Having a birthday in October, we celebrated Halloween very regularly in my family. Having costume parties as birthday parties, pumpkin carving, mask making, and happy birthday wishes in black and orange, my childhood was fairly spooky (in a good way!). Halloween began to take over my everyday life, with my love of skulls showing up on everything including my shoes, my clothes, my hairbrush, and even my bedsheets! Needless to say, I LOVE Halloween!! :)
Being a photographer, I often get these creative visions that most people rarely see when they look at the back of my camera at the freshly posed image being displayed. Sometimes these visions are extremely elaborate and detailed, other times it is fairly simple and elegant. I think that is my favorite part of being a photographer, being able to capture these creative visions I see during my everyday life!
This particular series began two years ago, almost three years now. It all began with a trip to New Orleans with one of my closest friends and his mom. Although we were there for a photography convention, I knew we had to visit one of the above ground cemeteries famous to that particular part of Louisiana. There was something absolutely captivating about visiting those ancient burial grounds. Even in death, people can portray such amazing and mystifying beauty!
Back at our hotel, my friend and I walked the lobby, exploring one of the shops filled with Mardi Gras style masquerade masks. These masks were everywhere! The photography convention happened to fall during the very beginning of Mardi Gras, thus explaining the abundance of masks! After seeing all of those masquerade masks at our hotel, I knew I had to bring one home!
Walking around Bourbon Street, those same Mardi Gras style masks were everywhere! After a few hours of exploring many of the shops (and bars) that Friday night, my dear friend Chris offered to buy a mask for me. That mask is the mask that has started my growing collection of Mardi Gras style masquerade masks! Thanks a lot, Chris! ;)
(Below is said mask, with the amazing, and slightly intoxicated best friend of mine. It was Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras, even my non-drinking self had one drink!)
My Halloween Horrors series began with the idea of photographing my friends wearing my collection of masks, in a cemetery with raised beds similar to those found in New Orleans. However, after two years of photographing, I have decided that it has turned into an extreme experimentation with Off Camera Flash, both indoors and out. So without anymore nonsense from me...
- Halloween Horrors -
