Over the past week, Prince George has been drawn to Mick Harper’s ‘Life in Miniature’ like moths to a flame.
‘Miniature’ gives the viewer the feeling they’re staring into a dollhouse, watching tiny people and tiny trains flit about their daily lives.
The effect used to create the unique perspective is called ’tilt-shift photography’, something Harper is very familiar with.
“It’s different from regular photography because the glass at the end of the lense you use is not parallel to the camera body,” explains Harper, “So it throws things out of focus. You need to get a high vantage point to make the effect work.”
Aside from climbing on the roofs of buildings to get the shots, Harper also took advantage of Northern electric’s bucket lift.
When asked if he was scared of heights, Harper just laughed and said, “Not anymore!”
Harper initially approached Exploration Place and the city with the idea for a tilt-shift time lapse video nearly a year ago.
“I’ve seen a number of them for larger centres like Boston, New York, and San Francisco, and I thought they were so cool,” says Harper, “And then I saw one for Calgary, and that’s when it sparked the idea in me to create on for Prince George. if they can do it, why can’t we?”
The goal from the get-go was to show Prince George from a new point of view.
“I wanted to inspire a sense of community pride… I wanted people to be curious when they saw it and go ‘Hold on, I know where that is, but it’s different, it’s not like we usually see it’.”
The project took about five months to shoot, with Harper hitting as many community events as possible.
Then, it was time to sort through the footage…
“It took me three weeks just to process the images… Thousands of individual stills. Then, a week of editing.”
The hot reception of the video has culminated in countless views, likes, and shares on social media, as well as its installation as a permanent fixture at Exploration Place.
‘Life in Miniature’ can also be viewed via Harper’s Vimeo page.
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