Slinkachu is a photographer who has been leaving tiny models of men, women and children on the streets of London since 2006. His first project, 'Little People in the City' saw miniature models of men, women and children living ordinary lives on the streets of London. Since then, he has completed a number of other projects all using the same signature, placing mini models of people in scenarios on the streets and taking a couple of pictures of it, before leaving the scene to see how the people of London interact with it. Since he began these little projects, other photographers have begun to copy his work and put their own twist into it.
Examples of his work
I think these pictures are very representative of how average problems and ideas such as the brick throwing and bottle cap pirate ship show us even though the models are tiny, they still have normal day problems that everybody goes through. The lolly pop smashing that mans car was a great idea, I think it shows us that things we do affect others, someone dropping that lolly pop may seem like a small issue, but for someone smaller than that lolly pop, it's a very big issue (literally).
Christopher Boffoli
Christopher Boffoli is a fine art photographer, he is best known for his 'Big Appetites' photographs series in which he used miniature models of men, women and children (much like Slinkachu himself), and places them in real food environments. He placed little figures who were dressed as chefs around macaroons, made a figure of a man with a lawn mower appear to be shaving the skin off of an orange, while still representing modern day hiccups. His work has been sold all over the world and is displayed in art galleries.
Examples of his work
I really like how he took ordinary things like food and made loads of different scenarios in which the figures are hard at work, peeling an orange, stemming strawberries, a mother clearly in a hurry to get her child to school (perhaps). chefs admiring their work on the macaroons, a father pulling his child on a sled through cupcake icing and instead of zombies, he has used little bear biscuits as an apocalyptic world.
Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida
Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida are professional food photographers and since 2002 have been shooting pictures of miniature people in a world of over-sized food, in a series they call 'minimiam' ("miam" is French for "yum"). In their works, they place miniature models of men, women and children in everyday scenarios that connect to food. Although that the main purpose of their pictures was to make people laugh, some of them take on issues like global warming and our connection with nature.
Examples of their work
I really like how the photographers have used everyday foods to influence their models lives. The tractor on the mince pie, ancient Egyptians using camels to carry corn as if it were tombstones, the man how is dressed like a blacksmith is chiseling the peanut shell, the boy mowing the fur off of the kiwi, the children and dog skiing on the whip cream and the workers pumping up the raisins so they become grapes, all of these are representing how when we do everyday stuff in our lives, the little people do the same, just with things we don't use for the reasons they do.
First Attempt
Worst
I think that this photo is the worst out of my first shoot for a number of reasons. For starters, I put a tree in sand, and secondly the depth of field isn't very good, the idea behind this image was that the woman was laying under a tree on the beach, but I didn't set the depth of field correctly so the whole image isn't working, not to mention that you can barely see the slinkachu figure.
Best
I think that this image is my best because I set the depth of field perfectly, I love how the woman is the only thing that is in 100% focus and the car and background aren't.
Second Attempt
Worst
I don't like this picture because its not in focus, the depth of field isn't set right, you can see the blue tack that I used to stick the figure down with and there's not much going on in the scene.
Best
I really like this one because I love how the figure is in the perfect focus point and you can see the detail of the damp wood. The depth of field is perfect in this image and the shutter speed was just right to capture the reflection of the man in the water. I also think this image tells a story, the mad has come down to a pier to sit down, and let the fresh air clear his mind.
Third Attempt
Worst
I think that this picture is my worst from this shoot because the depth of field isn't very good, the image isn't in focus. I haven't considered the rule of thirds either in this picture and the shutter speed was a little too slow. The image is a bit over exposed.
Best
I think this image is my best because the shutter speed was at a perfect speed, the image has just the right exposure. I love the amount of detail I managed to capture in the leaves, the car is at just the right angle and makes it look just like a car accident, which is what I was going for!
Ideas
These are some of my ideas for the Slinkachu project. I will need to make some props such as; a knife for crime scene, red paint for blood, cardboard for seats of a cinema and coffin, logos. I will make the knife out of cardboard and paint it to look like an ordinary kitchen knife, I will paint the blade silver and the handle black, with red paint for blood along the blade. For things such as models I will stick a Slinkachu figure in front of a white screen and take some pictures that way, then I will make some lighting props (same size as the slinkachu figure) and put a camera in front of the figure and take a picture of the camera in front of the figure, making sure to get the fake lighting props in the shot too. For the funeral setting, I will dig a small hole in the grass, and have some figures walking to the hole holding a coffin (which I will make out of card and paint to look like a coffin), I will have a vicar standing at the head of the grave and have some people standing round it. For the carnival scene I will make a ferris wheel out of string for the bars, cardboard for the base, and card for the seats. I will add Slinkachu figures to the seats, and maybe add some fairy lights to bring the wheel to life. For the background i'll use my iPad and get an image of a carnival and put it behind my ferris wheel.
Fourth Attempt
Worst
I really don't like this picture, none of it makes any sense, there's a tree that's growing out of nothing on a window ledge for starters. The depth of field really hasn't been applied in this picture, the lens wasn't clean, which is why there's a blur on the right side of the picture.
Best
There really wasn't any good pictures in this little shoot, but out of the four photos in this shoot I think this one is the best. It's a beach scene, kind of 80's with the black convertible on the sand next to the figure.
Attempting with props
Worst
I don't like this picture because the depth of field isn't in focus, the 'blood' is obviously paint and the black tissue paper doesn't cover the entire picture so you can quite clearly see the table.
Best
I think that this picture is the best from this shoot because I like how the background isn't in focus but you can still make out what's in the background, you can really see the amount of detail in the tree trunk and I love how you can quite clearly see that the woman has committed suicide and I like how you can actually see the woman's face behind the string.
C.O.D: Hanging
Worst
I think that this picture is my worst from this shoot because the white balance is off, the image is very yellowy and the slinkachu figure isn't really in focus.
Best
I really like this picture because I love how much detail is captured in the twig and the figure. The depth of field is perfect and so is the white balance. I also like how you can actually see the string and where its going. You can very clearly see that she has a noose around her neck and she's standing in a tree, gathering up the confidence and strength to jump!
First Attempt at Photoshop
Final Pictures
These are my final pictures for the slinkachu topic. I'm happy with the end result of my pictures and the story they tell. I imagined this story to be tragic love story... A modern day Romeo and Juliet. The story is that this couple, we're both unhappy with their lives and they just wanted to end it, but they didn't want to die until they were wed. So after the wedding, hand in hand, the climbed a tree, tied rope around their necks, and jumped.