The secret life of Elgin Park

Art That Inspires Us, Phenomenal Photography

Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.  Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.  Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.             Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.

Welcome to the City of Elgin Park.

Michael Paul Smith is the perfect example of an artist with a passion for what he does. For the last 25 years, he has spent some of his spare and much of his professional time making miniature models and photographing them, creating a gallery of vintage car photographs from a fictional 1950s American town called Elgin Park.

As a professional model maker, Smith’s models are detailed enough to withstand the scrutiny of close-up photography. Smith places them in miniature dioramas and uses forced perspective to make parts of the real world lend his pictures additional realism. The result is a quirky sort of historical fiction – faithfully and authentically reproduced scenes from a small American town that never actually happened (but could have).

What’s also great about his Elgin Park collection is that the magician is willing to reveal his secrets. Smith’s Flickr gallery often pairs his brilliant illusions with a picture that breaks their carefully arranged perspective and reveals how he managed to blend reality and his imagined history. His pictures are an excellent example of how art can be used to fool the eyes.

Source: Michael Paul Smith (via boredpanda.com

11 thoughts on “The secret life of Elgin Park”

  2. This is sheer genius. Upon first glimpse, I thought he actually built a village, including buildings, houses, etc. To find that he actually incorporates full-sized architecture into his photos, with the miniature vehicles in front, is nothing short of sheer genius. Way to go, sir!

    Reply

  8. Reblogged this on ckbooksblog and commented:
    You’ve got to see these pictures. I really don’t see how he – Michael Paul Smith, does it but it is just amazing. This comes courtesy of the website, hovercraftdoggy.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s