I apologize for how sick you’re going to get of me rambling about how much I enjoy working on this Edward Gorey “Gashlycrumb Tinies“-inspired project. Sorry, but I’m just crazy excited about it. It combines several of my favorite things: Gorey, creepy portraiture, experimentation, collaboration, and wonderful people. I have adored Clifton since I met him, and was thrilled that he wanted to be a part of these shoots. We had fun planning the details of his shoot, and he played the score from “The Hours” while we shot, which couldn’t have been more perfect. He’s a talented actor, so he knew exactly how to portray this. He’s kinda fantastic, y’all.
I am really happy to be diving back in to my photo project based on The Gashlycrumb Tinies by Edward Gorey. Elicia is the absolute perfect person for a photo that combines child-like innocence with a truly unfortunate bear situation. She helped achieve the nearly impossible…..creating a photo that turns out exactly as I imagined it. Yay Elicia!! Originally, I thought that the trickiest part of the shoot would be the lighting. Actually, it was trying to not be totally creeped out by the stuffed critters. Seriously you guys, one of them makes womb sounds!
* We used Elicia’s last name for the pic since “E” was reserved for another of these shoots. Why can’t there be two Es in our alphabet?!
Anyhoo, I hope you enjoy the photo, and a good night’s rest. Because, the bears are coming for you!! Sleep tight!
My first installment of the Edward Gorey-ish, “Gashlycrumb Tinies“-inspired photo project could have been called “the roommate edition”. So, this one could be called “the boyfriend edition”. One of my favorite things about the Gorey drawings is how subtly most of the deaths are portrayed, often as a “before” versus an “after”. This one is definitely implied, and you might have to look closely. One of my favorite things about Wade, is that there are too many favorite things to list. However, I will give an honorable mention to his wicked mustache.
I’m a big fan of the art work and stories of Edward Gorey. Like many folks, my favorite is his collection called “The Gashlycrumb Tinies”. Each drawing shows a child who’s name corresponds to one of the letters of the alphabet. Sounds cute, right? Well, the images also depict how each child dies. What I enjoy, is that most of the pictures imply the death rather than show the actual event. I decided to start a series of photographs inspired by Gorey’s unfortunate little characters. However, I’m using adults instead of children as the subjects. Also, I’m taking liberties with the names, genders, and how the deaths are interpreted. As I mentioned, these will be influenced by the originals. I think that’s more fun than simply trying to meticulously re-create something that’s already been done and is already wonderful in its initial form.
My first of these portraits is of my uber-cool friend, Linnea. I’m letting people pick which death they want to portray. She picked my favorite from the Gorey series…..ennui. So, we chatted about what that would look like to us, and snapped this pic. I may be a bit biased, but I think she totally nailed it. As in, this photo makes me so darn happy! Thanks Linnea, and I hope boredom never gets the best of you.
I’ll be continuing this series until I’ve covered the whole alphabet, so please stay tuned, and I hope you enjoy them!
