It's quite large, so I'm going to post it under a cut.
2006: This is the year I first got my dolls. Clay is there and so is Shael. The other doll I had during this time that arrived with Clay was known as Izzy, and was the same sculpt as Leif. I have sold and purchased Dream of Doll U multiple times over the years. I had never taken photos before this year so it was a steep learning curve. I also had no money to buy ANYTHING because I spent it all on the dolls themselves so they had the worst default everything and sock clothing. 😂😂Also almost every photo used flash and messy backgrounds. LOLOL
2007: To distract from my lack of skill I opted to be silly instead, which is common in a lot of my old photos (including a million photostories). The last image says "at last! The head of Nosferatu is mine!". I also had five dolls at this point.
2008: I sold one of my dolls and got another one as a gift (Ymir). I also got a photo tent and lights from my dad which allowed some control over lighting (not that I know how any of that works even now). For Christmas that year I got a new camera (my old Canon Powershot) which I used for quite a while. Previously I was using my brother's camera which only allowed for the focus to be in the centre.
2009: I started to get props! I worked at Dollarama, mostly in the Toys & Party section so I saw a lot of the things that came in that were doll scale and bought them. At some point I ended up with two more Volks YoSDs bringing my doll total up to 7...and then I might have gotten another doll later that year. I'm a little fuzzy on those dates. I also started using scrapbook paper and boards to create proper backdrops.
2010: I started to really get into colours in my photos. I've always loved saturated colours but hadn't figured out how to get them until this year. Going outside more to take photos to edit instead of just photographing meet-ups was a big thing for me.
2011: At some point between 2010 and 2011 I really stopped caring about my dolls. I didn't really do a whole lot with them and even forgot I owned one of them. I didn't pick them up again months after I moved into my own apartment. I started to get into really photoshopping my photos. I bought my first new doll in September after not buying any since 2009.
2012: Photoshop became my best friend. I loved adjusting colours, adding brushes and playing with different things. The photo of Clay and Lacy is probably my favourite (I sold Lacy not long after to have money to spend while I was in Japan for 2 months lol).
2013: At this point I was adding as many brushes as possible. I was getting frustrated with my camera and frustrated with the monotony of my photos and looking for something to make them look better. It's interesting to look back on them now, some I really love and some I really hate. My Narin arrived at the end of the year after almost a year of waiting.
2014: I got a new camera for Christmas 2013 but I didn't know what the heck I was doing with it. It was my first DSLR and I took one photo of Ymir and immediately became frustrated and went back to what I knew, using my old camera for most of the other photos that year. I moved out of my apartment at the end of that year and started feeling more like I could collect dolls and something just clicked with using my camera.
2015: By this point I think I had my 55mm lens for my camera and every photo I took felt beautiful so I wanted to take more. I think I started this blog back then.
2016: Despite my collection of dolls and doll related items growing a lot (I added DDs, a unoa, 2 minifees, a bunnynine, two bewithyou dolls between 2014 and 2016) I wasn't really into taking photos. I wanted to, but it was such an effort to make space and set things up that the days where I had the energy were rare.
2017: This was just a shit show. I took photos for the local BJD convention Doll North (since it's part of my job as staff) but basically had no energy for anything else last year. Every time I took out my camera I just felt tired.
2018: I decided to try to take more photos this year, and having found a decent (albeit tiny) space to use in the apartment, I've already taken more than I did last year, and possibly more than 2016 & 2017 combined. Having dolls that are part of a group or are couples or saying "fuck it" to plans and just photographing dolls together because I want them really helped motivate me to take photos.
One of these days I need to do a timeline of my doll purchases. I have records of when dolls arrived but I haven't really actively kept track. It would be cool to see. At the moment I can't even remember how many I own. 😂😂
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