Un Petit Monde (A Small World)
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Cow Abduction

1/25/2018

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For awhile Kurt has had the idea to photograph a scene where a miniature cow is being abducted by a flying saucer. One of his wishes for the scene was that a windmill would be included in the background.
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While traveling through southern New Mexico, we spotted several windmills from the highway. Sadly, none of them were close enough to the road to use as a backdrop for our scene. Until we came across an abandoned General Store off the side of the road. The place had a row of old wood frame buildings, an overgrown cemetery and a windmill.
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Abandoned property provides great setting for the scene
We scouted the place one afternoon and decided on the best angle to shoot from. Kurt tried different perspectives from the ground until he was satisfied. We were racing against the fading light to set up the scene. The tall fence and grasses surrounding the cemetery worked well in the background and conveyed a sense of remote countryside.
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Final image
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Dog Canyon Crash Site

1/22/2018

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While camping in Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, Kurt and I went and explored Dog Canyon in the Sacramento Mountains. We thought it would be a good setting for a UFO crash scene. This scene was directly inspired be an artist illustration of the debris field from 1947 and Kurt felt compelled to recreate his own version of the events.   

One morning we set out in the backcountry to shoot the scene.The sky was partly cloudy and the air was cool. It took us a very long time to navigate the prickly cacti and razor sharp thorn bushes. Eventually we found a wash that was conducive to our miniature photo shoot, the soil was sandy and free of bushes. 
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Kurt started to arrange the scene. I had to get really creative about how I would photograph Kurt because there were some challenges I had to deal with such as uneven terrain and tight spaces. Not only did we get some good images, we got in a good hike as well!
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View of the mountain from the wash where Kurt photographed the scene
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Kurt positions one of the characters into the crash scene
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Final image
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Incident at White Sands

1/15/2018

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Kurt and I were excited to get back to the White Sands, our favorite National Monument! Our last visit was in 2014 so Kurt was eager to return and get started on his new series revolving around UFO and monsters.

We are currently camping in Oliver Lee State Park, a small park on the foothills of the Sacramento Mountains with sweeping views of the valley. From our campsite we can see the town of Alamogordo, the White Sands, Holloman Air Force Base and part of White Sands Missile Range. On occasion, we can even hear missiles being detonated on the range miles away from us. 
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The day Kurt got the shot with the UFO, we were fortunate to have a sky filled with contrasting clouds. After a quick lunch near the dunes, we got our gear ready and hiked up the first mound expecting to see rolling dunes. Instead, we were overlooking picnic shelters and a road, not exactly what Kurt had envisioned as a backdrop for his scene :) We decided to get back into our van and drive further into the park to seek out a more natural environment. 
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Rolling dunes and the San Andres mountains in the background
We finally found our spot and Kurt worked on flushing out his idea. His original thought was to have a lone UFO fly over the dunes, in time he inserted a figure into the scene to add to the story.

As far as the weather was concerned we could not have asked for better conditions: the air was still, the temperature was comfortable and the light was soft and warm. The added texture and colors in the clouds added drama and energy to the final shot.
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Kurt contemplates his scene
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Final image
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Brantley Lake UFO Sighting

1/7/2018

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Here comes our biannual update ;) This winter, Kurt and I will focus our time and energy on our Un Petit Monde project, we plan to spend a few months in New Mexico. On a recent visit to Roswell (the site of a UFO incident in 1947) Kurt got inspired to photograph a series involving UFOs. ​

We spent Christmas in Minnesota with the family where we endured frigid temperatures. When we drove south the frigid air seemed to be following us! As far south as Amarillo, in the Texas panhandle,  the temperature plummeted in the teens overnight; we woke up to freezing fog.
Our first few days in New Mexico were spent huddling in our van to escape the sub-freezing temperatures.  Kurt took advantage of our forced downtime to brainstorm scenes. 
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Now that the weather has warmed up, Kurt and I are out every other day shooting scenes. At Brantley Lake, Kurt had an idea to photograph a UFO sighting. For this specific scene the UFO needed to appear suspended in mid-air so Kurt used a fishing line and a tripod to do the trick.
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Kurt sets up UFO sighting shot
Kurt's biggest challenge was to photograph the scene in such a way that the line would be invisible. He tied one end of the line to the flying saucer and the other end to the tripod and suspended the saucer 8 inches away from the vehicle. He focused on the car and shot the scene with a shallow depth of field so the line would be invisible to the eye.
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Final image
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Civilian Conservation Corps

7/11/2017

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These past couple weeks, Kurt and I have had a lot of joy recreating scenes from "the past" staging Civilian Conservation Corps workers, lumberjacks, etc. 

