it was early February, just before our youngest grandson's tenth birthday. We asked what he might like as a gift, and our daughter suggested a chess set, since he was a member of the school chess club. Well, Jan had a beautiful, vintage set from way back when he was young, and decided it would make the perfect gift for a young chess enthusiast.
I had always loved that chess set, with it's beautiful Renaissance-inspired Chess men...
I had used it once before, for a Special Days photo for 'National Chess Day' on October 9th, years ago back in 2013...
So, with the chess set moving on, it would be my final chance to use it in doll photos, so I thought holding a 'chess tournament' would be the way to feature it and give it justice one last time. So I set up Baron and Naomi's apartment...
...and some of the dolls started arriving...
Then over a period of just two days, I shot over 150 photos. I'd set up a scene and pose everyone, take some photos, then change everyone again.
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I don't know much about chess, other than what direction the pieces can move, and I figured that if I just placed the chessmen haphazard on the board there would probably be people out there who would notice that the pieces in my photos weren't set up properly. So, wanting to be as accurate as possible, I googled 'checkmate set-ups', and printed out a page with different checkmate scenarios. Then for each new game I'd place the chessmen into the positions on my print-out.
My favourite photos for telling a story are always the close-ups,
..but for true realism it's always very important to have everyone in the background posed like they are engaged with what's happening in the foreground.
The very next day after having shot the entire story, it was our grandson's birthday and we presented him with the chess set, and he immediately challenged Grandpa to a game..
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