This past weekend we were finally able to get our annual Halloween photoshoot accomplished.

We started this when Brantley was four when we got inspiration from a photoshoot we saw online. In 2020, when the pandemic was running rampant, we gathered our supplies and sent a message to a local soda shop (Mass St Soda Shop) here in town to see if they would be ok with us taking photos in their store. My husband was Michael Myers (Halloween) and the concept was them doing things sons would do with dads- playing catch, golf, learning to ride a bike, etc. We had so much fun gathering, shooting and seeing the results that we decided to make this a yearly dad-son bonding experience.

As you ALL know, we absolutely love Halloween. Now, I have loved Halloween for my entire life. This is a weird concept to most who know us because if you know my mom, she is a massive Christmas person. Our house was decorated TO THE NINES for Christmas every year. (I'm looking at you Halls Christmas candy table recreation). Our house was minimally decorated and we did not particularly "celebrate" Halloween. We did trick or treating and that was that. I somehow found a partner who either loved Halloween too, or I somehow gave him Stockholm Syndrome into loving Halloween (TBD). We now have kids who also LOVE Halloween. Now I do know that I did not influence them at all. I didn't really even discuss Halloween much with them until they were able to express that they loved the holiday and then I went all out. No holding back once I knew my oldest, Brantley, was as strangely infatuated as I was.

From all of this, the annual photos were born and thrive on our 4th year in. In my previous post I shared our past concepts with where we got things, etc. So if you haven't seen past photos then go check them out!

So without further ado- our 2024 Halloween photo concept was:

MURDEROUS CLOWNS!

So Devin's outfit was modeled after American Horror Story's Twisty the Clown. I consulted with an Etsy seller, CindysBrokenNeedle, about his clown costume. Devin is 6'4" so most traditional clown outfits don't really fit. Not only that, but we were looking for a very specific looking outfit as well. From start to finish she was quick to reply, fast in production and shipped out quickly. It was a seamless transaction and I couldn't be happier with the result of that outfit.

We were able to get most of the other parts of the fit from, you guessed it, Amazon. I have my cosmetology license and did wedding hair and makeup for years so I put my retired makeup self back to the test to do the twisty makeup. I used liquid latext mixed with flour and cotton balls (stretched) to create the wounds. We slapped a few fake teeth in there (twisty has quite a story and to get this look to be authentic I tried to follow the makeup as close as possible). I used a few different color pallets to do the coloring and then added some coagulated fake blood to top it all off. The brands I tend to stick to in the special FX department are graftobian and mehron, who are pretty well known and leaders in those industries. Being the first time I had worked with liquid latex, I watched a video tutorial on youtube to get the placement and ideas on the makeup down.

Brantley's outfit was found on Etsy and ordered. The rest was again, Amazon. I did quite a bit less makeup on him as he's 8, but also has sensory issues. I knew sitting still was going to be a little difficult, but also knew that the makeup itself could cause issues. Scents and texture tend to trigger him a bit. Luckily, he was ok with the textures and scents this time around.

Once we got makeup complete, we headed out around town to our typical spots for the photos. I try to stick to the same places as I feel that we can look back and see how much Brantley has grown over time in the same backgrounds.

One of our locations is a local cemetery. I try to be extremely mindful while we are at the cemetery. We absolutely will not take photos if there are any people around or if anything is taking place on grounds. We have found one of the "older" areas that is set in a location that isn't super visible from other areas of the cemetery. I want to be extremely respectful to the family members who are visiting or grieving so I really try to make sure there are no other cars in the cemetery and that no one is around. I can only hope that those who are buried here (and their family members) can appreciate the fun, bonding and love that are going in to these photos as a family affair. Even if the subject matter is a bit... out there.

For this shoot, I also drew some inspiration from one photo of a clown on a swing set at night. I did try to find the original to credit the photographer of that photo, but didn't have any success. So we did part of our shoot just a little before sunset and then finished the shoot in the dark!

Once we finished our photoshoot from our 4 different locations, I downloaded the photos from my camera into lightroom and did quick and amateur editing with presets and then adjusting those presets to balance out lighting, etc so they were cohesive. I also made small edits if some makeup was doing something wonky, or if something needed removed from the photo. Again, MAJOR amateur and these are just for fun. I am going to put some before and afters below!

So as you can see, in Kansas it's mid October and our trees still haven't turned. MERP. So I wanted to give them a more "eerie" vibe so this is where a quick preset can help. I used a Halloween themed preset and then adjusted some of the colors and settings myself until I got my desired look.

During our nighttime photos, I did the same kind of thing. I used the light from our gopro for a little backlighting and then just the flash from my camera. I then added the overlay and did some cropping, etc until I got the desired look here as well.

Last, but not least, I did a little tiktok vid for funsies:

All in all, we had a blast again this year and Devin and Brantley have already come up with the concept for 2025! Until next year!

With love,

Leslie