Tourmaline .

Miniature Diorama Photographer

Posts from the ‘Shop Local’ category

Now Offering Photography of your Miniature Spaces!

I’ve been telling miniature stories for 11 years. Now let me tell yours.

You’ve poured yourself into your miniature world, your model train set, your dollhouse. Let me help you document it to share with your family, friends, clubs, and generations to come.

I will come to your home for a 1 – 3 hour photography session. You tell me the story behind your miniature set up, so that I can accurately capture the narrative, or simply leave me to photograph all the little details I find. Your choice.

While you will likely receive many more photos, each hour guarantees a minimum of 15 images digitally delivered to you within 1 week. You will receive low res digital images to share on social media, or print on your own as 4×6 prints. You will also receive a private gallery link to pay per print if you desire larger size images to display on your wall, etc.

I am currently only offering these sessions in Jacksonville and the surrounding area with Saturday and Sunday appointments only. If you live further out contact me anyway and we will see what we can work out.

Learn more here, and find other services I offer here.

If you have a miniature world that needs documented, contact me today!

Painted Lady Monarch

Painted Lady Monarchs

Last Saturday, May 18, I attended a release of Painted Lady Monarchs at the Jacksonville Arboretum!

I love the place, but I didn’t know that they did yearly butterfly releases, and I’m so glad I heard about it this year.

So first, here’s a slideshow of the previous time I wandered the trails here. Some images I failed to share on this blog.

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Amazon warehouse sale

Toon Town Treasure Hunt, Jacksonville, FL

Have you ever wanted to dig through giant bins of Amazon returns in a warehouse in Downtown Jacksonville? Okay, maybe not, unless you’ve binged all the youtube videos of a similar concept. In any case, it’s a cool concept right? And maybe just maybe you’re curious. What if I told you it was only a 3 day event. Day 1, the items are $5 each, day 2 $3, day 3 $1?

I didn’t need any more info after that. I was sold. So yesterday, Sunday, day 2, my fiance, 2 friends and I went and treasure hunted.

I’ve passed the Toon Town building numerous times since living in this city. It’s hard to miss with it’s walls completely covered in colorful cartoon murals. I never really knew what it was used for however. Turns out it’s an arts and entertainment complex that can be rented in part for special events, studio space, etc. And this weekend it was obviously rented for an event.

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Ron's Miniature Shop, Orlando, FL

Ron’s Miniature Shop, Orlando, FL

Ron’s Miniature Shop went viral maybe 7 months ago now, with no online presence whatsoever. But with less and less shops like this existing, word of mouth gets them all the advertisement they need.

Ron’s Miniature Shop has been a staple of Orlando since 1989 and is still going strong.

I was in Lakeland for work and noticed that Ron’s Miniature Shop was going to be almost precisely on my way home to Jacksonville, so of course I had to stop by. And I wasn’t disappointed.

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Bayard Antique Village

Bayard Antique Villages, Jacksonville, FL

My mom and I finally went to check out the Bayard Antique Village last week. While we only recently became aware of it, the location itself has existed since 1949.

US 1 was the main North/South travel road of the area. The formerly named Beautyrest Cabins provided a nice place to stay while en route. They were a popular honeymoon spot.

After I-95 was built, the location wasn’t nearly as popular and was converted to an auction site in 1967. It was at this time that the large central barn was built on the premises.

The cabins on the perimeter were later converted to independent shops, forming what is now the antique village.

No doubt the place is cute, and all the shop owners are beyond nice. Whether I should admit it or not, my favorite part was the variety of cats, kindly cared for by the shop owners. It was a bit of a hunt to find and photograph as many cats possible. The black cat you’ll see pictured below was not happy he wasn’t getting his wet food 2 hours ahead of schedule. Read more

Tourmaline .'s work in Miniature show, St. Augustine, FL

Miniature Marvels at the St. Augustine Art Association

There’s a new miniature show that just opened, and it just so happens to be local to me, and have one of my pieces in it!

I found out about the Miniature Marvels show on Sunday, February 24th and immediately got an idea for it. I’m typically pretty against creating new work for shows, but was passionate about making this particular piece. I’ve never felt I could just print photos small for a miniature based show, and am not a miniaturist per say, so I just don’t enter them. This idea however allowed me to combine actual tangible miniatures with my miniature diorama photography.

The only problem was that pieces had to physically be turned in, no later than 4 pm on Wednesday, February 27th. So with the quickest turn around ever I got to work, making ‘ a miniature gallery of photos of miniatures.’ Read more