Tiny People

Most of us start losing our wild childish imaginations when we grow up, but not Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle. Since 2002, these two professional food photographers have been shooting a playful series of dioramas called MINIMIAM (“miam” is French for “yum”) that place miniature people in a world of over-sized food.

In their dioramas, Javelle and Ida arrange miniature model train figurines in everyday positions and situations that connect playfully with the fruits, vegetables, pastries and other foods that they use in the photographs. Although the main purpose of the images was simply to create a series of images that will make people smile, some of them take on issues like global warming and our relationship with nature.

The creative couple behind MINIMIAM met while studying photography at the Arts Decoratifs art school in Paris. Both share an interest in food photography and both are successful food photographers, which is probably why this series looks so delicious.