More Behind the Scenes
Taking a look at the set-ups for some of my photo shoots this year - when I remembered to take them
In the order they were taken...
In the order they were taken...
Playing in the Mud
Back when I was compiling the list of June Special Days that appealed to me, I saw that June 29th was International Mud Day. That brought to mind a photo I'd taken forty years ago....
The city had just laid the sidewalks, but the yards and boulevards hadn't been graded yet, so were still a giant mess of dirt, and then we got some heavy rain. I did my best for the first part of the next day to keep my two little boys (Chris who was 3, and Nick who was just 1 1/2) on the sidewalks, but as they got dirtier, I finally gave up, and just let them jump in....
Jan arrived home from work shortly after, and the two muddy little boys ran to greet him. Jan could barely get out of the car, he was laughing so hard.
Well, I wanted to capture that same feel with Ringo, but without any risk to the doll. I stripped him, then wrapped both legs in double layers of sandwich bags, right up to his armpits, then put his coveralls back on overtop. It had been pouring rain that morning, and I expected there would be plenty of mud up at the construction site just north of us. Thinking ahead, knowing I was bound to get dirty myself, I took along bottles of soapy and plain water, washcloths and a towel, and plastic bags just in case. Then we headed to the construction site in search of the perfect puddle. I found it at the very first semi-paved 'intersection'. There was a huge puddle beside the pavement, with a big pile of dirt beyond.....
Well, I wanted to capture that same feel with Ringo, but without any risk to the doll. I stripped him, then wrapped both legs in double layers of sandwich bags, right up to his armpits, then put his coveralls back on overtop. It had been pouring rain that morning, and I expected there would be plenty of mud up at the construction site just north of us. Thinking ahead, knowing I was bound to get dirty myself, I took along bottles of soapy and plain water, washcloths and a towel, and plastic bags just in case. Then we headed to the construction site in search of the perfect puddle. I found it at the very first semi-paved 'intersection'. There was a huge puddle beside the pavement, with a big pile of dirt beyond.....
I positioned Ringo and dribbled some mud onto his coveralls and on the top of his head. I never intended for the mud to actually get all over his face and arms, but it had dribbled down off his hair, and once it was everywhere I just took the photos before cleaning him up....
I pulled Ringo out of the puddle and took a few close ups while Jan held him....
I wanted to carefully take my time cleaning him off, so placed him on plastic bags on the drive home. Once home it was time to clean him up...but first I took a picture...
The plastic bags under his clothes...
His clothes went into the wash, and I wiped him down with a soft cloth. He didn't get any dirt or water into his joints. I shampooed his wig, and when everything was dry, put it all back on him, good as new.
Garbage Man Day
I had made a safety vest for Owen so he could be a garbage man for Garbage Man Day. I started by setting up a pile of garbage and recycle stuff on the back step....
But I decided the bricks were way too big out of scale, and there was that dryer duct. so I set everything up again on the patio table using one of my 'stone' walls as background. That looked a lot better....
Father's Day
I wanted to do something new for Father's Day, but didn't feel like setting up a whole set. So I went back to how I used to do 'room sets' on my dining room table. It was just a carpet with some cupboards around the back edges and nothing behind them, just the open hallway of our house....
Then with the dolls...
the Crossing Guard
I wanted to take some photos for the last day of school, with the children crossing a street with the help of a crossing guard.
So how was it done?
It took some pre-planning at home. I posed the dolls on my kitchen table in such a way that their stands would be hidden behind their legs, then took the bristolboard 'crosswalk' I'd saved from the Beatles Abbey Road photo shoot a few years ago, and positioned the dolls all on it. I marked where the vertical supports for their stands needed to come through the bristolboard, marked them, and cut out little curves, then inserted the stand bases up through the slots.
It took some pre-planning at home. I posed the dolls on my kitchen table in such a way that their stands would be hidden behind their legs, then took the bristolboard 'crosswalk' I'd saved from the Beatles Abbey Road photo shoot a few years ago, and positioned the dolls all on it. I marked where the vertical supports for their stands needed to come through the bristolboard, marked them, and cut out little curves, then inserted the stand bases up through the slots.
The bristolboard crosswalk was taped to a piece of wood roughly the same size, with all the stand bases protruding. I needed a three-way intersection in order to place the dolls so they looked like they were actually crossing in the middle of the intersection. That would not be possible in a regular four-way intersection. So we headed over to the foot of ValleyFarm Road, which has a small utilities building with driveway on the fourth side of the intersection.
Jan put together our slide projector stand, so Benny's eyes would be at my eye level, and then placed the stand in the grass opposite the oncoming road....
Jan put together our slide projector stand, so Benny's eyes would be at my eye level, and then placed the stand in the grass opposite the oncoming road....
Then I started putting all the dolls on their bases which were all protruding from the bristolboard 'crossing', being careful to make sure their stands weren't showing. In order for the 'forced perspective' to work, the dolls need to have their eyes at the level a real person's eyes would be.
Jan went across the road to take a 'behind the scene' photo....
I started taking photos, ignoring all the traffic passing by....
..including a city bus, which was a bit too close, so somewhat out of scale....
My favourite photo....
the Fourth of July
I wanted to take a group photo of some of my kids celebrating US Independence Day, so gathered up all my little dolls who were wearing reds and blues, blew up some little red, white, and blue balloons (water bombs) and set them up on the patio table with my printed US flags.
I used some red and white million bells for the background.
The photo...
Jamie in the Ruins
It rained an awful lot the whole month of July this year, and I was waiting for a 'dry' day to take Jamie's family to the Ruins Garden. We brought along a tarp to keep me (and the doll boxes) dry....
The photo, taken down at the doll's eye level....
Parkwood Estate
I had wanted to photograph dolls at Parkwood Estate in Oshawa for some time, but needed just the right costumes. The estate is over a hundred years old and would make a suitable background for certain period styles, like Rococo or anything 18th century....
With Jude's family all in eighteenth century costume, I finally had a group that would work. The first photos I took were shot on the lawn with some horses. It required setting the dolls up at a distance, and getting down on the ground ....
To take close ups, Jan would hold the dolls....
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I tried including some of the other areas on the grounds, like on the stairs down to the lower garden and pool....
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