Wildlife Diorama, Natural History Museum – Los Angeles, California

I made pictures of wildlife dioramas that I found compelling. These are far from comprehensive. The Natural History Museum in LA had many more. I really have no idea why I selected these particular scenes. Certain animals get outsized attention, such as elephants and lions — they are a natural. Perhaps I just liked the composition and colors of the others.

Making pictures of these dioramas is nothing special. I’m sure many have done so. However, I later found that Hiroshi Sugimoto, a well-established art photographer, made a name by documenting these. He was a lot more serious about his documentation project, and he even used a large-format camera. Spending four decades documenting at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

As you can see from the YouTube video, he was meticulous about his process. My photos are just one step up from snapshots. However, I think they capture the scenes well. They are not perfect. You can see slight reflections off the glass. But I guess they look pretty good for the amount of time I spent on them.

For some reason that is now lost on me, I used two different cameras. I made these nearly a year and a half ago and have forgotten any rationale I might have had. The first three pictures are with the Fujifilm X-T10. The next three are with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 Mark II.

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