They say that every cloud has a silver lining. Back in 2019, with pandemic in full swing and all photographic horizons seemingly heavily overcast, my silver lining presented itself as an idea to try my hand in photographing Ball-Jointed Dolls. I already had plenty of experience with still life photography, and who was there to say that dolls are not a form of still life?

I have encountered many remarkable models: strikingly original, hugely inspiring, with lots of stories to tell. An added bonus is that, unlike some human models, dolls are extremely obedient and hard-working; they don’t get tired or hungry and are not at all obsessed with checking their Instagram accounts every five minutes!

I am often told how life-like the dolls are in my images. I will let you on to a little secret – it is never my aim to deceive a viewer, to pass a doll as a human. What I aim for instead is known as "suspension of disbelief", when everything in the image looks so natural that you simply refuse to accept that what you are looking at is not a real person. It is often the smallest of details that helps me achieve that - a tilt of a head, a drop of a shoulder, a fold of a dress, a light shining through the hair. Designing costumes and sets also plays a key role in telling a story. Overall, it is an elaborate time-consuming process, but I love every step of it.