I didn’t plan this photograph. The other night a bout of insomnia caught me, couldn’t sleep. I got up and went downstairs at around 3 AM. just to do something for a little while. Rolling in bed wasn't working.
In the dead of night I began browsing thru the wintery photographs I had taken over the past few months, perhaps inspired by the wonderful blizzard we had a couple of days earlier. It was most certainly the last proper snowfall for the winter. Now, three days later all snow is gone.
When the trees in this one from January caught my eye I remembered I had some leftover Tintin Moon rocket photos from another project. I chose one that seemed about right and pasted it behind the trees to see how it looked. I cleaned it a little next day and that’s it.
I like how this one turned up, almost by itself. It’s a little different than my usual posts I guess. More dreamlike, a snapshot.
But why a rocket in the woods? Again? I really don’t know. It felt like a good idea at 3 AM.
Tags: avanaut originality Toy toyphotography tintin rocket spaceship hergé toyphotographer miniature winter snow
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For a few years that thing has been there. Nobody seems to know the owner, there is no activity around it. It's abandoned for sure. Looks haunted.
Some day I'm gonna break into it.
Tags: avanaut Miniature originality scalemodel sci-fi Toy toyphotography 2001 a space odyssey aries 1b moebius
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I made a photograph with these two five years ago to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon. I liked the idea but I was never really happy with the image. I didn't think of it too much until I took that photograph of the Moon a few weeks ago. I realised I had to redo the old Eagles photograph. They were going to the Moon and back after all, it should be there with the spacecrafts.
55 years is just as good a reason to do this as 50 years was. I mean, why not. From the original 2019 caption:
"The Apollo 11 mission to the Moon and back took place in June 1969, 50 years ago. In July 2019 we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first man on the Moon.
Perhaps the most ambitious and awe inspiring of the Apollo 11 celebrations is the commemorative lunar flight, the Apollo 11/50th. The crowdfunded Apollo 11/50th mission is scheduled for a liftoff on July 16 and to land on the Moon on July 20, exactly 50 years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.
The Apollo 11/50th mission isn’t an exact replication of the 1969 flight, it was deemed too risky. Only a replica of the Lunar Excursion Vehicle was constructed, no Saturn IV rocket, service module or command module, only the LEM.
The LEM replica with a crew of two will be escorted to the Moon and back by a private owned Eagle Tourer craft which will take over the duties of the absent SM and CM. This is also a safety measure as the Eagle is known as the most reliable spacecraft ever built."
I just love mixing the Apollo 11 LEM, nickname "Eagle", with a Space 1999 Eagle. They go so well together.
Tags: Miniature scalemodel sci-fi toyphotography space 1999 apollo 11 astrophotography moon space lem
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This thing is the ultimate spacecraft in fiction. One of them, to say the least.
The Tintin albums Destination Moon and Explorers on the Moon are pure magic even now, over 70 years after the stories were first published in Belgium's Tintin magazine. I still read those stories regularly every year. I just love that rocket.
This is a collectible I bought a while ago, not really a scale model but I wanted to do something with it.
Oh, and another thing, I have a website now: avanaut.com. It is long overdue but, well, better late than never I guess.
Tags: Miniature sci-fi Toy toyphotography tintin rocket destination moon comics bande dessinée hergé explorers on the moon
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I had an idea for a different paintjob, some new paints and an A-wing scale model. This is how it looked after the basecoat of chromium paint. It is supposed to look a lot different when I'm done but will it be better or worse remains to be seen.
Now, I thought the model looked nice at this stage, nice enough to take some photographs of it. You know, just in case.
At the moment of posting this the model already looks different. I used a masking tape for the next step and, well, it took some of the chromium paint with it when I took it off. Rats!
Tags: Miniature scalemodel sci-fi Star Wars toyphotography Toy a-wing bandai 1/72 scale work in progress the return of the jedi
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