Hey kiddies! This is my new Horror photograph, called SNAKE. This will be my $20 print for the month of May.
This photograph was shot on a set I made in my friend Mikal’s living room. The snake is a giant foam and latex prop. The baby is my little niece Thea.
The snake is 16 feet long, and was donated to me by my friends at Fright Catalog. When the snake arrived in the mail, it was painted with a traditional boa constrictor pattern. I took the snake to my friend Chico to see if he would be willing to repaint it in a more stylized manner. Chico is a local art star in my hometown of Kansas City. He specializes in zombie paintings. I am a big fan of his work, and spend most Monday nights at his studio watching obscure Horror films with him and his friends.
I asked Chico for his opinion on how we might re-stylize the snake. I told him that it should reflect the mind of a child. He suggested we repaint the snake as a giant argyle sock. I swooned with the brilliance of this suggestion and told him to do it.
I returned to Chico’s studio a couple of weeks later, and the snake was completely repainted in black and white, as you now see it in the photograph. Chico had intended to add another layer of color and texture, to make the snake more believable. I stopped him, though. I loved the crisp black and white because It completely reminded me of Tim Burton.
I added to the snake a pink tongue that I made out of sculpey and a wire hanger, and a pair of sawed-off deer antlers as fangs.
The snake had a wire armature built inside. I positioned the snake so that it’s body would mime the symbol for Eternity. The shadow of the snake on the floor was meant to suggest an Ouroboros, the ancient symbol depicting a serpent swallowing it’s own tail and forming a circle.
Now a lot of you are wondering what the hell did I do to that baby to get her to cry like that? The truth is: nothing at all. In fact, getting my happy niece Thea to cry was the hardest part of the shoot. She was having a ball pushing herself across the polished floor of my set. Every few seconds I had to jump up from behind the camera to reposition her. My sister Becky – Thea’s mom – was there for the shoot. After 45 minutes Thea was still cooing and playing on the floor. Becky left the room to call her husband (and my best friend) Felix to tell him the shoot was running long. Becky leaving the room finally put a dent in Thea’s sunny disposition. Becky came back into the room just as Thea was beginning to cry for her. Becky said I had 10 seconds to get my shot. I started to shoot like crazy as Becky counted out loud. As soon as she said “ten”, she swooped in and grabbed Thea. And that was it. Thea stopped crying, Becky was relieved, and I had my shot.
I want to thank my friend Matt Tady for helping me build and paint my set. The vent and the Welcome sign over it are my favorite details.
I want to thank my friend Damien Vela for helping me on the day of the shoot.
And I especially want to thank my friend and fellow photographer Peter Obetz for loaning me his camera and laptop to shoot this image.
The next image I’m working on is called BABYSITTER. My 13 year old daughter Arinna will be playing the babysitter, and Thea will be the baby. My friend Bob Barber, who recently played the part of the Devil for me, has been cast in the role of the escaped lunatic. Should be cool.
