As part of the Summer festival we held in July, we recently hosted a brief Photo Contest, giving customers the opportunity to share photos of their creations and collections with a ‘Summer Theme.’

The window for submission was quite brief, so we didn’t expect lots of entries, but we’re happy to say we received a lot more submissions than we expected!

For this look at the winners, we’ve compiled the winning entries, as well as some comments from the creators on how they produced the photos, as well as their inspirations! We’ll start with the runner ups, so keep reading to the end to see the contest’s overall winner!

Runner Up 1 - Matteo

The first of our runner up entries, this photo from Matteo somehow manages to capture the vibe of a summer vacation, with a model camper van parked up by the beachside, with small miniatures of a surfboard and a ‘be careful of sharks’ sign, which both add a lot of fun detail to this awesome photo.

Not only does it match the theme really well, but there’s a lot of attention to detail in the composition and style!

Unfortunately, Matteo wasn’t able to provide a comment before this page was released, but we really liked this entry - great work!

Runner Up 2 - Aaron

For our second Runner Up entry, we chose this really interesting entry by Aaron, which features a Gundam model sitting on a window, looking out across a town. Behind the model, the Gundam has some pints of beer, books and empty bottles, giving a lot of character to the moment captured.

The creator, Aaron, had this to say: ‘I took it while I was traveling in Tallinn, Estonia. Used only my phone for the shot: a Pixel 7 Pro. That was the view from outside my bedroom window at the time. Originally, I was only taking shots of the landscape when it struck me: "This would be a great figure shot", recreating what I was doing at the time- reading and having a few drinks. Probably one of my all-time personal favorite photos.’

Runner Up 3 - Megan

This next runner up entry really showcases the power of good lighting in figure photography. For Megan’s entry, they’ve created a whole scene around some incredible, serendipitous lighting!

The creator, Megan, had this to say: ‘While out on an evening walk, I stumbled across this field bathed in the most incredible golden hour light—the low sun softened every color into a warm, dreamlike glow. I’ve wanted to shoot Eyjafjalla in soft lighting for a while, so I grabbed my camera and returned the next evening to capture her. The backlit translucent details on her outfit came together even better than I’d hoped, she looks like she truly belongs here in this scene.’

Megan is quite the collector, and you can view their My Figure Collection account here!

Runner Up 4 - Bta

Nico Robin is one of the most beloved of One Piece’s core cast, and this next runner up entry from Bta is one that highlights Nico’s awesome design and also has a really fantastic composition and use of framing.

The creator, Bta, said this about the piece: ‘I feel this figure lends itself particularly well for these kinds of outdoor shoots. I took the photo on a bright sunny day to capture the natural lighting and the reflecting sun from the water.’

We think Bta achieved their goal well, and the reflecting sun is captured beautifully in the final shot. Amazing work!

Second Place (1) - Alexey

Because there were so many amazing entries, we decided to award second place to not just one but two participants. This entry by Alexey features a classic car parked and looking onto the sunset, in a particularly ‘summery’ way.

Alexey didn’t return with a comment on this piece before this article was released, but we think this one manages to capture the feeling of a late summer skyline, a roadtrip and a dream.

Second Place (2) - Guy

Our second second place winner, Guy, submitted this incredible piece, which combines a summer themed NIKKE scale figure with the perfect ocean backdrop.

The creator, Guy, had this to say about how it was made: ‘’Rapi: Classic Vacation’ from Nikke was shot on location on the beach in Crescent Bar, WA - I took Rapi to a local beach to showcase this stunning figure. The sun was shining perfectly on Rapi and the small waves rolling in that day made the picture practically shoot itself! I shot this with a Canon EOS T7i with a Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens and edited it in Lightroom.’

First place WINNER - Stephen

For the winner of the photo contest, we wanted to choose the entry that married the theme of ‘summer’ with some kind of elegant execution in the craft or photography of the piece itself. This entry by Stephen has all of that and more, with a complete and detailed diorama based on the classic animated feature film ‘The Iron Giant.’

As you look at the photo, you’ll see that there’s a lot of effort that’s gone into the production here, and all of it is tangible and physical effects, captured in camera rather than anything added in post-production effects.

As explained by Stephen himself, ‘The photo I created was made all practically using lighting, figures, miniature sets and I used tin foil for the water and cotton wool for the water splashes, there's very little digital work in it other than the Iron Giant's eyes which I added a glow too!’

We really appreciated the dedication to the craft visible in the final piece, so we awarded the first place price to Stephen. We think it’s fantastic, and a worthy winner!

We want to thank not just these winners, but everyone who participated in the Summer Festival Photo Contest! We loved looking at all of the entries, including many that we couldn’t include here.

We’re looking forward to running similar contests in the future, so let us know what kind of thing you’d like to participate in!