miniature worlds
Mind Map
Mood Board
Slinkachu Research and thoughts
Slinkachu is a photographer. He started his 'Little People' project in 2006. He takes old train set figures, remodels and repaints them. He then places them in the streets and creates miniatures worlds. He creates the illusion that the figures are living within our world. As well as being a photography project he also looks at his work as a street art project. His aims in incorporating the street elements was to make 'street dwellers' more aware of their surroundings. He tries to show and reflect the loneliness of living in a big anonymous city; a sense of being lost and being overwhelmed. He would also describe his work as containing a lot of humour. He has had many shows around the world and has exhibited his work from 2007 to 2013.
I like the way he has combined the use of rubbish and man made elements. He has made them look as if normal everyday objects are bigger and out of place. He has used a lower aperture because he has focused on one point and the background is blurred. I also like the way he has used natural features like leaves in an urban environment. I like most of his work especially those images that incorporate natural features but some images I am not so fond of, as I find some repetitive and too urban for my tastes.
In my own miniature world work I am interested in developing Slinkachu's idea of everyday objects looking bigger when placed along side collections of small world figures. I would also, like Slinkachu, like to use this project to help people become more aware of their natural surroundings. However, I would like to explore using miniature figures to help people reconnect with the seasons and our yearly changing environment. I would therefore like to explore the use of my figures in a natural environment making use of the seasonal objects I find there.
In my own miniature world work I am interested in developing Slinkachu's idea of everyday objects looking bigger when placed along side collections of small world figures. I would also, like Slinkachu, like to use this project to help people become more aware of their natural surroundings. However, I would like to explore using miniature figures to help people reconnect with the seasons and our yearly changing environment. I would therefore like to explore the use of my figures in a natural environment making use of the seasonal objects I find there.
criticaL ANALYSIS
This photo was taken by Slinkachu in 2008. The piece is called 'Ground Zero'. He was inspired and created this piece to represent loneliness and being overwhelmed in a big city, his work also includes a lot of humor. He uses mini figures from train sets for the people and for the other props he used things he found in the street like rubbish. The mood of the photo is very lonely and isolated. I like his work as its different and interesting and makes you think. He has inspired me to take photos from different distances, so that is shows how small the little figures are.
Experimental, Shoot One
I used a white background and army figures to create mini scenes, to make it more interesting i add pencil case objects.
Experimental, Shoot Two
These photos were taken in school, but this time we went outside.
Experimental, Shoot Three
This time we went outside in school and used more metal objects and rubbish.
Shoot One
Fawn walking along a fence.
Fawn and Mole walking along a fence.
A tiny little Mouse playing the piano.
A Bear sitting in a cherry tree.
A Mouse, a Fawn and a Bear sitting in a tree holding flowers and cherries.
A tiny little Mouse sat in a tree holding a berry.
Within these set of photos, I took three pictures. One close up, one further away and the final one from a distance. This showed a sense of how small the animals were in relation to their surroundings. Slinkachu has inspired these images, as I have used miniature figures in life sized surroundings just like him. In these photos I have started to develop my nature theme but have also used none nature objects.
Shoot Two
BRIDGE CROSSING
A Bear, a Mouse, a Fawn and a Mole walking along a bridge.
A Bear, a Mouse, a Fawn and a Mole walking along a bridge.
MOUNTAIN VIEW
A Mouse and a Fawn resting on a rock, looking out at a mountain.
A Mouse and a Fawn resting on a rock, looking out at a mountain.
GATHERING HEATHER
A Mouse and a Fawn holding heather, resting on a rock, looking out a the mountains.
A Mouse and a Fawn holding heather, resting on a rock, looking out a the mountains.
GATE WAY TO THE MOUNTAINS
A Mole and A Mouse sat on top a gate.
A Mole and A Mouse sat on top a gate.
FROG FALLS
A Frog standing on slippery rocks by a waterfall.
A Frog standing on slippery rocks by a waterfall.
An autumn holiday to the Lake District allowed me explore shooting the animal figures from my miniature worlds project in a new outdoor environment. Whilst helping me to develop a theme for my project, this shoot clearly identified some of the different challenges of shooting in an exposed outdoor environment.
Shoot Three
TREE CLIMBING
A Mole, a Fawn and a Mouse climbing a tree.
A Mole, a Fawn and a Mouse climbing a tree.
LEAF GATHERING IN MOSS
A tiny little Mouse on some moss holding a autumn leaf.
A tiny little Mouse on some moss holding a autumn leaf.
MORE LEAF GATHERING
A Fawn, a Mouse and a Bear gathering leaves on moss.
