Other than I Spy, Walter has also worked on Can You See What I See and Hey, Seymour! They follow the similar search-and-find style of I Spy, and he and his team even built toys from scratch for these ones. Every set he makes is carefully arranged around a central topic, such as school, antiques, or nature, to name just a few. He sends the list of hidden objects to Jean so she can work on the rhymes. Walter’s studio is full of props which he uses for the sets. And it can take quite long to build a set: from several days to as long as several weeks. Still, he adds that the camera doesn’t have that much importance, because “it just sits there” while he creates the scenes.

He switched to digital around 2004, and he’s now using a Canon 5D. Walter used a large format film camera at first, which would capture a lot of detail in the photos. The photos in I Spy books are a fantastic combination of props, sets, and lighting, which makes them look realistic. Jean would write the rhymes, and Walter would create and take photos. Then, an editor of Scholastic Books saw that poster and asked Jean and Walter if they wanted to create a search-and-find children’s book. She invited Walter to do a poster for her kindergarten magazine Let’s Find Out. He used this photo to promote his work, and author Jean Marzollo saw it. One day around 1980, he was cleaning up his studio and decided to take a photo of the stray nuts and bolts that were lying around.

He started working on I Spy after a series of pretty random events.

Before he started working on I Spy, Walter was a commercial photographer in New York City.

I spy books walter wick