We have been fans of Trevor Williams / One:Six Shooter’s work for quite some time, so we were thrilled when he agreed to not only do this interview for the website, but to partner with us to add his stunning photography to the Mythic Legions line!
If you’ve never seen Trevor’s Mythic Legions images, you are in for a treat! Check out some of his amazing shots in the interview below!
To get started, please introduce yourself!
I’m Trevor Williams AKA One:Six Shooter. Initially I shot a lot of 1/6th figures which is where the handle comes from. I’m an Owner/Creative Director of a small marketing agency on Long Island, NY by day and I do a fair amount of professional photography for that part of my life as well. And now, I’m thrilled to be working with Mythic Legions as their photographer!
How did you first get introduced to Mythic Legions?
I first started seeing the Eathyron and 1.0 waves in photos on IG and was immediately drawn to them. I’ve always loved fantasy art and was actually thinking about shooting some gaming miniatures to scratch that creative itch. So, finding ML was serendipitous! I realized I was a little late to the game and the aftermarket prices were a little steep so I was a bit bummed out, but I jumped on some figures from the Advent of Decay and I was hooked. I have over ninety now at last count.
What have been your favorite Mythic Legions shots that you have taken so far?
“Which of my children do I love most?” LOL. I do love them all in some way, but a few have made their way to the top of my list for different reasons. After some initial skeleton shots (some of my favorite figures) the one that I nailed the look that I try to get with most ML shots – the fantasy art look – was “The Orc King” (see above). It was very well-received and is still a kind of high mark for my Legions shots. “To Catch a Thief” was fun to do putting Snagg in a thief situation - he has a lot of character!
Another favorite and one of the more complex setups was the “Surrounded by Death” image (seen above). The Skeletons hold their poses very well, but having so many figures so tightly configured and shooting down on the scene was challenging. I love the colors in that one. More recently, the lighting on “The Green Team” featuring an orc/ogre/troll squad and “The Dragon Cask” (seen below) came out very nicely.
What is your process for setting up a shot and going from idea to final image?
I generally start with a pretty solid idea of what I want in my head and sometimes that translates closely to the setup but often it takes a little detour – mostly for the better - along the way.
I try to set up the main figures, a few background figures (if any), and the base diorama/prop elements to start to frame up the image and see what other elements I need to tell the story and compose the shot. I don’t want to have to set up more than I need to fill the frame.
Once things are roughly in place, I’ll start placing lights and moving them around, adding gels, reflectors, etc. until I get what I’m looking for. This is often the longest process. I’ll take sometimes hundreds of shots, review them and then more often than not, I’ll go back, tweak a few things and re-shoot.
After I’m happy with the image, I’ll work in Lightroom and Photoshop to adjust contrast, colors, curves, dodging and burning, etc. until I think it has the look I want. I generally don’t add a lot of Photoshop effects (fire, light rays, hiding stands, etc.) unless it’s something like a lightsaber. I try to get as much done in-camera as possible. I know Photoshop very well and I’ve done some PS heavy images, but I like the challenge of doing things practically.
Besides Mythic Legions and Four Horsemen Studios, what other kinds of projects have you worked on?
I’ve done a lot of promotional shots for Quantum Mechanix (Qmx) on several of their sixth scale figure licenses including Star Trek, IT/Pennywise, The Princess Bride and Supernatural. These are a lot of work, but fun to do and it’s a cool feeling to see your work on retailers’ sites and on the figure boxes in stores!
Aside from that, I’ve done a few shots for Mezco, and recently I’ve been doing some promo images for vinyl designer toys – which is a challenge, since they don’t articulate much, if at all.
I’m also the lead reviewer and photographer for Exclu Magazine – a pop culture news, toy photo, and tutorial site where I review 1/6th, 1/12th, and yes, Mythic Legions figures. Recently, I’ve revived my YouTube account and I’m starting to produce tutorial videos on toy photography for beginners and people already in the hobby.
What are your favorite kinds of figures to shoot or preferred settings to shoot in?
I have a BIG (130 +/-) 1/6th collection and they are great to shoot close-ups with but because of their size, it’s harder to do wider shots without having to build big sets. So lately, I’ve been into the 6-7” figures and building/buying dioramas and set pieces for them. Not sucking up here, but Mythic Legions have been, by far, my favorites to shoot for the last couple of years.
I am a pretty strict indoor/studio photographer. I like to control light and have time to get what I want without having to race the sun, clouds, and weather. I also like having what I need in terms of sets, lights, reflectors, stands etc. to get the look I want and carting all that around to a remote location is a hump. But I have done it and it’s challenging and you can get nice results, just not my first choice.
What would fans of your work be surprised to learn?
I’m too old to be playing with toys? Haha! I don’t know - maybe the amount of time it takes to make most of these photos. The final images often require taking hundreds of shots to get the lighting, poses, atmosphere and angles just right. Each shot is several hours of work from setup, shoot (sometimes reshoot), and editing.
As for the toys themselves, what are your favorite Mythic Legions figures so far?
Ravena for sure – I think I’ve used her the most for photos. I love the colors, her eye paint is great, and I’m a big fan of the hooded figures.
Love me some skeletons, too and I have quite a few of them. Jjuno the Crusher also has a fantastic head sculpt and is just a classic-looking fantasy art badass female, and lately I’ve been using Torgun Redfin quite a bit, so I guess he’s becoming a favorite as well.
In closing, where can fans follow you and see more of your work?
I’m on Instagram, and now TikTok as @onesix_shooter, and Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and MeWe as @onesixshooter. My YouTube channel is “Shoot Your Toys with One:Six Shooter” and you can pick up some prints on onesixshooter.com or Etsy as well. And I’ll always post Legions stuff on the Cabal of course!
Published on 05.15.20