This year I wanted to find an abandoned and decrepit location to shoot in. I felt a really great location would add so much to a Halloween shoot. I had seen a number of good locations on the web around South Wales. However nearly all of them were either too decrepit and unsafe and falling apart or inaccessible and the photos were taken by people breaking and entering, which I wasn't going to do. So I found an old brickworks that ceased production back the the 1920's which was located in a field heading up towards Mid Wales. Most of it has been demolished from what I could see. The part we used, I believe was used to air out the fired bricks. I went up a few days before to make sure it was actually accessible and that there weren't fences or that it hadn't been reclaimed by nature.
I called on Kayvan again this year as he did such a good job last year and is always enthusiastic to do themed photoshoots, also additional his girlfriend Sara to help out in a role. Both were great to put up with the conditions in that place which were not fab.
So rather than do a load of photos like last year I just wanted a couple of photos with one stand out photo.
I went into this year with a really clear and defined plan of what I wanted the editing to look like. I wanted them to be really dark, gritty and textured black and white photos. I have seen some photos by photographers who called themselves dark artists. Their art they describe as "grim and twisted". So they might only appeal to a certain number of people. However, I thought for Halloween pictures I would take inspiration from the editing seen in this art. It really reflects the conditions of the location, which also were dank and dark.
Things didn't go to plan whilst there, with some technical setbacks, I had to resort to backup measures to get the images. Some planned setups were not possible due to this. But considering this, I am actually quite happy with the results. They look dark and grim just as I wanted, and the vaulted ceiling of the place really makes the wide shot shine.
I'll leave you with the pictures. Don't have nightmares. Happy Halloween and see you again soon.
