Toys are us
Photographer Gabriele Galimberti offers revealing portraits of children with their favorite playthings


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Originally, Gabriele Galimberti was just going to photograph a girl who happened to be playing with her toys. But once the photographer laid the four-year-old's colorful plastic farm tools around her, he saw potential. "Immediately," he says in his book's introduction, "there was something about the composition I liked."
Thus began a 30-month, 58-country tour photographing children and their favorite toys. The resulting book, Toy Stories: Photos of Children from Around the World and Their Favorite Things, published by Abrams Image, reveals a great deal about the world's diverse socio-economic realties through an incredibly simple and inclusive subject. After all, who among us didn't have a beloved plaything — or ten — growing up?
Here, a selection of Galimberti's sweet and fascinating photos.
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Toy Stories: Photos of Children from Around the World and Their Favorite Things
By Gabriele Galimberti
Published by Abrams Image
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A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Lauren Hansen produces The Week’s podcasts and videos and edits the photo blog, Captured. She also manages the production of the magazine's iPad app. A graduate of Kenyon College and Northwestern University, she previously worked at the BBC and Frontline. She knows a thing or two about pretty pictures and cute puppies, both of which she tweets about @mylaurenhansen.
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