MAKING OF

The Making of Un Petit Monde

All of the figures and props used in our scenes are 1:87 (HO) scale.

The majority of figures and props we use are purchased from hobby stores and/or online merchants. We prefer to use figures that are produced by the German company Preiser. It is important for the figures to have the highest quality of detail to lend credibility to our scenes and Preiser makes the best 1:87 scale figures available.

On occasion, Kurt will cut, re-glue and paint the miniature figures to match a scene he has in mind. When a specific prop is needed and we cannot purchase it, Kurt will create it using clay, string, balsa wood, pieces of plastic, whatever we have available to us at the time.

Kurt uses a full-frame Nikon DSLR camera body and a 15mm "fisheye" lens to shoot all of his scenes. The fisheye lens is probably the most important part of Kurt's process because it allows him to get very close to the figures yet capture a large part of the background. The end result relates the subject to their surroundings, providing context.

Although we have used different camera bodies since the inception of our project, the one thing that has remained constant is the use of a fisheye lens. During the first six months of Un Petit Monde, Kurt was experimenting with different lenses trying to arrive at what he was envisioning. It was by chance that he discovered the fisheye after having rented one for a wedding we were shooting. Kurt tried it out with a miniature figure and discovered it gave the very result he was striving to achieve!

One of the key elements of our project is to shoot on location in environments that have some kind of historic or social significance. We have photographed in National Parks, along historic Route 66 and shot scenes illustrating topics such as climate change and pollution.

It is important that we shoot on location to not just photograph a miniature in the real world but to document the ever changing environment. Some of our work has included landscapes and man-made structures that have either been destroyed or naturally eroded away.

While most of our work might evoke a sense of nostalgia, it is our goal with Un Petit Monde to capture a whimsical photo that blends a bit of fantasy with reality.