As a kid I liked tales of the little people living in their own tiny world inside the every day world of regular people. I would enjoy fantasy art with mice who slept in beds that were repurposed boxes of matches. They would sit on spools of thread around a table make of an old block of cheese. Not just mice.

My favourites were actual tiny sized people, not fairy creatures but real people who had some how become shrunken. Do you remember the story of Thumbelina? I liked that far more than Tom Thumb, who was a boy after all.

About a dozen years ago it seems, I first noticed the photographs of tiny people posed in the real world. The first was linked in a blog (I have long forgotten which one). Later I found several in an art blog post, with a link to a site where they had originally found the photographs. This time there was an article about the photographer, Slinkachu, who created the idea to pose miniature figures (he reformed and painted them all himself) into a new form of street art. Like a public diorama, which he left standing when he was finished photographing it.

What I really wanted to know was… how was it done?

It turns out the tiny people are miniatures created for model rail road sets, dioramas as they may be called. I looked for tiny people. I was hoping to get lucky at the secondhand store. None that small in the toy bin but I did pick up two Bratz dolls, smaller sizes. I made them my tiny people in the big world. I posed them outside and indoors too. I tried to be creative but the more I worked at it the more I understood how much planning actually goes into those photos.

Of course, you need to use the macro feature on your camera. Get in close and then make sure you have the little people in focus. That wasn’t so easy either. I learned to take several extra photos because there would be at least half (or more) which would not be in crystal clear, sharp focus. It was disappointing when the very one which I had caught at just the right angle was the least in focus. But, I could usually try again, and I did!

I didn’t plan any farther ahead than the time it took me to get out the camera and the dolls as soon as I had the hint of an idea. But, it was fun, as a new hobby. I posted my photos to Flickr, some people thought I was sort of clever.