the Family Picnic

I came up with the idea of photographing the family having a picnic at a park, and practiced setting up a scene at home....

Problem was, it was the end of April, and the trees were all still bare, and it was way too soon for anyone to be having a picnic at the park.  So I printed out the photo for whenever I would need it to remind me of how everything was set up, and I waited an entire month for just the right time. When we went to Oshawa to take the photos of Steve and Iris at Parkwood, we took all the children and all the props, along.  After finishing at Parkwood, we went to the nearby Peony Gardens. It was still too early for the peonies to be in bloom, so there was hardly anyone there. I chose a spot on the south end of the gardens, set up the projector stand, placed a somewhat larger board on top, covered it with the moss blankets and posed the dolls on top.

Then I took the photos up close straight on at the doll's eye level. The colour and texture of the moss blends in perfectly with the real grass in the park behind the dolls....