We learned a few things in the process:

- Most iconic buildings and structures in State and National Parks were built by the CCC boys (Civilian Conservation Corps)

- The original visitor center in Gooseberry Falls (built by the CCC) was still in use as late as 1996!

- The CCC program ran from 1933 until 1942 and no other federally funded program has been created since that rivals it both in its scope and degree of accomplishments.

- the North Shore's popularity is not new: visitors and outdoorsmen have been enjoying the area for over a century much like today

- Heavy logging and even farming used to take place in the Northland and large areas were depleted of their trees and left bare: CCC replanted many trees in the 1930s and brought back the landscape we enjoy today.

Looking at what the CCC's legacy: why couldn't there be  a mandatory program that would put the youth to work for a set amount of time on projects that up the quality of life for all of society? These young people would learn a trade of their choice, gain much needed life experience and the hours put in would pay for their college education! ​
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Each stone is hand-picked by experienced stonemasons based on quality and color
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In the background, a CCC boy is chiseling the rock for proper fitting
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CCC enrollees build the 300-foot long “Castle in the Park” stone retaining wall in Gooseberry Falls State Park
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logs are staked up, waiting to be transported for processing
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Strong bonds develop in a hard profession where mosquitos is only a small part of the many challenges they face
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The lumberjack team is posing in a rare photo at the end of their work day in the northwoods
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Lumberjacks at work in the forest
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Lone fisherman on the banks of the Gooseberry River
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In a Store near You...

6/6/2017

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...if you live in St Paul or in Minneapolis, Minnesota, you can find our Un Petit Monde postcards or Children's book at:

Corazon Gifts

Corazon , which means "heart" in spanish, is our favorite place to shop for great gifts in the Twin Cities. The items there are unique and locally-made but most importantly the owner (Susan) and her staff are kind and really love art! Go check out this gift shop if you haven't already, there are two locations: in Minneapolis on Lake St. And Marshall and in St Paul on Selby Ave. and Mackubin next to Great Harvest Bread.
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Corazon Gift Store on Selby Ave. in St Paul, MN


​Sixth Chamber Used Books

Sixth Chamber Used Books is located on Grand and Hamline Ave. a block from Kowalski's. There is also a sister store named Fox Den in River Falls, WI. The two book stores combined contain more than one hundred thousand titles, that's a lot of books!

The used book stores I'm familiar with smell mildewy, are dim-lighted and cluttered. Sixth Chamber is far from that description. In fact, it feels more like a small library: the aisles are narrow, full of books mingled with puzzles, stationary and a sizable collection of toys, educational toys.

James, the owner,  is a really great guy but in our opinion " Jem " is the star of the place. This litte dog was so friendly to everyone stepping into the store that Kurt had to take his picture. It seems that book stores like these are becoming increasingly rare, which is a shame. If you prefer real books (not digital tablets) go to either Sixth Chamber or Fox Den and lose yourself for an afternoon!
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Sixth Chamber Used Books on Grand Ave. in St Paul, MN
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Jem always rushes to greet visitors at they enter the store


​Common Good Books

We used to spend entire afternoons reading books at Common Good Books when they were located beneath Nina's cafe on Selby and Western. That was part of our routine when we lived in the Cathedral Hill area years ago. They are now located on Snelling Ave and Grand next to Breadsmith and you can find a copy of our Children's book titled "Welcome to the Small World a Book of Big Surprises" :)
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American Craft Magazine

5/23/2017

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Kurt and I are happy to have been included in the June/July issue of American Craft magazine! Our Un Petit Monde project was mentioned in the Collective Unconscious Department among other artists working in miniature scale: Peter Fritz, Ayumi Shibata, Yelena Synkova, Sean Cummings, and Matthew Albanese...nice!
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It's a Small, Small, Small, Small World

