Backcountry Bricks
About Me
I'm just a Colorado mountain gremlin with a camera.
While I'm wandering around in the wild, I bring my Lego minifigs along to capture nature from a tiny perspective.
Background
Growing up I loved Legos and saw them as a way to build my own creations rather than follow the instructions. On top of that, as a toddler I was fascinated by Jurassic Park, then became a huge Star Wars fan and eventually grew to be fascinated with pretty much anything space related as an adult. Rediscovering my love for Legos and using them to not only show my creativity, but also share my outdoor adventures has been such a blast!
The Backcountry
Some of my biggest passions in life are adventure and exploration, especially in the mountains. I'm lucky enough to live in Colorado, where I spend most of my free time hiking, snowboarding, and rock climbing, though I don't strive to be the best at any of them (photography included, lol). It's really just about my love of being in nature, and this photography hobby has been a great way to share my experiences with people in a unique way.
See the map
The Idea
Macro photography captures incredibly small details, but can lack size perspective. This can make it hard to visualize just how tiny some things really are, so I thought it would be helpful to use Lego minifigures as a reference, since most people are familiar with their size. Oftentimes people go hiking to chase the end destination and picture perfect views, but there are so many little things along the way like wildflowers, rocks, moss, etc. My goal with this photography is to highlight the small side of nature and beautiful places from the perspective of Legos.
The Science
Outside of my Lego hobby I spend most of my time working as a researcher, so I love sharing a fact with each photo to help myself and others learn more about the outdoor world. Alpine environments are incredibly complex and interesting, whether it's how plants manage to survive in such harsh conditions, the intricate details in rock formations, or weird facts about popular landmarks across the West.
The Archive
Due to Colorado's cost of living, I don't foresee having space anytime soon for a spare Lego room, so I use this photography as a digital collection instead. This is my way of "collecting" not only nostalgic and new minifigs, and it also serves as an archive of the plants, places, and small things I've seen along my adventures. Due to this I often sell my used pieces/minifigs so check out my shop page if you're looking to build your physical collection!
See the archive
The Mosaics
In addition to Minifig photography, I also love to build Lego mosaic-style art as a creative outlet. It's been a fun way to create designs with random pieces and show off some of the cool colors Lego makes. I've really enjoyed making flags to represent things I care about and different groups of people, along with finding a purpose for the random Lego pieces I have laying around. This is a corner of the Lego world I only discovered recently, but have really loved and want to share with others!
See more mosaics