First things first... Credits!
Photography: Bedhead Boudoir (Barrie Boudoir Photographer)
Hair & make up: Makeup by Mcleod (Mobile & Freelance HMU)
Model/styling: Shelby Thompson (Bad bitch & Connoisseur of Creep)
Honestly...
This was one of the best days, ever.
Even before my time as a Boudoir Photographer, it's hard to remember a day with so many laughs.
Now, we want to bring you behind the curtain and show you exactly how this session came to life with the power of 3 creative brains. (Also, you get to see more of this session than anyone else has)
If any readers know Shelby, they know creepy is a must…
That’s why in October 2020, Shelby and I did our first ever Halloween shoot
We threw it together quickly, got some props and outfits and we made one of the most incredible & creative galleries I’ve ever been a part of, or so I thought at the time 😏
As soon as our shoot was done, we knew we needed to do it again next year. Right then and there, we started planning for October 2021 to really blow your minds.
Peep some more of last year’s images below (shoutout if you remember me dying Shelby's hair orange by accident lol my bad girlllll...)
Planning the Session
Back to 2021.
Planning this creative session took some work: from Pinterest to Instagram, from creepy to sexy, from clowns to witches, from props and extras, a lot of thought (and shopping) went into this shoot!
This plan goes back to November 2020 when we began drawing it up.
We knew last year was insane — the location, the smoke bombs, the characters we brought to life. But there was something crucial missing…
EPIC MAKE UP TRANSFORMATIONS!
We need Emma.
That’s why we immediately called up Emma from Makeup by Mcleod to get her on board, we couldn’t have ANY one else in this role
The three of us put together some ideas for various characters that we would bring to life together including: Haunted Lady, Crazy Clown, Plague Doctor & more
"I was so excited when Krysten & Shelby asked me to be a part of their Halloween shoot. I tend to focus mainly on bridal makeup so any excuse that I can get to work outside of my comfort zone is so exciting!
The Haunted Lady was a fun idea to bring to life. I used a lot of reds to really make it look like she hadn't rested [or stopped crying] and it was the main focal point of the look.
The classic upturned fake smile [of the Crazy Clown] really made the look creepy and mischievous and pulled it all together."
~ Emma
How'd we do it?
Using Pinterest inspiration and Emma’s creative vision, we finalized the looks we wanted to achieve
It was time to go shopping for outfits, props & accessories — can you guess where we went first?
Spirit Halloween!
After we had a blast dreaming up ghouls in Spirit Halloween and ordered from Enola Gaye Smoke Grenades, we went to Stuff, Plato’s Closet, Amazon, SHEIN, and more locations to get every little piece we needed
OK so now the makeup is planned, the outfits are purchased…what’s next?
Location
Thanks to our good friends over at Abandoned Ontario we were able to find some locations near us that were beyond perfect to bring our visions to life.
We spent a day exploring and getting excited in some abandoned properties near Barrie, ON
Shoot Time 🎃 👻
Everything was coming together, and we could NOT wait to start creating this gallery for you guys
The day of, we all got together, shared our most recent visions and creative ideas and got to WERK
We tried really hard to get creepy contacts into Shelby’s eyes for the Haunted Lady character, and it was... a huge fail 🤣
After jabbing her in the eye a few times, Emma and Shelby gave up on the contacts and we decided to go on without them
Minor setback...
Obviously being in an abandoned property, we were nervous and creeped out most of the time... I mean, there were literally holes in the ceilings and glass all over the floors.
That’s why when we first started shooting and I heard Emma scream, we ALL screamed and almost ran tf out of there 😱
Turns out a couple had pulled over and were randomly exploring the same abandoned house, and we all scared the shit out of each other.
We all laughed for a solid 15 minutes before counting our blessings & getting back to the magic 🤣
Before we get into the Characters...
Let's hear from Shelby, our creeptastic model & stylist from the session
"Halloween is my favourite time of year and I wouldn't trust anyone else to bring my visions to life the way Krysten did. We had so much fun texting back and forth with wardrobe ideas and makeup inspiration and it was a blast having Emma (Makeup by Mcleod) there with us all day!
