Tag Archives: ho scale

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?Continue reading “My Toy Photos that Didn’t Fool the World”

Mini Noir Aficianado, Tobias M. Schiel // Empire of Lights

I breifly discussed one of Tobias’ images in my Toy Photography as Art post, but I’ve know of his work for at least a few years now and I truly admire the images he makes with miniatures. I knew I wanted to use his work as representation of modern toy photographers making artistic pieces, and in discussing that with him I felt like he needed a seperate post here for his words and pieces to truly shine.

Here’s what he had to say – Continue reading “Mini Noir Aficianado, Tobias M. Schiel // Empire of Lights”

An Unexpected Christmas Display

We moved into a new apartment about a month ago now. I love it so much more than our last place but won’t get into it. When driving out the other night we came across a neighbor in his garage with a Christmas train set and had to get out to see.

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Some Things Never Change (or Paper Crafting Books Will Never Not be Cool)

I bought some things Friday and Saturday and I keep thinking how proud my child self would be with me. That’s to say, I’m very happy with my purchases, and they aren’t too far off from a taste I’ve had my whole life for small things and for paper crafting. Although the paper crafting has never really extended farther than crafting small things.

Let me rewind. Elementary school me is at a Scholastic Book Fair. I find a pop and assemble miniature funky girl bedroom book. It came with glue, ribbon, beads and pages and pages of furniture pieces to make hot pink and purple, with yellow accent, mini bedroom furniture. The nightstand even had working cardstock drawers with bead pulls. I’ve looked for that book in more recent years and can’t find any record of it. I even reached out to Scholastic, but they don’t keep record of old stock.

Continue reading “Some Things Never Change (or Paper Crafting Books Will Never Not be Cool)”

TCA Train Show

I go to the annual train show almost every year here in Jacksonville, FL. It’s a big to do, held at a convention center, and has a ton of vendors. I tend to get pretty good deals as I’m looking for things the average train collector might not covet. I don’t have a train set, just a passion, and artistic use, for tiny things.

Continue reading “TCA Train Show”

2017, A Look Back

Over the years my creative process has changed. As of late, I’ve been focusing on longer form photo series, as well as life outside of my artistic practice. And as I consider where I want my art to go from here, I’m reminded of pieces I’ve created in the past. Lately I’ve been enamored by my 2017 work.

You have to understand that this is not normal for me. I tend to create, be proud of what I create for a bit, then heavily dislike whatever it is for awhile. Eventually I’ll settle back into a level appreciation, but always feel like I could do better. Overall, I think this is a good creative drive, but it’s also a good feeling to legitimately feel proud of what you’ve made.

From changing my artist name, creating book covers,  youtubing, being a part of gallery shows and publications, to the beginning of my vitamin deficiency struggle and  pulling away from blog challenges and zine publishing, 2017 was quite the year on all sides of the spectrum.

In any case, here I present my favorite images I created in 2017, in order of creation.

Let me know what you think in a comment below. Maybe I’ll do some other look backs soon. :)

Continue reading “2017, A Look Back”

Creating Emotional Toy Photographs

Photography is all about light, composition and, most importantly, emotion. – Larry Wilder

I aim to make emotive photos that elicit an emotional response in the viewer. Whether I’m successful in that or not is really up to you, but I feel, to a degree I am.

It starts with emotions I feel poured out into the photo. Lighting, color, blur, setting, posing, all play their part to then make that vision a reality however.

So here’s how I go about this task.

Figures

Fog

I tend to return to figures without facial expressions and with limited detail. The more blank the figure, the more I feel the viewer can place themselves within the story. The human mind is wired to find faces, and human features. So as the photographer, I don’t have to offer much in the way of human iconography in order to get the viewer involved – bringing their own experiences to the scene before them.Continue reading “Creating Emotional Toy Photographs”

Photo Focus: The Effectiveness of Blur in Toy Photography

I recently picked up ‘Why It Does Not Have to be in Focus: Modern Photography Explained” by Jackie Higgens, on recommendation from a toy photo friend. Within it’s pages, Higgins offers short conclusions on the photographic genres – portraits, document, still life, narrative, landscape and abstract, followed by numerous examples. This allows the book to be read in short chunks, rather than as a whole, if desired.

While, to be clear, in large, the example images in this book are not literally blurry. Instead, they blur the lines of presumed photographic proof. That being said, literal blurred images serve the same means. As Higgins asserts, this figurative or literal blur creates mystery, conceals truth, insists on a different way of engaging with what is before us, and allows for the limits of photography to be challenged.

Continue reading “Photo Focus: The Effectiveness of Blur in Toy Photography”