Richard Tuschman created this incredible series of composite photographs inspired by the work of seminal American painter Edward Hopper.
Tuschman builds painted dollhouse-size dioramas that he photographs in his studio. When he photographs the dioramas, he always takes the shots with small mannequins as placeholders for the live models to help map out the lighting. The models are then photographed against a plain backdrop and the two images are made into a digital composite in Photoshop. Besides accurately scaling and placing the figures, the image is largely done by the time he gets to post-production.
The soft, slightly grainy texture of the images and the natural, contemplative lighting is evocative of Hopper's oil paintings. Explaining his influences for Hopper Meditations, Tuschman says, “I have always loved the way Hopper's paintings, with an economy of means, are able to address some of the psychological mysteries and complexities of the human condition. I love the humble nature of the works and their sense of quietude. The characters' emotional states can seem to waver paradoxically between reverie and alienation, or perhaps between longing and resignation.”
