Photographer captures the adventures of his Star Wars action figurines

"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire." Thus begins Star Wars, a movie that has spawned not only a massive following of loyal fans, but also one of the most gigantic -- galactic might even be the best word to describe it -- franchises ever, including several sequel and prequel movies, spin-offs and tons of merchandise, of which, Star Wars actions figures are perhaps one of the most popular.

These action figures make it possible for children of all ages to recreate their favorite scenes from the movies, or even imagine their own stories set in the Star Wars world. Some take their passion as step further and preserve their musings through what is called fan-fiction: stories or novels published in print or online, animated videos or even full-fledged short films with proper human actors.

Zahir Batin decided on a different approach. He created fantastic scenes with his Star Wars action figures set in various outdoors locations, depicting them in everyday situations such as fishing, mourning the loss of a fellow storm trooper, or an encounter with chicks (of the poultry variety). While some of his pictures are as fantastic as the movies, depicting fight scenes, victories and losses, others will make the viewer look twice due to their mundane and hence unexpected nature.

The scenes are created with the help of strings, wires, and twigs, which Zahir uses to fixate the figurines. The pictures are then taken with Canon DSLRs and a number of different lenses, including the "nifty fifty" 50mm f/1.8 and a 100mm f/2.8. During post-processing in Photoshop, Zahir then removes the strings, wires and twigs used to set up the figurines, and creates the final images. To see more of his work, you can follow Zahir at Deviant Art, 500px and via his Facebook page.

(via Design Taxi)