A Fawn, a Mouse and a Bear gathering leaves on moss.
SHELTERING FROM THE RAIN
A Bear, a Mouse and a Fawn sheltering under a moss covered branch from the rain.
A Bear, a Mouse and a Fawn sheltering under a moss covered branch from the rain.
COLLECTING PINE CONES
A Bear, a Fawn, a Mole and a Mouse collecting pine cones for the winter.
A Bear, a Fawn, a Mole and a Mouse collecting pine cones for the winter.
LOG CLIMBING
A Bear and a Fawn climbing the logs in the forest.
A Bear and a Fawn climbing the logs in the forest.
MORE LOG CLIMBING...
A Mole and a Mouse climbing logs in the forest.
A Mole and a Mouse climbing logs in the forest.
Critique:
WWW: I was really pleased with these shots as I think the location of a quieter environment and the use of the Blue Tak meant I was able to improve the focus and aperture of the photos. I was also pleased with the items that I found for the creatures to hold. I felt that these items were able to successfully help the small world figures reflect the season in which they were shot. The placement of the figures on logs and the use of leaves in the creatures hands creates a very autumnal feel and I feel that the use of the small world creatures helps to draw the viewer in to help them reflect on the characteristics of different seasons.
EBI: Whilst I have been happy with my shoots ability to reflect the seasons they have all reflected the season of Autumn. It would be good to explore how my miniature world characters could be used to explore and reflect other seasons.
Next Steps: Carry out a miniature world shoot in a season other than Autumn.
WWW: I was really pleased with these shots as I think the location of a quieter environment and the use of the Blue Tak meant I was able to improve the focus and aperture of the photos. I was also pleased with the items that I found for the creatures to hold. I felt that these items were able to successfully help the small world figures reflect the season in which they were shot. The placement of the figures on logs and the use of leaves in the creatures hands creates a very autumnal feel and I feel that the use of the small world creatures helps to draw the viewer in to help them reflect on the characteristics of different seasons.
EBI: Whilst I have been happy with my shoots ability to reflect the seasons they have all reflected the season of Autumn. It would be good to explore how my miniature world characters could be used to explore and reflect other seasons.
Next Steps: Carry out a miniature world shoot in a season other than Autumn.
shoot five
Plan: To carry out a miniature world shoot in a season other than Autumn. As Christmas is a key celebration in the season of Winter I plan to focus on that. I plan to focus on images that imply my miniature world characters are preparing for Christmas. I hope to still incorporate natural items in my shoot to help the viewer to focus on natural items that we associate with the season of Winter and Christmas.
Critique:
WWW: I was pleased with the placement of the miniature world characters and the use of natural objects with the figures. I was particularly please with the bowl of pine cones with the fire in the background. I think the close up image of this clearly reflects the season in which it was taken, the natural objects help to place the miniature world characters in their environment and also draw the viewers attention to how natural objects can be used to celebrate the season. I think this shoot overall reflects how my small world shoots can be used to draw a viewers attention to the passing of different seasons and how natural objects can help us to recognise and celebrate the passing of the seasons.
EBI: Whilst I am happy that this shoot helped my images to reflect two different seasons I still feel that this does not reflect the whole year.
Next Steps: I would like to take shoots that reflect the other two seasons of Spring and Summer. I would also like to edit these images together to create a collage or montage that would help the viewer to identify how nature represents and celebrates the passing of the seasons. Slinkachu uses his miniature world work to demonstrate clear messages about loneliness and big cities. Like Slinkachu I would like to use my final shoot to convey a clear message. Nowadays we have become very detached from nature and the passing of the seasons and I would like my images to help the viewer relate better to nature and the passing of the seasons.
WWW: I was pleased with the placement of the miniature world characters and the use of natural objects with the figures. I was particularly please with the bowl of pine cones with the fire in the background. I think the close up image of this clearly reflects the season in which it was taken, the natural objects help to place the miniature world characters in their environment and also draw the viewers attention to how natural objects can be used to celebrate the season. I think this shoot overall reflects how my small world shoots can be used to draw a viewers attention to the passing of different seasons and how natural objects can help us to recognise and celebrate the passing of the seasons.
EBI: Whilst I am happy that this shoot helped my images to reflect two different seasons I still feel that this does not reflect the whole year.
Next Steps: I would like to take shoots that reflect the other two seasons of Spring and Summer. I would also like to edit these images together to create a collage or montage that would help the viewer to identify how nature represents and celebrates the passing of the seasons. Slinkachu uses his miniature world work to demonstrate clear messages about loneliness and big cities. Like Slinkachu I would like to use my final shoot to convey a clear message. Nowadays we have become very detached from nature and the passing of the seasons and I would like my images to help the viewer relate better to nature and the passing of the seasons.
