A look back at Zombies

If there was anything that practically everyone knew about me in my days of undergrad at Carroll University, it would be these two things: I was a photographer, and I loved zombies.  People who didn't actually know my name, still knew me as the "zombie loving photography chick."  

How did this get started? It actually began when I started having zombie apocalypse nightmares weekly when I was 16.   And when my parents found out I chose Carroll as my university, they nonchalantly decided that they just HAD to share this movie with me. 

Dawn of The Dead 2004 (The Beginning)

(Start at 8:00) 

Intro one of my first graphic design projects, a candy box!  And what would it be other than Zombie Bites, Deliciously Tasty Gummy Brains?  Manufactured in B-EATINU Candy Company, the ingredient list includes zombie saliva and brain stem.  Each box comes with a capsule that allows you to"Grow you own life size zombie!" Complete with "amazing snapping jaw action."

The QR code says "My Teacher is awesome, please give me an A." 

November, 2010

(Recognize this image?  I had never seen The Walking Dead at this point!)

A few years later, I started my 52 week project, the goal of which was to create a portfolio worthy photograph once a week for a year.  I was inspired by the Resident Evil (even though I had never seen them), and the idea of telling a full story through a series of images.  I thought a comic book would be a cool way of sharing this story.  

January 8 2012

And 52 Weeks later, I decided the best way to end the series was how it started-only better.

January 12, 2013

(Finally started the Walking Dead!)

And if your taking any notes, you'll notice that things keep getting bigger...

April 27, 2013

And more elaborate...

July 20, 2013

 Until finally....

March 12, 2014
(Watched Resident Evil)

My biggest zombie shoot ever!

My big final for my Graphic Design major was to create a board game.  And of course what could I do but zombies?

Two makeup artists, 12 zombies, 7 survivors, and a number

of confused campus staff later, we had an awesome shoot!

A few days prior to this shoot, I went to the campus safety office to let them know that I would be photographing a group of zombies and people with baseballs bats and such around campus.  They said that all that was fine.  I asked if they wanted to know my name, and they replied with: "Oh.  We know who you are."

I wanted to create a game that was more open ended than most zombie games.  Half of the apocalypse is surviving what is left of humanity!  I wanted to create a game where humans could be just as dangerous as the zombies.  

I created several characters for the players to choose from, each with their own back story that talks about their hopes and dreams.  My hope was that if I created relatable, realistic characters, people would be more invested in their survival.

A player can play as a survivor, or as the zombie master.  I didn't want the zombies to be left to chance-I wanted them to be a force to be reckoned with. 

Player card

Zombie card

The game board was created with a combination of The Sims, and Photoshop.

The game was a huge success, everyone loved it! Definitely one of my proudest moments to get in front of the class and present this to everyone.  (Between you and me, someone else had been planning on doing a zombie game, but when they heard I was doing one, they changed their mind!)

Every one was great to work with and I have to admit

 it is one of my favorite photography projects ever!

One of my more interesting self portraits was done as I re-watched
one of my favorite shows-The Walking Dead.

June 25, 2014

I felt that this moment with Amy was terrifyingly beautiful, and so I wanted to re-create it. 

And finally, we come to today.  I T.A.ed a lighting course, and they had the assignment to recreate a movie poster as exactly as possible-like I could resist that assignment!

October 30, 2014

Over all though, my zombie days are slowing down.  I very rarely have zombie nightmares anymore, and I'm sort of growing tired of the Walking Dead.  I think I will have to find a new source of inspiration.  Don't get me wrong, I still have a few zombie ideas up my sleeve, but over all, I think that I'm off in a new direction, and I'm just fine with that. 

52: Week 52

I know, it's been forever, but I finally felt motivated enough to finish the last shoot of my 52 week project.  I shot these photos at the end of December, but didn't have the creative drive to put them all together.  Now, 3 months later, I am finally finished with my 52 week project. 

I started this project with a zombie shoot.  I felt it appropriate to end it the same way.

Thank you so much to all of my models who were willing to stand outside in the absolute freezing weather with fake blood all over their faces.  You guys were awesome to work with and there is no way I could have done it without you!

I'm slightly sad and slightly relieved that I'm done with this project.  It was a great tool to get me to shoot every week, but it is definitely nice to not feel the pressure to come up with something amazing every week.  Over all I think it helped me improve as a photographer.

