Portrait of Brian Munger and His R2-V1 — Bay Area Maker
Building R2-V1 — A Darth Vader R2 Unit
Brian Munger built a robot. Not a prototype or a render — a fully realized, functional R2 unit. And then, not content with simply replicating the iconic astromech droid from Star Wars, he designed and constructed his own Darth Vader-inspired variation: R2-V1. The build debuted at Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, the largest official Star Wars convention in the world.
The craft involved is extraordinary. Building an R2 unit from scratch requires mechanical engineering, electronics, fabrication, painting, and an obsessive attention to the proportions and details that make the original recognizable. Brian's R2-V1 variant pushed further — taking those constraints and filtering them through the visual language of the dark side.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc photographed Brian and his creation as part of a portrait series documenting Bay Area makers, builders, and craftspeople. The premise is simple: the people who make remarkable things with their hands deserve portraits as considered as the objects they produce.
Star Wars Celebration and the Maker Community
Star Wars Celebration is the flagship official Star Wars fan event, organized by Lucasfilm and attracting tens of thousands of fans, collectors, and builders worldwide. Debuting a custom build there is a serious milestone in the R2 builder community — one of the most technically rigorous and collaborative maker networks in existence.
Portrait Photography for Bay Area Makers
Marc Olivier Le Blanc's maker portrait series documents craftspeople and builders across San Francisco and Silicon Valley — in wood, glass, leather, code, and robotics. If you are a maker or builder in the Bay Area looking for a portrait that does your work justice, view the portrait portfolio or reach out.
Marc Olivier Le Blanc is a portrait photographer in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, working with technology companies, startups, and brands including Google, Airbnb, and Starbucks. His editorial and commercial portrait work covers the full range of Bay Area creative culture.
