Un Petit Monde Questions and Answers
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Why is it called Un Petit Monde?
Edwige happens to be French and when we were brainstorming a title for our project, she asked: "What about Un Petit Monde?" (It's the French translation for A Small World). Perfect! By the way, the pronunciation sounds like: Uh-Peh-Tee-Moaned Where does your inspiration come from? Kurt has had these miniature toy figures in one form or another since he was a young child. Instead of using the figures for his model railroading set (for which they were intended), He dreamed up scenarios out in his backyard. As an adult, Kurt's inspiration comes from our travels, current and past experiences and how he see the world. Also, Kurt really enjoys macro photography so the combination is a natural fit! How small are the figures? The figures are less than 1 inch or 2cm in height. In the hobby world, they are considered HO scale or 1:87. Are the backgrounds real? Yes. Kurt uses a a fisheye lens and shallow depth of field when shooting the scenes. First, the lens is super wide angle and captures more of the surrounding environment. Second, shooting with a shallow depth of field produces the out-of-focus, "dreamy" backgrounds. Shooting this way can make the backgrounds appear fake or digitally modified, but they are not. |
Do you make the little people?
No. We purchase the miniatures from local hobby shops and often buy the figures from people on eBay. However, Kurt will create a lot of the props by hand and manipulate (glue and paint) the figures when necessary. Are you both photographers? Kurt shoots and processes the photos, conceives of the scenes and creates the props. Edwige coordinates the day-to-day tasks such as researching locations, ordering materials, coordinating our travels and photographs the "making of" Un Petit Monde. Do you do commissioned work? Yes, we have accepted commissions involving the miniatures. We are committed to producing fine art photography and will consider commercial inquiries. Do you have a book of your work? Yes! We are sold out of our self-published limited edition book (edition of 500). but we do have a children's book which you can find here. |
