Behind the Toy Box

Hello loyal Toy Box Philosopher readers!  I'm Andy, and as Emily’s husband, I’ve had the pleasure of watching Emily take her love of dolls, photography, and writing and blend them into this amazing site.  Although I’m not naturally drawn to dolls (when people catch me looking at the site, I tell them I’m reading it for the biology jokes), I’ve come to appreciate them, both through Emily’s eyes, and occasionally, through yours.  As a thank you to all of you and as a surprise anniversary gift for Emily (she loves surprises), I thought I’d give you a really quick “behind-the-scenes” view of what goes into making the blog.

Emily is always thinking about how to best show off the doll of the moment.  Our family outings to the woods or to the shore often feature an extra companion or two:

It’s fun to watch her scout the surroundings and see how she plays with perspective to make the dolls seem like they’re on a larger-than-life adventure.

This is something that Emily has done for a long time.  In college, she had on her desk a picture of a horse on a beach.  It took me several months to realize that this was a Breyer horse and that the large boulders in the photo were actually small pebbles.  It would be a great story to say that that’s what hooked me on her, but I was pretty much hooked from the start.

Occasionally, her photo adventures bring her face to face with dangerous animals like this stingray 

that was just a few feet below where Emily took this shot:

Or this herring gull

Actually, stingrays are only a threat if you step on them.  Herring gulls are a threat if you get too close to their nests, try to eat a sandwich on the beach, or leave your bag of snacks unattended.  

I’ll take a stingray any day, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to get a photo of Emily in her studio (she has eyes in the back of her head), but it’s also pretty cool.  She has a large table with a backdrop and two large umbrella lights plus an array of bins full of dolls to facilitate the comparison shots that are a staple of her reviews.  However, I did manage to get a pic of her with her trusty old MacBook Pro:

This computer morphed from her biology-teaching computer to her blogging and photo-editing platform.

And while the kids and I occasionally help out, she gets a lot more feedback from her more reliable companions

who are always snuggled in around (and sometimes under) Emily and her computer.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief glimpse “behind the toy box.”  I have always loved Emily's creativity and her intellectual energy, and it is so much fun to watch it come out through her pictures and writing.  I know that she really treasures the support from all of you, and I get to see her reciprocate by always going the extra mile.