For this exercise, I again altered my approach in order to make progress.
Initially, I wanted to explore the idea of small through option 3 - paper folding. After having an inspiring conversation with my tutor, I wanted to see if I could translate working with paper in a 3D space using the 3D program Blender (I talk about this more in the research post to accompany this exercise).
However, I quickly learned that the learning curve on Blender was too steep to achieve this exercise right now, so I decided to postpone my learning journey with this technology until a later point in my course.
Instead, I opted for Option 2: Working With Household Objects. I have been modelling and painting tabletop wargaming miniatures since I was 9, so I was very intrigued by the opportunities of this exercise to explore miniature characters. The image of a broccoli treehouse in the coursebook was very inspiring, and I remember seeing other artists who had worked in miniature. Some artists work with household objects in miniature, like the pencil-lead sculptures of Salavat Fidai [1]. I also remembered seeing artists who created miniature worlds with household objects.
This lead me to the work of two artists in particular:
Tanaka Tatsuya
This artist takes household objects, and much like Christopher Neimann, sees other things, other situations. He arranges them with miniature models and photographs them, creating convincing illusions. He also has a like to the earlier work on 'slow art', as he has managed to publish one of these images every day on his website Miniature Calendar [2] for over a decade!
William Kass
In a similar vein to Tatsuya, Kass uses real-world objects with miniature figures. I find that his work tends to be more whimsical, with a stronger sense of humour and narrative. Sometimes, frankly, they are a little bizarre!
I decided to try my own hand at this. Whilst I have done some sculpting, I decided that the simplest thing (if not the cheapest!) to do was to visit my local model railway store. There I perused the myriad figures available for railway tracks and dioramas and purchased four sets.
When I went to create my photographs, I had two main limitations:
I only had my smartphone for a camera.
I did not have a dedicated place to create a booth for optimum lighting.
So I decided to imagine my figures much like The Borrowers (Norton, 2952) - miniature people living in our world. So I tried to place them in circumstances that befit their appearance.
Photograph 1: The Window Cleaner
For this image, I placed the miniature window cleaner against the handle of my office window. I arranged my shot so that the viewer can identify it's a window, but also identify the different scales at play. I did my best to alter the exposure of the photo to compensate for the difficult lighting of shooting out of a window from a darker room.
This was a good first start, and I think it captured the humour and exaggeration I was looking for.
Photograph 2: The Decorators
For this image, I struggled with how best to set up the scenario. I was in my work office and had originally planned to have one of my miniature models (which are on a much larger scale) alongside these figures, so it appeared as if they were painting it. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring said models with me to the office!
So instead I improvised. I decided to position the figures on the ledge of some artwork I have hanging in the office. The idea was that instead of painting the image, they would be affixing the image like wallpaper, much like the skilled work of those workers who add imagery to billboards and hoardings.
It was difficult to control the focus of this image with my camera at this angle, which was frustrating. I decided to focus on the characters closest to the viewer.
Photograph 3: Mountain Climbers
My wife had the clever and fun idea of buying some Toblerone chocolate bars for this photo. If they were mountain climbers, then why not give them a mountain to climb!
For this image focus was again an issue, so I concentrated on the figures in the midground. I arranged the chocolate with some desktop ephemera to get a sense of height, and carefully placed the figures on the scene. I wanted to get a sense of narrative and direction so that the viewer could tell what they were doing and where they were going. To aid with light I turned on the lamp behind the figures to create an alternative light source that would help create contrast and separate the figures from the background.
Photograph 4: Fire Fighters
For the final image, I had originally planned for the figures to be stood next to a toy volcano my son had used for a school science experiment. My wife had the brilliant alternative idea to use our actual fireplace! When I opened it there was a load of unburnt paper inside, so I lit it with a match and let the paper burn down to ash. It would have been nice to still have some glowing embers in the photo, but paper doesn't wait long to fizzle out!
This was the most difficult photo to choreograph. Getting the model to stand was difficult at the best of times, and for all the other photos I had other things to lean against. I had no such crutches this time. While I managed to get the Chief to stand on his own, I had no luck with the other pieces. To make matters worse, the main duo with the hose and standpipe had snapped in their box.
I tried to use this to my advantage. By carefully applying small drops of superglue I was able to connect the pieces together. I used this opportunity to change the angle of the pipe (being a malleable metal) and placed the lead firefighter on the ledge of the open fireplace. Despite this, I couldn't get things to stand. So I decided to use tiny drops of the superglue under the feel of the figures and standpipe. As the surfaces were not clean, I guessed that they would not stick properly (which luckily they didn't!) but would stand for the time I needed to photograph. I took an initial shot but didn't like the composition, so I switched to a portrait aspect and I think it works a lot better. I also added in the ladder from the window cleaner set, which allowed me to tell a more convincing narrative of how the lead firefighter managed to get up on the ledge.
I am really pleased with this image - again, I would have liked better control over the focus but I think the image works well.
Social Media
I wanted to share what I had created, which got me thinking about the other artists I had discovered. It seems that they intentionally create their images so that they can be shared in a square aspect ratio. So rather than let a social media platform dictate how they should be presented, I went back and cropped my images into a square aspect ratio. I actually think they work better in this format:
This exercise was a lot of fun to do, and I enjoyed the creativity of telling these stories with the models. One thing I can't get my head around is how the professional artists source their models. Mine were very expensive and very specific. Do the artists source their models in bulk? Or are they created specifically for each image? What comes first, the objects or the figures?
References
Jobson, C., 2015. Delicate Pencil Lead Sculptures Carved by Salavat Fidai. [online] Colossal. Available at: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/delicate-pencil-lead-carvings-by-salavat-fidai/ [Accessed 5 July 2022].
Tatsuya, T., 2011. MINIATURE CALENDAR. [online] Miniature-calendar.com. Available at: https://miniature-calendar.com/ [Accessed 5 July 2022].
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