off her adoption fee but she arrived just in time for my birthday. This is her first photo shoot with me, but certainly not her last.
She is a bit of a waif with quite straight hair and a small section of overly trimmed fringe that was probably done at the factory. She has been restrung but needs to be untangled inside. She has her original gingham dress but came dressed in this charming outfit.
We all love a bit of mix-n-match and this little one has an original dress and panties with original socks, but a later Gotz wrist tag and later Gotz shoes.

We have been enjoying my "getting older day" with the rest of my Sasha clan.

I REMEMBER MOMMA

Mother's Day brings back many memories of my mother, Theresa, who was shy and often overshadowed by my father and his dynamic mother -- Nana Laura. My mother was called "Teddy" before I was born and she and my father grew up in the same neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. His family was wealthy, and her family was working class. Both families were immigrants -- hers from Sweden and his from Germany and Ireland. They were high school sweethearts and married at eighteen. They were also both stunt pilots and worked in a "Flying Circus" where my mother was a wing-walker. I often joke that my "mental state" was caused by being nurtured in an upside womb. My father was a talker but my mother was very quiet. The youngest of three sisters, she was raised in a family of loud voices and much laughter. Her oldest sister, Gwen, was great friends with Nana Laura in later years and they were often "naughty" together. My mother loved cats -- both real and in miniature china versions. She was easy to buy presents for since anything cat-themed was always a winner. My father collected model trains and Nana Laura collected dolls and teddy bears. So I grew up in a household full of collectors.
My mother was a slim beauty until the day she died. She often commented that she could still wear dresses that she had worn as a young women. And she had one distinguishing feature -- just one front tooth. It wasn't that the other one was knocked out, but that she was born with just one -- like the famous TV puppet dragon "Ollie" from the popular 1950s series, "Kukla, Fran, and Ollie" who always commented on his prehensile tooth. The odd thing was, no one ever seemed to notice it.
While Gwen and Nana Laura were openly vivacious and naughty, Theresa was a bit shy and quiet but in any one-on-one situation she turned quite chatty and those were my best memories of her. She loved to read and had her own thoughts and opinions about everything, but more often than not, she keep them to herself. She adored my first wife, Ann, who lived in our neighborhood. However, she disapproved of Ann's father who drank too much and was abusive to his wife and children. On that topic she had strong opinions.
I often wonder about the gene pool I emerged from and what parts of each parent are most prominent in me. I look a lot like my father, but I like to think that I inherited my mother's ability to look at life more objectively than my father did. In these times she might have become a sympathetic counselor or even a diplomat. Back then she was just happy to be a wife and mother, and she was very good at both.

Happy Mother's Day to all.

SNAPPY BUNNY CLASS

The first SNAPPY BUNNY class has been posted on the blog today. The special instructions for BUNNY are posted. The general instructions are the same for BUNNY and BEAR.

Classes are here: http://tedsteddytalk.blogspot.com/

MAKING BUNNY KITS

Baby Sasha and Snappy Bunny are busy helping Daddy Ted make up the SNAPPY BUNNY kits. Each kit comes with a pattern on heavy paper, white mohair fur, pink felt, a pink nose pom-pom, a white tail pom-pom, two white cheek pom-poms, black bead eyes, stringing thread, and snaps for joints.
Classes will be online next week at http://tedsteddytalk.blogspot.com/

SASHA LOVES UGGS

My favorite boot-maker has created a line of UGG style boots especially for Sasha and Gregor. The first group of wonderful colors can now be seen on my " The Shop on Sasha Street" blog.
There you will find pictures, prices, and ordering information.

ENJOY
http://shopsashastreet.blogspot.com/

PROTECTING SASHA

One of the problems we all face as Sasha collectors is the consequence of staining. I recently had a Gregor suffer stains from a waist band and then from a pair of boots. After investing in several tubes of OXY10 the stains have lightened considerably and I'm sure will eventually disappear, but it takes a long time and can get expensive if a stain persists.

We all like to dress and redress our dolls and this staining problem cannot be predicted. So I decided to take steps to protect my dolls against staining by having Wendy at DOLL SECRETS create a flesh colored body suit for Sasha. It consists of tights and a leotard and only costs $15.00 -- a small price to pay for protection.

Here is the link to her delightful website http://dollsecrets.com/index.html

BORROWING FASHIONS - 30

In the late 1960s IDEAL introduced the "Crissy" doll and her family and friends including "Velvet" and an extensive wardrobe of Love Generation fashions. Here is Sasha dressed in "Hippie Happening" which features lovely accents like thin pink insertion ribbons in the lace trim. The ivory fabric features ribbed detailing. The dress is accented with a yarn belt in hot pink and Aqua. This is a beautifully crafted dress that looks wonderful on Sasha but doesn't quite fit her waist. That is easily altered with the addition of two strips of matching ribbon in the back.
The "Velvet" outfits generally fit Sasha better and are all equally charming in a retro style. While Sasha and Crissy were contemporaries in the doll world their fashion styles were very different. Nonetheless, Sasha does enjoy dressing up as a "Love-In" hippie.

BORROWING FASHIONS - 29

Sasha plays dress-up in this Prilly-Charmin ivory organza dancing dress fit for a Princess or a Flower Girl at a wedding. Little girls love to play "older" and this sweet gown features charming details like the rosebud at her neck and on the matching bow in her hair.

BORROWING FASHIONS - 28

Gregor is delighted with this Tommy Hilfiger outfit and scooter. Once again the Tommy series has provided Sasha and Gregor with a great outfit and accessories. This boxed "school" set has a scooter and a number of charming accessories including a laptop computer and carrying bag. The red strap watch is part of that set as well. Gregor's helmet is from the "roller skate" boxed set. Since most of the Hilfiger outfits and accessories are in the same color scheme, everything is easy to mix and match.
His outfit consists of a sleeveless denim vest with an attached hood and worn over a three-quarter sleeve T-shirt decorated with stars and stripes. His shorts are borrowed from the Magic Attic collection. The socks and sneakers are commercially made.

Sasha and Gregor both love the Tommy Hilfiger style of fashions and have built an extensive collection of the fashions and accessories that they have then expanded with fashions in the same color scheme from other doll collections.

Just as adult fashions can come from a variety of sources, so can doll fashions if you know where to look and keep a sharp eye out for what will work together. It takes time but the end result is always great fun.