It’ s a mix of all of the above for me. It started out as a passion. Similar to horror, there weren’ t any real rules. With weddings you needed to shoot specific shots of people composed in a specific way, lit a specific way and edited in a specific way. With cosplay, that all goes out the door as you get to put your own creative touch on it by incorporating interesting lighting techniques( gelled lights, smoke machines, projection or neon lights), lenses( fisheye, macro, ultra-wide) and editing( composites, over-the-top edits or something true to the videogame or cartoon it originated from). I loved the freedom it provided and that it was so much different from a typical portrait session or live-event.
Over the years it has turned into somewhat of an income, shooting different cosplay work for promotions / advertisement, but it’ s something that I love to do to this day.
Some of the effects are brilliant. Those Silent Hill inspired photos are plain creepy. How did you go about creating them?
Thank you! I try to incorporate practical effects and real-locations any chance I get. I made all of the costumes myself by putting my own twist on the look of them, most of the effects are actual practical makeup application and the photos are shot on-location with smoke machines and rain effects wherever possible. I’ ll add any non-practical effects in post processing as well as do final color styling and adjustments, but generally the before and after shots don’ t vary as much as many of the other cosplay work that I shoot.
We took a look at your special effects room on Instagram... it’ s part brilliant part nightmare as in, I’ d hate to walk in there at night... do you apply the effects and make up yourself or work with an artist on this?
When I first started doing horror-photography, I hired makeup artists. I quickly realized it was an expensive addition to the hobby and began to work with several artists over the course of a couple years in order to pick up new techniques. I couldn’ t tell you the difference between any beauty makeup effects but I can list off the differences from a dozen types of fake bloods and dirts!
One of the things that really got me interested were that I found many of the widely available products weren’ t the greatest quality and really limited the impact of the photos. Once you get past the widely available products, you start seeing the studio-grade( and studio-priced!) products which provide a much more realistic effect and greatly add to the overall photo.
I’ m always up for bringing other artists in for shoots but tend to do most of the effects makeups myself nowadays.
Ok, let’ s talk a bit about your models, your cosplayers... how do you find each other and collaborate?
A lot of the people I work with are friends I’ ve met at conventions, live events or the haunted houses. We all share similar interests and putting together shoots outside of these events gives a lot more creative control to bring some fun ideas to life. I’ ve met some amazing people over the years and it’ s much easier to get quality results from someone who shares a similar passion towards a genre / style than a fresh model with no interest in horror or cosplay. I’ ve met several models online( who either reached out to me or I reached out to them after showing similar interests) but most of the people I work with are those I’ ve previously worked with over the years.
How long does a project take from start to finish? What steps do you take when planning a shoot?
This one can vary quite a bit. Sometimes projects can be very time-consuming( planning a look / shot list / location and model, creating set-pieces, costumes and makeup applications, shooting and editing) while others have been a spur of the moment idea that you can pull off hours after the initial thought. A lot of it comes from previous experience but I also like to try new things out. Add some extra lights, try new lighting modifiers, use an odd lens or shutter settings and you’ ll get some wildly different looks. Lighting a subject from the front versus a side-light, backlight or overhead light will give a much different effect and create some truly unique shots. Sometimes I’ ll shoot the same look 2 or 3 different times, using different styles, and end up with some very different shots each time.
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