3/14/2017

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To pay homage to the movie It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Kurt worked to recreate a few scenes using HO scale figures and props. While Kurt spent hours modifying and painting figures and vehicles, I researched the exact locations where the original scenes were filmed. The movie was filmed in Southern California where we happened to be staying at the time.
​Kurt's biggest challenge was to find the HO scale vehicles to match the ones in the movie. For example, the HO scale tow truck Kurt used in his scene was originally an HO scale US Army 3/4 ton truck that he modified using paint, balsa wood, thread, rubber and cardboard. 
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My difficulty was to find the nearest location possible when the original filming location wasn't working out. When Kurt tried to photograph the HO scale tow truck driving down the hill in Yucca Valley, he realized that it was not translating well from an HO scale perspective so instead we relocated to the closest neighborhood with nice looking Joshua Trees.
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The hill from the movie was not working out from an HO scale perspective
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Kurt looking for the right perspective for his scene
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Final image
When Kurt photographed the man and his bicycle standing in the road and flagging down a vehicle, we were right on highway 74, outside of Palm Desert. The area has drastically changed since the movie was filmed 54 years ago. Instead of a dusty, barren desert, it's now  lush and developed.
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Scene from the movie filmed in 1963
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Final image
The scene in Rancho Palos Verdes was tricky because it was originally filmed on a private estate. Fortunately, tucked in between large swaths of privately-owned land were a few public parks with views of the ocean. One of these parks had the ideal grass height to photograph the Big W scene. The ground was at a slight slant allowing for the horizon (ocean) to show in the final shot.
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Nearest public park from original location in Rancho Palo Verdes
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Final image

​Although all of the scenes feature blue sky and sun, the last photo shoot on the Kern river started out as overcast and drizzly. Kurt was working with the conditions at hands when the drizzle stopped and the clouds broke for 15 minutes allowing Kurt to capture the last image of the series in nice light and with a blue sky.
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Scene from the movie
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Final image
We'd like to get back to Southern California soon to photograph more scenes from the movie. Thankfully a few recognizable features are still standing today but for how much longer?
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Biannual Update ;)

12/30/2016

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I can't believe 6 months have passed since our last update. Kurt and I have kept busy for the most part with a little idling in between. 

During the summer, Kurt and I hosted various family members and friends at Gooseberry Falls where we campground host. We made our Barebones wall tent into a cozy cabin complete with inflatable queen size bed, reclining chair and mini fridge. Some of the activities our guests enjoyed included hikes in the woods, agate hunting on the beach, chatting around the campfire and touring the shops and the eateries along the north shore.

Early fall, we published our third postcard set titled: the American Southwest. Kurt designed the postcard set to look like a miniature magazine with each title describing the postcards inside the set. Our collection of postcards photographed in a handful of National Parks happens to coincide with the National Park Service 100th anniversary!

We spent a couple weeks in the Twin Cities and then headed to the Southwest for the winter. On our way to Death Valley we made stops in Arches, Bryce and Zion National Parks. While in Utah, we also made a quick stop to see dinosaur tracks just outside of Arches. Before we knew it we were back in Las Vegas and it felt as if we had never left.
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Kurt and I are currently volunteering in Death Valley National Park, photographing for the park. Here are a few photos of our travels and our work in the park:
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Entertainment Weekly

6/6/2016

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Kurt was commissioned by Entertainment Weekly magazine to photograph a beach full of miniature people lounging in front of giant books to introduce the Summer’s 10 biggest reads. (June 3/10, 2016 p. 72-73)
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Kurt photographed this HO scale scene on a small beach in Minnewashta Regional Park.

DAY 1
It’s mid-day, we finally found the beach we were looking for. Kurt took a quick test shot on the edge of the lake and confirmed that it was the right spot. We propped up the books on the sand as close as possible to the edge of the water so that the lake would show up in the photo. Occasionally a boat would trigger a series of waves but fortunately none were potent enough to soak the books. 

Kurt positioned the miniatures to make up several story lines and proceeded to photograph for the next several hours. Unfortunately we were facing a couple major challenges: for starter, the sand was too dark and too coarse so the miniatures did not show up very well. Also, the books were casting a shadow onto the scene and there was nothing we could do about it. After struggling all afternoon, Kurt admitted that it would not work and we packed it in for the day.  

DAY 2
We woke up early with high hopes and ready to do good work. At 10 a.m. we were back on the beach and had it all for ourselves. We propped the books up in the sand and Kurt sprinkled some medium grain sand onto the foreground. Kurt worked on creating a beach scene, arranging the HO scale figures to create new story lines. By the time we were ready to shoot, the sun was practically above us, illuminating both the books and the miniature scene. Somehow, clouds managed to show up at the right time to complete our beach scene. We were very happy with the end result!
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Kurt manipulates a figure prior to the photo shoot
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Adjusting the umbrella of the HO scale ice cream vendor
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Kurt straightens up a sun bather prior to photographing the scene
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