All images by Amr Elshamy. Used with Creative Commons permission.
Many photographers are also multi-disciplinary creatives. Some do writing on the side, others dabble in art direction, and many also double as videographers and filmmakers. Egyptian photographer Amr Elshamy, however, does something interesting on the side as a visual artist: he makes scale models of scenes he wants to photograph.
All these artistic interests have come together for a single photo which he called The House. Guided by his love for sci-fi themes, Cairo-based Amr came up with the concept of a UFO uprooting a house to take back to their home planet. So much for bringing home a souvenir from their interstellar travel!
We’ve seen a lot of projects that touch on space exploration, UFOs, and everything in between. Amr’s take, with his handcrafted scene and its playful story, is definitely a welcome addition to our favorite highly imaginative bodies of work.
Whatever the genre, there’s often a lot that goes into a single photograph. Amr demonstrates how extensive it can get by sharing the process behind creating his House. For about two months, he worked on an idea to create a UFO diorama using toys and scale models. As with his other projects, he polished the results on Photoshop once he’s happy with his shots.
“I admire the vintage look of stuff, like the car and the house. I bought a bigger house, but it was way too big for the project. I contacted a company that cut wood to make a small house of the design I want, but it was hard to get it together because the size I asked for was too small. Fortunately, I have been able to get it together.
“I used a $2 LED light strip for the spaceship, and for the smoke I used cigarettes (I don’t smoke) so it was hard for me. For the sand, I used hummus, as the normal sand will look so big on the camera. Used one flash head to make the light that comes out from the UFO/Spaceship, and there was another small LED light to give overall light.”
Really ingenious, don’t you think?
Do check out Amr Elshamy’s website and Behance portfolio to see his other impressive visual projects.