In 2015 two fellow Battle Beasts Collectors, Jay (@OfficialBattleBeastsofIG) and Ed (@Edmasta) started with the Battle Beasts Battleground page; BattleBeastsBattleGround2015
For that new page the following introduction was composed;
Do you remember the great Battles fought during the late 80´s in your own backyard, playground or within an impressive landscape during a holiday trip?
Now its time to become that kid again………
Take your Beasts, let them out in the woods, send them out on an expedition in an extreme outdoor environment or let them Battle on the old playground once more BUT this time take a picture and share it with other Battle Beasts collectors world wide!
Release the Beasts send them out and share their adventure
#BattleBeastsBattleground
And although you can still find some great things on their Blog, including some great interviews with BB Collectors in their Collectors Limelights Series, it is the #BattleBeastsBattleGround hashtag that´s still going strong on Instagram!
This hashtag was a joined idea in order to encourage fellow BB Collectors to take their Battle Beasts out for some an Outdoor adventure and take shots in order to these on Instagram, as described in the introduction above.
4,5 Years later this Hashtag is still used, although in some cases it´s also applied to posts showing Beasts that are not in an outdoor setting (which wasn´t really the plan), and it´s over 1000+ Posts already. Actually it´s currently more close to reaching the 2000+ Posts being at 1,888 Posts currently!
Why is it such a ¨success¨ and why is it such fun to take your Beasts out for a photo shoot?
The answer is easy if you just take a minute and scroll through some of the photos shared on Instagram, or below, listed and tagged by fellow collectors;
For this post on the Beastformers Blog the temporary hashtag #BBBG22 was created so that fellow collectors could tag their #BattleBeastsBattleGround posts on Instagram showing their approval that their pics could be shared here as well. This specific hashtag has no function anymore after this post has been created so please continue to use #BattleBeastsBattleGround for your (future) Battle Beasts Outdoor Adventures on Instagram.
The Pictures above are only a small selection of the almost 2000!! posts you can find on Instagram with the #BattleBeastsBattleground.
Battle Beasts Outdoor;
Natural scale/Depth/Light/Contrast
One of the reasons why these pictures are so fun to make and turn out pretty well in most cases is the fact that, depending on the environment or scene you´re shooting in, the Beasts do seem to work really well in a natural surrounding. Of course it is important to find the right scale in order to make a nice picture. Because placing a single Beasts alongside a real thick three and make wide shot doesn´t really work although at another level the structure of the bark could just work really well as a background on the other hand. So it depends a bit on what it is you´re looking for or have in mind.
Depth is also a nice thing you can achieve in an outdoor setting with various natural elements in it as well as playing with the light. And if you select the right Beasts (color) in the right setting it will really become a focus point on the picture.
And apart from that you can also play with the seasons because a thick layer of snow is no reason not to take your Beasts out. The White Rabbit has taken some great shots of the Pugnacious Penguin Army in snowy conditions. Spring brings fresh and bright green colors while Autumn comes with a unique color scheme because of the various colors of leafs. And so each and ever season can create a completely different feel for the same environment.
More than enough options to play around with or to focus on and not only does it result in great pictures they also are a lot of fun to create!
Great Ideas/Examples of Battle Beasts Outdoor
Alongside the normal photos there have also been some nice examples of Battle Beasts Battle Grounds being used in a larger more coherent setting. @PlanetBeastComics for example created a comic style series on his Instagram with outdoor shots. With some additional editing some really nice comic frames were created telling in little story one post at a time. There´s even been a summer special during which some Beasts were taken to the Beach (2018);
Just a great way to make a whole storyline instead of just one picture. Of course you might need a couple more Beasts and a bit of a creative mind but if you´re interested just give it a try!
Talking about multiple Beasts, the outdoor environment is also a great way to display your Army of Battle Beasts. Under the hashtag #BeastformersArmy and the post about Army Building here on the Beastformers Blog you´ll see some impressive shots of Battle Beasts Armies that would look really well in an outdoor setting too.
Enough options to play around with.
So if you´re going somewhere, on a holiday or a natural setting, you might think works well to do a shoot with some Beasts just grab a few and toss them into your pocket or bag, like back in the days, take them with you and have fun shooting!
The Beastformers Team, The White Rabbit and hopefully the rest of the BB Community will continue to support the #BattleBeastsBattleGround simply because it´s fun and great to see outdoor shots of fellow collectors from all around the world.
Enjoy the Beasts… and don´t forget to take them out with you every now and than.
Looking forward to the next 2000 Post of Beasts outdoor in their natural Battle Ground!
This was the Seventh post (7/22/2019) of the ¨22 Project¨ dropping a new Post/Page/Update on the Beastformers Blog every 22nd of the Month in 2019. Not a very big and extensive post this time due to time related issues but therefore it was a good moment to address a nice Community effort that´s still going strong on Instagram.
Let´s continue to support this specific Outdoor hashtag!
Deadline didn´t come to close this time so The White Rabbit might be learning…
You´ll find out on the 22nd of next Month!
Enjoy the Beasts!
The Beastformers Team
Beastformers Blog 