Halloween\Day Of The Dead

What Is Halloween/ Day Of The Dead?

A lot of people think that Day Of Dead and Halloween are interrelated. However they are two different festivals that appear to unintentionally connect in a number of ways. As stated on the National Geographic website Halloween is a dark night of terror whereas day of the dead or Dia De Los Muertos celebrates our love for those we have lost. The people who celebrate this believe in spirits and use literary Cavaveras which are short poems like a satire that make fun of the living. They also have official flowers called Cempazuchiti which are believed to attract ghosts.

According to www.metro.co.uk website it states that Halloween came from the Celtic Samhain which marked the night where spirits could pass through and the distinctions between the living and dead were blurred. it is combined with the Roman Feralia which commemorates the passing of the dead and honours Pomona the goddess of fruit,  which is why we have apple bobbing.

Day Of The Dead Shoot

For as long as i can remember i have been a fan of using skulls in art pieces and for decoration so a couple of weeks ago I organised a Day Of The Dead shoot with Mentally Fit Sam and Aara Beauty. I planned to shoot the doing the makeup shots with a flash in my bedroom and then go to Avenham and Miller Park. However instead I ended up working with another photographer in his studio in Preston called Open Air Studio North West. This was my first collab using a makeup artist as well as a model and I chose to do a Day Of The Dead themed shoot due to my strange love of skulls.

For The Day Of The Dead Shoot we used a red gel on a flash behind the subject which created a more halloweeny feel and made the makeup stand out more. I used my Nikon d3200 with 55-200mm telephoto zoom lens for the majority of the shoot to obtain close ups of the makeup look. However for the aerial hoop shots I decided to add more depth to my image by using my  Nikon 18-55 mm lens so more of the body was visible as Sam performed aerialist manoeuvres.

Halloween Shoot

On the 13/10/2018 i went to a photography session days event at Atlas Studios where there was a mystery set which was zombies. This fits perfectly with the Halloween theme. There were also some bloody knives over a door which enhanced this. I framed her under these to add to the terror of Halloween. I also enjoyed using the strobe under the stairs as it added a dark and moody feel to the zombies. The zombies caged and trying to break out adds a conventional, zombie movie-esque horror to the images and creates a sense of escape from reality.

Here is a selection of my images from both of the shoots:

I hope you enjoyed this post and for more stay tuned and check out my Instagram @lucyandthelens.