Man Builds A Picturesque Model Town That Looks Real Enough To Visit

The town of Elgin Park is a bit like a time capsule. With streets packed side-to-side with vintage cars and neon signs blazing across every storefront, it feels as though it was plucked right out of 1950s Americana. And that’s exactly what Elgin Park is meant to be! The chief architect of the town, Michael Paul Smith, was inspired to build the entire thing—all 15 buildings—himself, as an ode to a simpler time. He only intended for the town to be his own pet project; however, now it’s caught the attention of others who are interested in what he’s doing. So, how exactly does one man build an entire 1950s-inspired town from scratch? Well, take a closer look and you’ll see that there’s more to this town than meets the eye… The town he photographs is quaint and beautiful. It's like each picture tells a story of how life used to be in the United States. There's not much going on in these pictures, but it's obvious that this town is nothing but charm. But, as it turns out, also not real. Michael builds custom miniature models and sets, meticulously crafting every detail. Then, the 60 year-old photographer creates the hyper-realistic images. If you didn't know any better, you might think these are vintage photos of a town from a few decades ago... And NOT the extremely small models this man built. He started building these models as an exercise. He wanted to practice his craft and also photography. He never imagined it would be a "dream-like reconstruction" of the town he grew up in. To Michael, this is what quintessential America looked like when he was a kid. It is absolutely beautiful. If "Elgin Park" were a real town, I would love to live there. He creates the scenes by setting up Danbury Mint and Franklin Mint die cast autos and trucks in front of his models on card tables. Then, he uses the surrounding scenery to make the backgrounds for the photos. The perspective has to be JUST right... Usually the resulting photos are completely convincing. Even when you know what's going on behind the scenes. It's all an illusion. But Michael is able to make an incredibly convincing one. His selfies aren't part of the official photo series, but I think they just add to the charm of his work. In truth, Michael’s creation is actually a lot smaller than the photos may suggest… https://www.youtube.com/watch?vhwOJfHwGJ1U Credits: hypertomb Share this story on Facebook with your friends.