You won't find Elgin Park on a road map, but you'll find it on the web, and now immortalized in the color photos of this book. Michael Paul Smith's Flickr site has received over 20 million hits
since he first posted his dreamlike yet convincing photographs of Elgin Park, an imaginary town based on his memories of the small Pennsylvania town of his boyhood. The intricately detailed
miniature street scenes of an idealized American small town are populated by model vintage cars, and photographed outdoors to blend seamlessly with natural backgrounds and street scenes,
without digital manipulation. The realistic scenes even include complete interiors, all created by hand by Smith, who has background as an architectural model-builder, an illustrator, and a
museum display designer. An introduction by Gail Ellison (U. of Florida College of Fine Arts), a long-time colleague of Smith's, explains the photographer's methods and uncovers themes in his
art. Annotation 穢2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
