Photographer Anthony Schmidt, who was only 14 years old, has charmed the audience in Tiktok and Instagram with the pictures, and on April 1, 2022, he even held a solo gallery show itself.
Along with more than 500 thousand followers in Tiktok and more than 30K on Instagram, as a fan of the Schmidt massive car also collected a collection of toy vehicles that were equally large – many of them adjusted themselves with additional details. The young photographer then took his small replica to the world, sometimes with additional props and detailed surfaces, to take photos using the iPhone. Videos that showcase this process, usually paired with shooting results, each collect tens of thousands of their respective views.
But what distinguishes Schmidt’s photo from something you might see in photography toy promotion or ebay list is his eyes for composition, lighting, and the way it makes reproduction of this scale look like a real thing. His work joined Devid Levinthal, Jules Ober, and many other skilled photographers who use toys and models as their subject.
Details of the Schmidt car, background, and other set sauces are very important to make illusion work of photography, but the most vital aspect is perspective – or, more specifically, forced perspectives.
By manipulating framing and focus, photographers can cheat their eyes into a trusted object larger, smaller, closer, or further than actually. These are tricks that have been used for some time in photography and film – sometimes for the visual effects, and sometimes just to laugh (eg, most tourist photos of the sloping tower of Pisa). This, coupled with sharp Schmidt’s eyes for detail, placement, and lighting results in a picture of a toy car that can be difficult to believe is actually not real.
Schmidt’s mother, Ramona, has said that he began to take photos of his toy car which looked realistic when he was six years old, who would be around 2014. It would be interesting to see how far his work for eight years.