Photographer Creates Lifelike Images of American Streets Using Toy Car Models and Forced Perspective

Boston Photographer Michael Paul Smith can boast of careers as illustrator, wallpaper hanger, house painter, museum display designer, model maker, and art director. As you can see by this series of extremely cool miniature scenes, all of these skills have come in handy for what he calls, "his quirky hobby."

After building his models - cars, trees, buildings, parks - 1/24th actual size, he looks for Boston environments to shoot his scenes. He creates these scenes as a fictional city called Elgin Park. He positions minutely detailed model cars and set pieces on a table, then shoots a life-like scene using dead-on correct perspective.

In this interview, he describes the process. It is interesting to note that his camera is a relatively inexpensive one with limited megapixel power; in order to have the "retro" look, he found he needed a picture with less information, less detail than an expensive camera would give him. He also needs the "blur."






All photographs by Michael Paul Smith
http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/10/forced-perspective-model-car-photos/