The brides of horror
Horror portrait mastermind Rick Jones explains the
method in the madness of his book, Horrif y Me and
why the genre should have more female icons
he Brides of Horror is an ongoing
passion, which has so far been
going strong for five years
now. The project spawned
from my love horror films,
something that’s been
present since my early
childhood. Most of the
iconic characters that I’ve
always admired have been
from this genre and I’m
particularly a fan of the Bride of
Frankenstein and other female horror icons.
In my work I shoot portraiture of people
as horror characters, zombies and
vampires – The Brides of Horror just
seemed like a natural progression of this.
It probably won’t ever be completed, as I
just keep getting new ideas to shoot more.
I work in a large workshop, or studio area,
where I can set up my own style of lighting- I can also make as much mess as I want,
which is important to my work. I’m a
spontaneous person and I feel more at
home making things up as I go along.
My main camera is the Nikon D810, and
I also have a secondary camera, a D5300.
I have 50mm prime lenses on both
cameras, which I absolutely love using for
portraiture. I do have a selection of other
lenses but, honestly, I rarely use them. I also
use a wide variety of continuous lighting,
ranging from low-powered static lamps to
high-powered video lights. I was lucky to be
trained in lighting by a filmset lighting
professional, and I spent a lot of time
trying to perfect my own style.
The D810 is a big part of my photographic
style. That full-frame sensor really does
make a big difference to my work! I bought
the D810 as soon as I saw it, knowing that a
full-frame camera would be a huge benefit
to my work. I originally chose Nikon because
it was the make of camera that a
photographer friend of mine used. I got to
play around with her gear and I absolutely
loved it, so I bought into the brand easily.
My book, Horrify Me, was something
I’ve been thinking about for a long time,
however, I had to wait until I had lots ofinteresting work to put into it. The book
includes plenty of horror brides, as well as
zombies, vampires, and of course, classic
male icons such as Freddy and Jason.
Having operated my Horrify Me studio
for a number of years now, and with a huge
body of creative work as a result, the time
felt right to collect some of the best work
and assemble them in a book. I knew early
on that I wanted to create a large, high-
quality hardback packed with full colour
photos. It’d be one of those ‘coffee table’
books, something people could dip into, and
treat their eyes to all manner of gory flesh,
rotting meat, and sexy horror!
I’ve enjoyed every bit of the project so
far! I love doing all the bizarre makeup and
working with talented models who bring my
characters to life. I also love fixing a moody
atmosphere with lighting and editing.Stitch the horror together
The obvious hurdle for me is making the
makeup and lighting work, but I’ve
become pretty good at this these days.
One of the main challenges I always face
is achieving emotional authenticity in the
photos, whether that’s sadness, anger,
fear or terror. I want my work to look
scary, or sombre and slightly otherworldly.
Selecting the images was also a
frustrating process as I had to be a brutal
editor. I could have filled the book three
times over, if I’d allowed myself to be
indulgent, but I persisted to compose a
volume of measured quality. The book is
bold too, not shy of showcasing some of
the more horrific examples of my work.
It has an entire horde of zombies, each
individually crafted and telling its own story.
The vampire section is more lavish, showing
these dark creatures in all their majestic
beauty and terrifying wildness. Demonic
faces adorn the next chunk of pages and
will likely cause sleepless nights, and there
are plenty of old familiars from the first
golden age of horror (Frankenstein, Dracula,
Wolfman) through the American new wave
horror of the 1980s (Freddy, Jason, Myers),
all the way up to the modern era horror
icons (Valak, The Ring).Rick Jones is a pro portrait photographer
specializing in gory makeovers at his
Horrify Me studios: http://www.horrify.me.ukOne of the main challenges
I always face is achieving
emotional authenticity in
the photos, whether that’s
sadness, anger, fear or terror
T
Inspired by the folklore of
Elizabeth Báthory, who is said
to have bathed in the blood of
victims to stay young.ON ASSIGNMENT