Malaysian photographer uses superheroes to show good social distancing behaviour

Even superheroes need to wears masks, and not just to protect their secret identities, as Ng shows in his photos during MCO. — Photos: NG WIRE HON

A local photographer, who uses action figures and forced perspective to create amusing scenarios, has been using his skills to remind people to stay safe since the movement control order (MCO) started in March.

Ng Wire Hon – who has 140,000-plus followers on Instagram and Facebook where he posts his photos – had recently begun posing his toys following government SOP on recommended safety protocols, from wearing masks to proper sanitation.

“I just want to remind people that Covid-19 is everywhere and the government’s epidemic prevention measures must be followed. Protect yourself and protect your family,” the Teluk Intan-based father of two told LifestyleTech.

Ng's wife helps him make accessories like masks for his action figures, so it's only fair they help her out too.

In addition to getting his family to pose in the photos – where the forced perspective made the action figures look as large as the real life people – his wife also helped Ng make props like masks, hand sprays and tiny signboards.

Playing with how some superheroes already wear face masks all the time, he only puts face masks on heroes like Captain America and Dr Strange, while skipping others like Deadpool and Spider-Man.

Asked about how he was handling the MCO period, Ng said he missed being able to watch superhero movies in the cinema, though he now rewatches clips on YouTube at home.

Ng's kids help out in his amusing photos, in this case knocking out poor Wolverine with one punch.

A long time fan of comic book characters, he had been collecting 6in and 12in action figures from video games, plus Marvel and DC franchises, for about five years before he got the idea to start taking photos of them in 2017.

Although his favourite character was Deadpool, other popular characters like Marvel’s The Hulk and Black Widow, DC’s Wolverine and Cyclops, and even Kung Lao from Mortal Kombat also feature on his list of favourites.

Ng uses his superhero figures to highlight some issues common during the MCO, in this case people not wearing face masks correctly.

Asked how he did his photos, Ng said it came down to mostly planning rather than fancy gear as he only shot using his old Samsung J7 Prime smartphone with no additional equipment.

Forced perspective is a photography technique which creates an optical illusion based on how objects appear larger when seen up close.

By putting the small action figures extremely near to the phone camera and having the life sized people and props in the background, both appear to be around the same size.