Brought to Life

Inanimate Objects, Structures and Buildings Become the Stars of the Show

‘One evening, as I photographed Tel-Aviv city from above, I noticed something interesting,’ Israel-based photographer, ErAn Croitoru told us. ‘The people, who are usually the main subject in our daily photos, suddenly became irrelevant! As I watched, the city became something like a stage, but instead of people playing parts, the buildings themselves were the stars of the show.’

With this stark realization that inanimate objects also have a story to tell, ErAn decided that he would use his skills as an animator to bring these objects to life. Using animation software, he helped the buildings bend and touch each other, imagining that this was the way the buildings would hug, if only they could!

This was the beginning of ErAn’s animated photography series. We asked him more about his animated photography projects:

The Plus: How do imagine what the different objects would be/do if they were alive?
ErAn Croitoru: Mostly from my life experience. It may be the Power Tower desire to break free from his daily obligations, but that makes the two of us. Some inspiration comes from the cinema. In “The Attack on Nail City” I wanted to create an action film scene in which a giant hammer is attacking Nail city. I created cars out of meter tapes with nuts and screws as wheels. Electric testers with glued flashlights became street lights.

TP: What is the main challenge of your work?
EC: The technical part – staging the shot, stabilizing the objects in their pose. It’s a time and patience consuming work. The smaller the objects, the harder it is to stabilize them while keeping the reference materials hidden from camera.

TP: What is your technical process in creating these effects?
EC: Although I know I can use editing software to fix and change the image during post, I prefer doing everything I can during the photographing stage. I use a 3D software named Lightwave to add arms/legs and Photoshop.

TP: What image are you most proud of?
EC: “Food Fight!” I think it’s one of the more amusing pictures in this project. There are many small details that the viewer can overlook the first time such as the crying onion and the ketchup bleeding tomato.

TP: Which animated, inanimate objects will your next image feature?
EC: There are a couple of pictures I have in mind. I think the next one will be about batteries. They remind me of children, full of energy 🙂