Monday, January 27, 2014
(Flurries and Milder Temperature)
(Flurries and Milder Temperature)
Nice Photography of a
Doepke Road Grader
Yesterday, I posted about a Doepke Jaguar Convertible circa the 1950's. Naturally, while having found this Doepke, I had used the words "Doepke Toys" while searching on ebay, and came up with many Doepkes. One of the toys, a road grader caught my attention. I liked the photographic elements of the pictures, as well as the interesting details and cropping (framing). So I did the "usual" and contacted the seller. Mr. Levi Benton, wrote back and agreed to allow me to use his photos.
He has other toys that I'll be posting this week, when I introduce you to Mr. Levi Benton, but for today it's the Doepke Road Grader. However, for today, the grader gets an exclusive post, all by itself. I was going to extract the grader and place it on white, or remove the stucco background leaving that white. However, I really enjoyed these photos,and decided, after all that they're best left alone. I ddi do some "minor" changes, and even have one photo against an all white background. However, as the old expression goes - "if it works don't fix it!".
Levi Benton
Description:
A vintage model toy of the Charles Wm. Doepke Mfg. Co.
An Adams Road Grader ( Model # 2006)
Painted pressed steel with rubber tires, and decals,
All parts are in good working conditions with patina, rust scratches, and some clay on the tires.
Circa 1950's
Length x Width x Height:
26.5" x 8 .5" x 8"
273 mm x 217 mm x 203 mm
It was he above photo caught my attention. Initially I thought that parts were missing from the Doepke grader,but that wash;t so. I like the low camera angle and the elevated inner pair of rear tires. Bit it's the nice texture of the stucco wall, and glass table with its metal rim that also makes the photos great (please see those details below).
I like this high camera angle that presents many of the features and details of the toy. These Doepkes are not the rarest of toys, but they're quite in demand. Also there are several ebay sellers that sell replacement parts and decals, so there's never a worry if you see a nice toy for sale and the bidding is low.
Here's where the circular rim of the table works well with the straight lines of the toy. That creates a nice contrast of elements in the photo. The same all plies to the 2 different textures of the wall and glass table.
My favourite photo.
I did do some photo-editing here. I removed the colour of the grass and tabletop. Bit why I really enjoy is the truck in the upper left corner and on the ground, contrasting with the Doepke on the tabletop.
Here's the front underside of the toy.
Many sellers on ebay rarely show the underside of a toy. I would like to see that because there is lots of detail that helps identify a toy. The best example is that trademarked wind-up mechanism of the Kingsbury toys. Just from that feature, you know it's a Kingsbury.
What works well here as a photo is how Levi framed the photo so that the table is not centred in the photo. If that were so, the photo would be too balanced. Leaving the table rim to the 1/3 position makes the photo great! That curve certainly attracts your attention, but is not over-dominant. The stucco wall contrasting with the textured grass and the bright orange grader helps make a "well-rounded" photo.
There a seller or maybe an auctioneer who uses the term "fresh" to describe his merchandise.
You got to "love" the dried brown earth on those large tires. Now that is certainly "fresh"!
My second-favourite photo, but for an entirely different reason. It's the way the toy gads been presented, with its rear pair of wheels illustrating how the 2 sets of wheels can bend. I've seen lots and lots of these toys on ebay, but never with this feature presented - Kudos to Levi!
Of course, the Doepke Label.
You can always recognize the large red type against gold background, and the oval shape.
There is never second guessing as to who made this toy!
A rear view of the grader.
You can see the small hook that I assume would allow other Doekpe toys to be pulled by the grader.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I did do some photo-editing. But I decide Levi Benton's photos were best presented "as is".
Thanks for visiting,
and as always,
have a great part of the day or night,
wherever you may be.
Stacey
toysearcher@gmail.com
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