What is Tableau Photography?

Well, strictly speaking its not really what I am doing here...

Not much comes up when you search for "tableau" in the context of photography, but I will give you my rough definition. It is a dressed scene involving one or more people that attempts to tell a story in a single image. So in its loosest definition, a lot of photography would fall under this heading... if you have ever planed how you would make your exit from a wedding with the pictures in mind... you were setting up a tableau shot. 

Tableau Vivant is the more strict definition and refers to the recreation of works of art in live performance or photography. Check the history of it here... [Link] and this is what most people think of when they here the term. It is becoming forgotten as an art form, but actually we do it all the time when we emulate great works of art or pose people and contrive environments in ways that tell a story, we are just sometimes unaware that it has a name and a history. 

Of course what I am doing is quite different in that I am working with miniature, inanimate objects, constructed landscapes and creatures as opposed to people in costume and full sized sets. Still, I feel my recent work has some of the traits, mostly in the fact that I attempt to create a visual realm that will inspire the viewer to invent a story to explain what they are seeing.

In fact, I would almost hope the work demands the story of them. : )

I think there is some reference in the past for miniature tableau photography. For a short period some photographers would create elaborate sets in miniature to achieve exposures that otherwise would be impossible due to the limitations of the equipment of the time. I think my work owes more to that tradition than Tableau Vivant.

There are a few other artist that I have recently discovered doing work I consider similar to mine in the fact that they built environments in miniature. but they seem to be very few and far between. after I get some more of my own work up I will also point people to the awesome work of these other artists as well.