Look on any doll forum and you will see that there are many, many images of dolls in everyday scenarios such as doing tasks as simple as watching TV, doing housework, getting ready to go out.
Some of these shoots are professional level, others, such as my own, not so much, but the commonality they share is that the love evidently felt for the subjects of the shoot.
The images breath a new level of life into these girls beyond the marketing glamour shots and paint more a picture of domestic bliss through the eyes of the girl's owners.
When we spoke about art a couple of weeks back this subject was touched upon but this time let us discuss instead the capture of images of these girls not from the perspective of the professional artist but rather from the viewpoint of the interested amateur looking to capture life rather than an image intended to sell.
Upfront, I will say that this is no photographic master class, I'm certainly not the person to be giving that.
But rather, just a brief discussion about how these girls make fantastic models very accommodating to the photographer's demands.
Also, note that this article is absolutely nothing to do with any form of pornography but rather it is about breathing life into your girl through images of her going about her normal daily life.
It may seem a strange concept for those just thinking of buying a doll and still imagining her as a sex toy that very few doll owners consider their girls in any form of pornographic context.
Although often shared proudly with other doll photographers such is generally not the reason behind taking the images, which should rather be considered a very personal record of your life with her.
As with pictures taken of a girlfriend or wife, these images are primarily for personal consumption and if others like them then so much the better.
To a certain extent when one is truly proud of their girl that has, after all, cost you a lot of money, being able to share tasteful images of her with other like-minded people does make one closer to their girls as well as feeling part of a community.
If you are considering your girl as a photo model be prepared for the slow slight movement of stop motion video used by Aardman animations in order to find those elusive poses where the girls really reveal their true selves.
You will take several hundred photos in a shoot, you will move photo's from folder to folder eliminating the number down to those few truly exceptional gems worthy of finishing using photo editing software to perfect the exposure and focus.
Personally I have nothing special, no special lighting or reflective umbrella's. Just an old 2MP Olympus point and click camera and some free software (Fotor).
Although my pictures are never going to hang on anyone else's walls, my girls come to life in front of the lens and so can yours. My own family album of my girls contains so much life that it is difficult to ever envisage them as inanimate.
One of the other bloggers here, Algaeholics, through the doll forums taught me a lot about natural light and more natural posing of the eyes. Through studying professional photographers such as Psion Satori and Mandos you will discover how to pose the hips, tilt their heads.
Every shoot is a voyage of discovery and through it, you will become that much closer to your girl as you see those micro-expressions captured on film that you never noticed until filtering through the many images captured of her.
It took me quite some time to venture out of the bedroom to expand the studio to the rest of the house and was years before they were allowed into the garden. But, some brave souls venture a lot further afield with their girls.
I have seen photoshoots where people have shot some fantastic images in forests, abandoned castles, the seashore. Anywhere that people are not it seems has been the backdrop for photo shoots of these girls.
The likelihood is that your girl will be in the weight range of 28 to 35kg. When they arrive limbs may be a little stiff to move and getting them to look natural feels like an impossible task. But, consider this.
Famous professional photographers work with these exact same girls, with the same weight and stiffness. Yet they find that glance of the eye or slight slant of the head that turns a doll into a living, breathing thing of beauty.
Considering things such as the weight, how does one get these girls to more exotic locations? A doll wearing sunglasses in the passenger seat of your car is indistinguishable from a human....
Just keep your fingers crossed that the car doesn't break down as explaining the passenger to the nice person from the AA or RAC is not a conversation that you really want to be having!
The films such as "Lars and the Real Girl", and "Splash" the concept of the wheelchair to get the girls to location seems to have been quite widely adopted and again is another way to avoid attention until one knows that they are completely on their own.
The primary advantage of modern head connector systems is that heads are able to be swapped quickly, very much facilitating the ability to create the impression of multi doll shoots whilst only needing to get one body to where it needs to be.
So, are you tempted? Not only is it another element to having these girls in your life but it also helps to bring you closer to them.
One of my own girls I had no particular interest in until doing a photoshoot with her and that completely changed the relationship with her to a much more intimate one.
There are several doll oriented websites on which the images of your girls can be shared amongst like-minded people who are always happy to see images of much-loved girls through the eyes of their human either as simple images or in the form of photo stories.
Following on from last week's thread, introducing your girl to a career in modelling may also help transition from the honeymoon period into a stable relationship by allowing others to see the girl that you are so proud to have at your side, it really helps to cement that relationship.
Just remember always that it does not matter what others think of your photographs. It is what they mean to you... To quote David Bailey "Anyone can be a great photographer, you just have to zoom in enough on what you love".
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