tobias m. schiel
Thinking about heaven, thinking about everything
So be waiting by those gates, you might need to sneak me in
I don’t know how they feel about us accidental killers
I don’t know how they feel about us tired old men
I don’t know how they feel about us tired old murdering men
He said ‘I know an old farmer doesn’t trust the bank
Keeps his money buried out behind his water tank
He told me once when he was out of his mind’
‘Oh boys our time has come
To live among the privileged ones’
I am the man on stage slurring your favourite songs.
Making up a few of the words as I go along.
Taking the edge off of me
Is a necessity when I’m singing these words that I no longer mean.
I am not a poet, I’m a broken heart
And though you didn’t dispute it, I don’t really play the part.
I am not dishonest, I’m a lost detail
Leaving out the good words to hide my trail.
The bearer of bad news is talking to the breeze
Floating forth the message
Hiding in the trees
The weary voice inside you is darker in the night
The healing hand
The morning light
While you’re out wasting time with the right guy
With the right guy
The whisperings
In the middle of the morn
Liquor rests
Upon your words
But still in my slow beating heart
I’m not ashamed
Oh maybe I
In the rising morning light
Should be blamed
And so it seems
I will see you once again, in my dreams
It’s sort of strange
You only haunt me when I’m trying to leave you behind
Light this sidewalk
Drunk I stumble
Words from my mouth, hear me mumble
Who am I to fall in something
Close to loving
Ever hurting?
“Down these mean streets a man must go” because by the end of 2019, a few things had fallen into place. After finishing my Zone series, I had packed my miniatures away, postponed further toy photography till later, and travelled to Belgium. I was back in October with lots of inspiration and no idea where to start.
Visiting some old neighbourhoods in Brussels and Antwerp had given me the idea to show what you might call the dodgy end of town through miniature photos. I had sketched some pictures but could not really bring myself to building the sets needed for this project – for example, a vacant lot in an urban street.
A couple of weeks later I found out that – much to my delight – my Noir series from 2017 had actually had an impact on fellow toy photographers, which I could have suspected but was never really aware of. James Garcia, host of the Toy Photographers Podcasts, had let himself be inspired by pictures from that series! This was the spark I needed to get going!
Now I am trying my hand at the Noir theme again, partly because I love a good hard boiled detective story, partly because I am curious to find out about any differences between then and now. The noir suites – sequences of three, maybe four pictures that should convey little bits of action – give me a great chance to tackle the ‘dodgy end’ theme. I will start posting the series next week.
empire of lights 