Each new photographer I find, creating photographic work with toys, prior to 2000, will now have their own posts here. Or, that’s the plan at least. I’ll then work them into list based posts as well. Up first, the magical staged photography worlds of Henk Tas.
Henk Tas
I stumbled upon the work of Henk Tas, a Danish photographer, who graduated from The Rotterdam School in 1970, when looking into something about Ellen Brooks. Someone named Justin, created a blog for thier black and white photography course, posted about Henk Tas and Ellen Brooks, and created their own miniature diorama images. So if anyone knows Justin, who went to MSU in 2010, I’d love to know what images he’s making now. (Did I look through the rest of Justin’s blog? yes. He also created a toy photograph with a polaroid camera)
In any case, back to Henk Tas.
Tas, referred to by Image Festival Rotterdam News, as “the grandmaster of staged photography,” creates purposeful staged images with an emphasis on color. He began creating the images you see here around 1983.
He creates his work, surrounding himself with items from his childhood, focusing on rock & roll, pop music and blues. He lights the items to bring them to life, and then prints the images super large so the viewer can feel like they are within the depicted location.
The lighting and composition in his staged work with miniatures is stunning.
I’m working on getting my hands on a copy of his book Why me Lord? If I do, I’ll let you know if more magic unfolds.
Sources & Further Reading:
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