SHOOT SIX
Plan: I wish to shoot images that reflect the seasons of Spring and Summer. I plan to position my miniature world figures in natural environments with items that reflect the season. I plan to use Spring flowers and Summer fruit to do this. I will need a camera. I will also need to find a quiet natural environment that will allow me to shoot these images quietly thus allowing me to focus on focus and aperture to create a clear images with good depth of field.
Critique
WWW: I was very pleased with the locations I found. There were lot of different spring flowers in bloom which gave me the opportunity to take a wide variety of Spring images. The locations were also quiet and sheltered which meant I could concentrate on the focus and aperture well. When shooting the images I used the largest aperture, this has worked well as it has meant the background has been thrown out of focus whilst the foreground (including the miniature world creatures) is in sharp focus. I think this is successful as it draws attention to the subject and clearly makes them the focal point of the image. I also used a vignette to draw further attention to the subject in the central area of the images, again I think this technique has been successful.
EBI: Whilst I am happy with these images and feel that they meet my overall intention of wishing to help my viewers reconnect to nature and the passing/changing of the seasons, they are still only able to do this with one or two seasons. A more complete look at the passing of the seasons would help to make my intention for my project clearer.
Next Step: With this in mind for my final piece I wish to combine some my most successful/favorite images from my shoots to create a montage/collage of the four seasons as I feel this will help my viewer to reflect on the passing of the seasons.
WWW: I was very pleased with the locations I found. There were lot of different spring flowers in bloom which gave me the opportunity to take a wide variety of Spring images. The locations were also quiet and sheltered which meant I could concentrate on the focus and aperture well. When shooting the images I used the largest aperture, this has worked well as it has meant the background has been thrown out of focus whilst the foreground (including the miniature world creatures) is in sharp focus. I think this is successful as it draws attention to the subject and clearly makes them the focal point of the image. I also used a vignette to draw further attention to the subject in the central area of the images, again I think this technique has been successful.
EBI: Whilst I am happy with these images and feel that they meet my overall intention of wishing to help my viewers reconnect to nature and the passing/changing of the seasons, they are still only able to do this with one or two seasons. A more complete look at the passing of the seasons would help to make my intention for my project clearer.
Next Step: With this in mind for my final piece I wish to combine some my most successful/favorite images from my shoots to create a montage/collage of the four seasons as I feel this will help my viewer to reflect on the passing of the seasons.
Final peice
Plan: I plan to select images that represent all four seasons and edit them together to create a collage or montage. I want this collage to represent the cyclical nature of our seasons.
Final Image Critique:
Firstly I was pleased with this image as it incorporates four of my favourite images from all of my shoots and represents well how much I have enjoyed this project.
The inspiration for this project was Slinkachu. He created miniature world images to represent something other than just the image itself, for example, loneliness within a big city. As my project began to develop I realised that not only did I want to create miniature world images which used real objects to represent the miniature size of the figures but that like Slinkachu I wanted my images to carry a message or intention. I hoped that my images would help people to become more aware of their natural surroundings and that in our increasingly technological indoor world they would help people to reconnect with our seasons and the way our natural environment changes during a year.
For this reason I am very pleased with the final image, it clearly represents all four seasons and the placement of the images within the collage/montage reflects the passing of the seasons in a cyclical way, i.e. it is never ending and always keeps on changing. I feel that it therefore gives a clear representation of my intention and that like Slinkachu I have managed to create interesting, eye catching minature world images which carry a deeper but clear message.
Firstly I was pleased with this image as it incorporates four of my favourite images from all of my shoots and represents well how much I have enjoyed this project.
The inspiration for this project was Slinkachu. He created miniature world images to represent something other than just the image itself, for example, loneliness within a big city. As my project began to develop I realised that not only did I want to create miniature world images which used real objects to represent the miniature size of the figures but that like Slinkachu I wanted my images to carry a message or intention. I hoped that my images would help people to become more aware of their natural surroundings and that in our increasingly technological indoor world they would help people to reconnect with our seasons and the way our natural environment changes during a year.
For this reason I am very pleased with the final image, it clearly represents all four seasons and the placement of the images within the collage/montage reflects the passing of the seasons in a cyclical way, i.e. it is never ending and always keeps on changing. I feel that it therefore gives a clear representation of my intention and that like Slinkachu I have managed to create interesting, eye catching minature world images which carry a deeper but clear message.