52: Week 51

 Week 51 was a Christmas shoot!  This is Danielle (again) who had laid claim to my next creative shoot.  This weeks shoot was based on Sugar Plum fairies/the Christmas queen.  I realized I hadn't done a shoot that required a good deal of editing for a while, so I decided to challenge myself.  This shoot was really fun, and one of my more intense shoots.  We stole the strobes from the studio to shoot in the chapel, but my teacher originally gave me the wrong combination to the lock, which lead to 5 people attempting to crack the code, only to end up calling him at 8pm to get the right combination.

The costume is all from the costume department.  The flower in her hair is an ornament, and the candy cane scepter was made by me!

And this is my lovely assistant Marissa!  She is a freshman photo major at Carroll who asked for my help in photography.  She was kind enough to work with me this shoot, and model for me while testing the lights.  This shoot would have been a lot harder without her help, so thank you so much Marissa!

52: Week 50

 Week 50!  I realized I haven't done any sort of hard core photoshop for a while now, so here is my attempt to remedy that.  This shoot was one I have had planned for a long time.  Originally intended to be a couple shoot with an ex boyfriend, I decided I would do it anyway, since I had already taken the location shots, had the poses in mind and the costumes picked out.

The location photos are HDR shots of Frame Park in down town Waukesha that I took last spring.  The model is my friend Carly who I photographed in the studio this pas week.

Week 50

Closed the dress, fixed the braid, erased fly aways, retouched makeup, and usual dodging and burning.

52: Week 49

Another idea I've had for a while.  Fabric back drop with eyeshadow to match. Makeup by Alicia Marie, model Taylor.

Week 49

52: Week 48

I have had this in my head for over a year now, down to this exact model.  This is my friend Sage, a professional model and fellow student at Carroll.  The idea was a fairy queen.  The flower crown was made by combining flower head bands and bobby pinning lose flowers into the bands and then cascading down her hair.  The lace just happened to be in the photo room.

Week 48

52: Week 47

Again, not what I had planned for this week.  I meant to do a cool spy shoot, as their is a sticker out at Jamie's house that says something along the lines of "stay away, explosives" (we have no idea why it's stuck on a dumpster) but the weather was so terribly cold and rainy that I decided against doing it.  

Here is an attempted time lapse. 

Week 47

52: Week 46

I had three shoots scheduled for this week, and all three of them got canceled.  This is a part of side mixed media project that I have been working on that uses digital scans printed onto paper material such as envelopes and newspaper pages.  I know it isn't technically a photograph, but since the purpose of this project is to force myself into new creative directions, I decided this would work for this week.

This is directly out of the scanner, I'm not sure how it happened. 

Week 46

52: Week 45

Meet the latest bombshell: Caitlin.  Caitlin has modeled for me several times, but this is our first glamor shoot.  Her dress was very geometric, so I wanted to have a modern feel: black and white and geometric shapes.  I am very happy with this shoot, it really all came together!

 Week 45

 Project Bombshell

MUA & Hair stylist: Alicia Marie

52: Week 44

A Beautiful Death

It was the strongest of these emotions, that finally killed her.

I wanted to do something for Halloween, although this is an idea I've had for quite a while.  The title and caption should be enough to give you some idea of what this image represents.
Tom came out to play, and Danielle did my skeleton makeup.  

52: Week 43

Week 43 was done pretty last minute, as the week was super busy!  Luckily, my friend Sonja came to the rescue to model for me!  I went into this having pretty much no idea what we were doing, but after watching my fill of this music video, I eventually came up with the idea of an up and coming rock star with the stage lights behind her.

Week 43

   

The stage lights are spot lights that were in the studio.

And here is a glamor portrait

52: Week 42

 I'll Give You Something to Worry About

It could be worse.  I could have a bunch of tattoos and piercings, be smoking a cigarettes in some sort of dilapidated ally way, and drop out of school.  Instead, I'm going to school, getting my work done, and going above and beyond on everything I commit to.

 

 

The sleeve is cameras and peonies, the wrist band is camera apertures, and the chest piece is two revolvers, peonies, a skull, and a banner that reads "stick to your guns." The tattoos were designed by me, but the vectors were found online, or designed by me from previous projects.

52: Week 41

Went and watched Jamie and his friends shooting out on his property, it's pretty fun to watch!

Week 41

 

This is Possum, Jamie's younger brother, shooting a Mossin Battle Rifle, a Russian gun from WWII.