June 18th, 1815: Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington arrives on the battlefield near Waterloo to supervise deployment of his troops early at dawn. The events of this day would forever shape the future of European geopolitics, as the 1st French Empire was defeated by the 7th Coalition comprised of British, Prussian, and Dutch forces.

This photo was shot early in the morning at Bowne Park in Flushing, NY. This was shot during a second photo session: the first take occurred around 6 AM at dawn, but during the shoot, I had trouble placing the LEGO Union Jack in the ground. I gave up, and went back home to think of a new idea where to shoot. Taking outdoor toy photos in the New York metro is rather difficult, due to too many areas being obscured by buildings and traffic.

I ate some breakfast, then returned to the park an hour or so later. At this time I used an awl to bore a small hole in the dry powdery dirt, which I then inserted the flagpole. I had my camera placed directly on the ground without a tripod, and triggered the shot with my wireless remote. Early test shots from the first take happened with the sun rising, which gave a cool lens flare effect. Unfortunately by the second shoot, the sun was much higher in the sky, so I extracted parts of the early shoot to make a composite image for the sun in the background.

Meta LEGO facts: Wellington’s head is from a Han Solo minifig. As for the British foot soldier near Wellington, his head is borrowed from a certain Liverpudlian bass player (although in retrospect, I should have made him holding the rifle left-handed).