Tourmaline .

Emotive Toy Photographer

Posts from the ‘New Photography’ category

My Toy Photos that Didn’t Fool the World

“Never have I found the limits of the photographic potential. Every horizon, upon being reached, reveals another beckoning in the distance. Always, I am on the threshold.”

-W. Eugene Smith

So I’ve been writing all these post about toy photos that fooled the world and I had a thought, what if I made some of my own.

I highly doubted that in today’s technological world my photos would fool the world in the way that these historical photos have. It’s easier to fool the world when the only access to photos is grainy, black and white images in newspapers and magazines. I thought I’d try anyway because I simply wanted to see what came of it.

I’ve made some creature photos in the past, and seeing that fairies and the Loch Ness monster did so well in history, cryptoids seemed like the way to go. I’d already pegged Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster as photo possibilities, and had an ho scale (2cm tall) Bigfoot, and a plastic Brontosaurus (Loch Ness Monster) at the ready. So now just to decided how to photograph and share the images.

Why wouldn’t there be more creature sightings in a world where animals are out and about more than ever with humans away? Read more

The Photos I’ve Made (so far) In These Weird Times.

  • Disclaimer: Your worth is not based on how productive you are now or ever. I’ve watched more netflix than anything else outside of work and if you’ve done the same that’s okay. I’m glad I’m starting to settle into my routine and make things again and this post is only to talk about that process.

So I got a big commission I worked on October through November, started a new job in February, got married 1 week after starting the new job, then a few days later everything closed.

I’m still going into work everyday but on a weird schedule. It’s also busy season so I’ve been working most Saturdays and if I’ve learned nothing else in this time, I really rely on routine. It’s been like a month and a half or something right? Ad I’m definitely not used to my new schedule yet.

I have a few photos planned that I was pretty excited about, and I have a lot of videos planned and some even filmed but unedited. I haven’t had the drive to do basically anything in that realm and I don’t want the images to he tainted by meanings of quarantine, as I can see one of them becoming attached to. But maybe that’s just an excuse.

I was hoping things would settle and I would get back to making after the wedding but settling hasn’t quite happened yet. Read more

The world is ending, or maybe it’s not. 

I just got married 5 days ago. A couple people asked if the wedding was still on. We’d been planning it for a year and 2 months, paid all the vendors, arranged everything. Of course it was still on. It was definitely a gathering of more than 10 people and we all sat next to each other to eat, we hugged good bye. Nothing was shutting down yet though 5 days ago. No one was telling us not to gather, at least not telling us loudly enough. I will say, while bittersweet, it’s probably for the best no grandparents were able to come to the wedding.

We’ve both had this week off for our honeymoon. We spent a bit more time with family Sunday, returned all the rentals Monday, went to historic St. Augustine Tuesday. Read more

A Personal Connection to a Toy

On the heels of my ‘Own What You Do‘ post, it only seems appropriate to talk about my bonds formed with photo props (in this case toys).

Each of my pieces is in some way a self portrait, feelings vomited onto the page (or maybe the camera sensor, the miniature scene, however you want to see it.) The items I use to create those moments, especially the ones I use over and over, come to hold a very high importance.

My dining room is my art studio, and by art studio I mean 2 tables, one with 2 dollhouses, the other with a pop up table top photo studio. Underneath is storage, mostly contained in plastic drawers, but some being larger parked toy pieces. Now, picture a small child coming into that space. Are they going to see it as a hands-off artistic space? Absolutely not. It’s a toy room…

Read more

Tourmaline . toy photograph of Wild West David Levinthal Smithsonian Diorama - 4 horses running with horse drawn carriage in background

Miniature Photography from David Levinthal’s Diorama

As you may well know, my sister and I went to the opening of the David Levinthal exhibit at the Smithsonian in DC.

A very cool feature of that exhibit, is that one of David Levinthal’s dioramas is on display. To my understanding, Levinthal commissions custom pieces for him to then assemble to the needs of the photographs he envisions. While behind glass, and with only a 50mm lens at my disposal, I managed to capture a few interesting shots of the piece and I wanted to share those with you here.

These pieces are roughly 1:32 scale, meaning the adult figures are about 2 1/4″ (5.72 cm) tall and very intricately detailed.

Figure sitting on balcony reading, robot approaching, toy photography by Tourmaline .

Monochrome | Polychrome the book is here!

I published an art book of my Monochrome | Polychrome series!

A book filled with miniature diorama photography, but it’s so much more than that.

A self portrait, a found identity, a tailored self.

This book is the culmination of over a years worth of photos, planning, painting and soul searching, presented here as my full vision. It includes 84 images (65 from Monochrome, 15 from Polychrome, and 4 that serve as transitions between the 2 halves of the series), as well as full dollhouse images and accessory pages with the accessories printed to scale. There are also info pages on me as an artist and the 2 series halves as well as behind the scenes images. The book can be “read” either forward or backward.

Get either a soft cover travel edition or a hard cover coffee table edition.

Get yours here today: https://www.blurb.com/user/tourmalineno

Make sure to use code SUMMERSAVINGS3RT for 30% off your order.