A Gallery Of Victorian Noir Imagery

I am fascinated by peoples fears and phobias of seemingly innocent and innocuous everyday objects. Strange and irrational fears that spring from the deepest recesses of the human mind. Dolls from the Victorian period and other old fashioned toys seem to have fallen into this category. This is a strange fear to have as they are after all toys and should have happy associations. I wonder if it stems from odd childhood memories. Recollections of half seeing things in the dark?

Alternatively are we conditioned by more modern stimuli such as horror movies or TV shows? I decided to explore the feelings these items cause in us using carefully lit images. I felt a lot of our responses to these toys is due to darkness and tricks played by shadows. This use of light can give a sinister air where none exists in reality. With this in mind I tried to create a certain mood using high contrast shallow focus and black and white imagery. I hope you like the result.

1. Three victorian dolls in black and white. One small wooden doll sits in foreground. While the two dolls in the background seem to sit watching you.
2. Two small sailor dolls in shadow. Scale has been greatly exagerated by manipulation of perspective in this shot.
   
3. A wooden Pinocchio doll sits on a shelf, a terrified doll of an Edwardian lady sits to his right seemingly in dread of him. To his left sits a smaller shocked looking doll. A witness to his violent crimes? The scene reminds me of Punch and Judy minus the crocodile.
4. A context shot of the dolls. As I found them sat on a table under a lamp. A photograph of an unknown woman is next to them. Perhaps their grown up owner? I can't help but wonder if it's their mother?
5. In this light instead of thinking of a monkey playing a glockenspiel I think of Edgar Allan Poe´s story ´Murder On The Rue Morgue´. Maybe that's something wrong with my head though...
6. Colour tinted version of image 1.
7. Colour tinted version of image 2.
8. Colour tinted version of image 3.
9. Colour tinted version of image 4.
10. Two very lifelike dolls looking like they may spring to life any second. Who knows, when you are asleep, maybe they do..?

 All photographs are © David Toyne. They may not be used, linked to directly or reproduced in any form without his prior written permission.