Toy Story

It's The Ultimate Recycling Scheme

A British father who grew tired of discarding his children's unwanted toys is now turning them into giant sculptures instead. Robert Bradford has become a celebrated toy artist, selling his creations for up to £12,000 each. He has created dozens of sculptures that use up to 3,000 toys each.

FOOTNOTE: Transformer.

Heart Specialist

Trust Me, This Was A Delicate Operation

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This is a slinky, one of those expandable playthings that received a new lease of life in the wonderful animated movies `Toy Story' and `Toy Story II'. Regular visitors to this blog know that I always try and shoot objects from a new or unusual angle. So I took the slinky under a recessed light in the ceiling (we call them ``downlights'' here in Oz). Holding only the top rung of the slinky in my left hand, I let it fall, expanding to its full length. I knew I would get the soft glow of the downlight reflected along the slinky's plastic surface. It took this shot holding the camera in my right hand. Not an easy shot to take - and I think the kids were laughing because I looked like the Hunchback of Notre Dame!

Omission Control

Houston, We Have A Straggler

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This was just such an unusual image that I had to capture it. The abandoned figure of the NASA astronaut was just one of the many scenes I shot during the big clear-up after Moomba, the week-long Melbourne festival that welcomes autumn. There was something forlorn about this figure, propped against a portable generator before being loaded onto a truck. I grew up in the Apollo era, when astronauts represented courage and the essence of adventure. It's always struck me as highly appropriate that Andy, the child ``hero'' of the movie `Toy Story' had two favourite toys, Woody and Buzz. A cowboy. And an astronaut. There could be no better embodiment of the American pioneering spirit.