Reading – Apertore

3A Toys released this short (20-page + cover) — but large (12″ x 12″) toy photography book back in June (release post here) and it happened to ship out quite quickly, taking roughly a month from ordering until the book reached my mailbox. And it’s a beautiful book, that while not technically “free” was certainly worth the $15 shipping and handling charge.

This book’s one that toy photography and World War Robot* fans should have on their shelves, because the work is beautiful. 3A fan @sneakofalways shot the photos, and it’s cool to see a toy manufacturer give a fan recognition by publishing such a fantastic collection of incredible photos.

I’ve gotta say that the $15 I spent on this was well worth it, because it (I hope) supports a photographer and left me with another fun book in my collection.

But it’s not a perfect book. With so few pages I would have liked to have seen more photos and a wider variety of toys showcased, but since these were photos by a fan I suspect that what we see is basically the collection of @sneakofalways. Still, it would have been nice if 3A, once they realized what a talented photographer sneak is, would have sent him a special toy or two to include in the book.

Closing Thoughts

There’s not really all that much to say, because what we have here is a short book of photographs . . . and you really have to see the photos to appreciate the work. I like the book and look forward to seeing 3A release a second book of fan photography.

You can see more in this Apertore review at ToysREvil and in my Apertore set at Flickr. It’s neat, but I don’t know if it’s neat enough that I’d encourage anyone to search for the book on eBay.