Two Heads Are Better Than One?
Table of contents
- Two Heads Are Better Than One?
- A Giggle Fest Conceptual Portrait Inspired By Nirvana
- The Making Of: Severed Head PomPoms, Zombie Makeup and Anarchist Tank Tops
- What I Learned: Sometimes Your Creations Don’t Resonate With Others
- Final Thoughts
A Giggle Fest Conceptual Portrait Inspired By Nirvana
In 2022, my photography friends and I decided we were going to complete another Jukebox June conceptual portrait project. The previous year was a free-for-all: think of a song, make an image for it, and share it. For this year's project, I wanted to up the ante by setting some parameters. Dubbing it 90s Creature Feature, I could only choose songs from the 90s and each image had to feature a “supernatural creature.” This would allow me to also explore special effects makeup and costume design, both of which are things I’m also interested in.
Inspired by a classic grunge song, I made the image to resemble a frame from the music video. That song is “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. This song came out when I was in junior high and to say it resonated with me is understatement.
I probably don’t need to explain the profound impact Nirvana had on the world, but their brand of irreverent, boundary pushing songs spoke to me. I’m a rule follower, and I hate to get in trouble. My husband always gave me a hard time about. He had no such compunctions and encouraged me to live a little more. To say I kept him out of trouble would be an understatement. Being such a “good girl”, this song spoke to my inner bad girl. It allowed me to say “Fuck You!” when I otherwise couldn't.
When I first came up with the creature for this image, I couldn’t stop giggling. Even now, I have to hold back the giggles. Some of you may think I’m a little cracked. I accept that.
So what creature did I think would suit this song? Heheheh. Zombies, of course. And why? A zombie would have the perfect pompoms! Prove me wrong! I’m giggling even as I write this. Man, I enjoyed this idea. You can watch the music video below.
Now, how did I come up with zombie cheerleaders? Well, I have to credit Gob’s music video, “I Hear You Calling,” for that. However, my pompoms are way cooler, don’t you agree? You can see their zombie cheerleader music video here:
The Making Of: Severed Head PomPoms, Zombie Makeup and Anarchist Tank Tops
Even though this image looks fairly simple, there was a lot of set up involved. I wanted this conceptual portrait to feel authentic and that meant doing as much as I could in-camera before taking it to photoshop.
An Anarchist's Attire
First, I picked up a black Hanes undershirt and some iron-on printable transfers. Then I made the Anarchist logo. Unfortunately, I didn't save the original file for that. It's a little stiffer than I’d like but it would serve its purpose.
Zombies and Severed Heads For a Conceptual Portrait
Then came the makeup and setting the scene. I busted out my new special effects makeup, hello Liquid Latex and fake blood! I rounded up a couple of teenagers, my youngest and a close family friend, they painted themselves to look dead. Hey, look at that, we spent quality time together making gory stuff! Finally, I had to set up the space. I used an old sheet on my Strobe Pro Background stand, a Strobe Pro AD600 to light myself and an AD200 to light my background. I used a cheap fog machine from Rona to haze up the space and a step ladder to raise my zombies up above my head. I wish I had taken more video and pictures, but it’s tough to think about doing all that once my creative hat is working on building an image. Check out these very short clips of the studio space and makeup.
NOTE: Strobe Pro, didn’t sponsor this, but pretty much all of my lighting and studio gear has been sourced from them. They are based in Calgary, AB and ship things out pretty quickly. I've only ever had extremely minor things to deal with and they are wonderful to work with in resolving them. I highly recommend them for the lighting you need for conceptual portraits and love that they are (somewhat) local.
Compositing the Image
When I said I wanted to get as much of the image done in-camera, this is what I meant. See how much work has already been done.
The video below shows the various layers I used to composite this image. I added motion blur behind the heads to create a sense of movement. I made the eyes look more lifeless and I tweaked the colour and atmosphere. Notice how little I had to do at this stage?
What I Learned: Sometimes Your Creations Don’t Resonate With Others
I absolutely love Smells Like Zombie Spirit. From inspiration to execution, it brought me joy. It still brings my weird little heart joy. That doesn't mean anyone else in the world will love it like I do. It is one of my least popular images.
I did enter it in the 2024 Canadian Association for Photographic Arts (CAPA) Photography Artistic Competition where it scored 24/30.
If I had to do this again, I would make the makeup on myself even more gory than I did. I would probably tatter this shirt. What proper zombie has clean clothes??? I would consider adding people in the background like you can see in the film still above. And how fresh are those pompoms? Do they need more gore? More blood? And I could refine the masking on the pompoms a bit more.
Overall, this one was about having fun, so I would still call it a success.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my twisted mind. You can check out the rest of the collection here: 90s Creature Feature. If you do, let me know which conceptual portrait you’d like to know more about in the comments.
Sometimes, making art is just about the joy. The idea of my zombie living her best life with some fresh severed head pompoms brings me tons of it. How would your zombie be living their best life? Tell me in the comments.
The Portrait Story Series
Portrait Stories is an ongoing series where I share my conceptual portraits, the sparks that inspired them, behind-the-scenes chaos, and the lessons each image taught me. It's a blend of photography and storytelling - an honest look at the making of art.
See other stories in the series here:
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