Small World

Polina Plotnikova FRPS EFIAP has previously given the club an excellent presentation on her delightful flower photographs, and she began the evening by saying she was a ‘picture maker’ rather than a ‘picture taker’. She is 100% in charge of what appears in each of her images. This time Polina gave an intriguing presentation on a genre of photography that most club members didn’t even know existed as she led us into the little-known world of posing and photographing jointed art dolls.

These are no ordinary dolls as they are hand crafted by experts, have carefully painted life-like features, wigs of many colours and jointed limbs that can be bent into numerous positions. Because of the Covid restrictions Polina decided to use her collection of art dolls in a similar way to setting up still life images. She could carefully select backgrounds and accessories to achieve the image she has in her very imaginative mind.

Polina gets her ideas from books, TV and film dramas or paintings. Her little characters are dressed in beautiful handmade costumes and posed in appropriate settings. Sometimes the scene is set up in her studio but also, she uses historic landmarks outdoors as the background.

Polina says that she adores the long, slow process of setting up the scene. The pose, the costumes, the lighting are all very carefully controlled. Toy animals such as dogs, cats, wolves and even a horse can be specially commissioned, each exactly to the same scale as the dolls. Polina can cleverly recreate an Old Master painting and has taken this art form to an extremely high level.

A truly fascinating evening showing the dedication and skill needed to achieve such high-quality images.

See more of Polina's images Website

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