I've always had a fascination and love for all things dark & creepy so it was really easy for me to think up our character ideas and Krysten is a pro at helping me pose and master every facial expression.
My favourite part of the day was definitely when we were about 10 minutes into shooting in a very creepy abandoned house and a random couple popped their heads in the doorway to check it out and we ALL jumped. We had some laughs about that for sure."
~Shelby
First up, Haunted Lady
We wanted her to be elegant
We wanted her to look and feel scared and alone
We wanted her to show her eternal misery being trapped in a longggg abandoned home by herself
Our Haunted Lady has cried a thousand tears and she wants to be heard
(we fucking crushed it, yeah?)
Next we had the Crazy Clown
We wanted her to be psycho
We wanted her to look like your creepiest nightmare
We wanted her to feel strong, reckless, eccentric
We wanted her to be Shelby, essentially… 😉🤣
With some added makeup, crazy hair and striped stockings… She came to life and made us all uncomfortable in the best way possible.
Cue single red balloon for added creep factor 🎈
Next, our Plague Doctor...
Such a Halloween classic, we just couldn’t resist 😈
We put together a Plague Doctor outfit using Amazon and Spirit Halloween finds and it was…creeptastic
The Plague Doctor character was unique, erratic, perplexing & dark
She brought the mystery and the heat with this one, just take a peek at some BTS
showing Shelby the next pose 🤣
I hope this makes you laugh as hard as we did 🤣
And some Final Images...
Last but not least; Pumpkin Head
A Halloween trend for photographers, we decided we needed to jump on it and hollow out some pumpkins for an epic Pumpkin Head look!
I have seen so many incredible renditions of this trend in tons of unique executions 🎃
But…yeah... these are my favourite 🤣
First, Shelby was our creepy Pumpkin Head who used the power of both the feminine & masculine to shake your senses
With a smirk creepy enough to give your ancestors goosebumps we had our first vibe... 😈
But then...
I handed my camera to Emma so Shelby and I could both put on Pumpkin Heads & do some together
Naturally, I chose the cute goofy faced pumpkin because… well that’s my vibe 😉
Together, we make a really cute couple, don’t you think? (Peep that last shot 🤣)
FYI, it’s really hard to smoke a joint through a pumpkin… I tried for y’all
photographed by Makeup by Mcleod
shelby trying to feed my joint through the pumpkin head 😂 (it did not work)
But wait, that looks cool!
We knew we wanted to use the white smoke bomb with the Pumpkin Head look because it looks like regular smoke or fog & brings a reeaaaaally cool vibe to the images
When we saw the way the aftermath of the white smoke bomb looked like fog covering the empty field...we knew we had to conjure up a spontaneous look
Off comes the pumpkin, out comes the knife...
The Killer Queen is born
"Who knew stomping around a creepy house could bring so much joy?"
"The whole day was SO much fun and we never stopped smiling. I'd do it all over again if I could. I was floored when Krysten started sending over final images, every idea I had in my head for the day was done perfectly. I've taken thousands of images in front of Krysten's lens...
...These are by far my favourite."
~Shelby
Some more BTS
"Not only was it nice to be able to create something other than bridal looks, it was so nice to work alongside two powerful and badass women.
Community is so important, especially now in a world where social media is our main method of connection.
As women, it's even more important to support each other. Getting to create & vibe off each other while shooting was a magical experience.
The final images BLEW ME AWAY... I was seriously speechless. Every single photo was the perfect amount of creepy and just powerful and BADASS.
The way the whole vision came together, just made my heart so happy.
You really get the whole story."
~Emma
To Wrap it Up...
I love my people - family, friends, clients, other creatives
I love connecting - smiling, creating & making memories
I love trying to blow your mind with the newest Boudoir Photography - especially CREATIVE things like this!
Whatever it is that you can dream up, let's bring it to life.
