Friday, October 24, 2008

Halloween costume idea?

Although these two photos are very different (one staged, the other documentary), they seem to share a similar haunting quality which feels appropriate for this time of year:

Fiona II by Holly Andres

Photo by Michal Chelbin

What is it about little girls in formal settings that seems slightly possessed and creepy? Whatever it is, I think Arbus tapped into the same energy with her twins photo. Hollywood closely followed suit with The Excorcist, The Shining, and Poltergeist. Now a generation later the theme seems to be surfacing again. Not sure what's going on, just that these two photos seem to belong together.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Try some loretta lux, her pictures are scary.

Anonymous said...

Not forgetting 'Carrie' (1976).
She still gives me the creeps...

Anonymous said...

Check out Julie Blackmon too. Not as creepy but more interesting graphically IMHO.

Blake Andrews said...

I like Blackmon more than Lux. Not sure Carrie qualifies as a little girl. Wasn't she a teenager? This could have the makings of a series like Gasoline Stations and Mona Lisa.

Anonymous said...

I found not any good Halloween costume idea here….