US Marine photographer recreates iconic war photography with Star Wars action figures
May 9, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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We just posted about Felix’s Sandtroopers project yesterday, but is it too soon to post another Star Wars miniature related project? We don’t think so, so here’s a behind the scenes look into photographer Matthew Callahan’s essay, Galactic Warfighters.
As a US Marine, Matthew serves as a combat correspondent, giving him special insight into war photography that many of us will never be able to experience first hand. In his Galactic Warfighters series, Matthew aims to humanise the faceless soldiers of the Star Wars universe by combining the worlds of science fiction with real world war photography scenes.
Basing his work off real world scenes, and iconic war photography images, Matthew definitely brings these small characters to life.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-oaNsHERjV
The image above is based on Lucian Read’s “Hell House” photograph shot in November, 2004. You can see the original image here on Lucian’s website. The next image is based off a picture of Sgt. William Bee photographed by Goran Tomasevic in May, 2008.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-U_kw-ERuF/?taken-by=galactic_warfighters
Matthew’s technical abilities are at least as impressive as the mood and emotion that these images pass along to the viewer, taking miniature action figures and breathing life into them.
https://www.instagram.com/p/-UK–OERp5/?taken-by=galactic_warfighters
https://www.instagram.com/p/_mNOSekRiF/?taken-by=galactic_warfighters
As with a lot of miniature photography, Matthew creates staged scenes in which to photograph the action figures.
https://www.instagram.com/p/_mgdhIERsW/?taken-by=galactic_warfighters
When the fighting’s all over, sometimes you just want your subject to sit for a nice studio portrait.
https://www.instagram.com/p/9Jd_wRkRkt/?taken-by=galactic_warfighters
It’s a very cool project, and the real world inspiration gives it an interesting twist.
You can find out more about Matthew Callahan and the Galactic Warfighters project on his website, and follow the project over on Instagram.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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One response to “US Marine photographer recreates iconic war photography with Star Wars action figures”
Wait till this guy arrives! :) Nice work – the first thing I thought though was that stormtroopers wouldn’t be getting that close with their aim :D