These Lego Star Wars photographs are amazing works of art
Lego Star Wars is great. That’s a fact. But we never imagined anyone would use Lego Star Wars models to create the awesome photographic art you see above.
Yes, that’s Lego. Blink and you could mistake it for a VFX model or CGI shot. However, it’s actually the work of artist Hue Hughes, who’s spent the last few years snapping toys and creating these kind of dynamic scenes.
What’s especially impressive is that there’s no CGI involved. Hughes accomplishes this with practical and in-camera effects. That blizzard this Snow Scout Trooper is riding through? That’s baking powder, introduced at just the right moment.
The result is more impressive than even Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga’s rendition of Hoth, albeit with less motion. Though we shouldn’t understate the amount of work that went into creating that shot. As Hughes confirms on his Instagram, it took multiple takes.
Then there’s this breathtaking shot of two AT-ATs stomping through the snow, as some unlucky Snowtroopers trudge along. Yes, it’s another Hoth shot but we’re serious fans of Star Wars’ frostiest battleground.
We spoke to Hughes who shed some light on this excellent image. The AT-AT at the front is the massive (and pricey) Ultimate Collector’s Series set. But the one in the background is the smaller, ‘regular’-sized set, a smart, sneaky way of fooling our eyes.
The image was part of a series done for Lego, which proves his work is getting the right kind of attention. “I recreated the Hoth landscape which seemed fitting for the toys provided. I wanted to show the immense scale of the UCS AT-AT by putting it next to minifigs and other Star Wars sets,” he explains.
But the shoot wasn’t without its issues. The set itself took four days to assemble and since the UCS sets are generally meant for display, not play, moving the AT-AT around was occasionally an issue.
“Some pieces did fall apart, but that was mostly related to me moving it quickly between setups,” he adds. The AT-AT luckily survived the shoot, because we can only image the torment of having to build this twice in a row. As with the also-impressive X-Wing below, Hughes used a fog machine nail the look.
Because, as Hoth-heavy as this article is, Hughes has captured a wealth of different sets, from Republic Gunships, to X-Wings through to Rey’s Speeder. We’d love to see some of these images turn up on actual Lego sets, the UCS range at least.
You can find out more about Hue’s toy photography on his website, or follow his latest work on Instagram.
