The Cellar

Hi guys,

I haven't posted in a while as I've been mega busy working on my new website. Anyway, I'm back now and have a load of cool images to share with you!

Here is the first:



For anyone interested I have a lighting diagram along with explanatory text over on my blog:

ImageSpike

Any feedback, as ever, more than welcome!

Thanks guys

Hi, Matt,

Matt Halstead said:

I haven't posted in a while as I've been mega busy working on my new website. Anyway, I'm back now and have a load of cool images to share with you!

Click to expand...

Fabulous shot. Quite fantastic.

Almost looks like a photograph.

Best regards,

Doug

Hi Doug, Thanks for the comment.

Not quite sure what you meant with 'almost looks like a photograph' as it is a photograph!?

Cheers

That's creepy, and busy in the good way.
A lot to explore in this photograph.

At first glance you blog looks interesting,
I will be sure to give it a more in depth look when I get them time.

Hi, Matt,

Matt Halstead said:

Hi Doug, Thanks for the comment.

Not quite sure what you meant with 'almost looks like a photograph' as it is a photograph!?

Click to expand...

Of course. But it "looks like" a very realistic painting (Maybe a photograph of a very realistic painting).

Best regards,

Doug

Matt Halstead said:

Any feedback, as ever, more than welcome!

Click to expand...

Hi Matt,

Nice atmosphere, as far as horror atmospheres go.

Cheers,
Bart

Matt Halstead said:

Click to expand...

Hi Matt,
Creepy, weird, dark...and since that's what you were setting out to achieve, you've nailed it.
Overall, I wish the setting were just a bit brighter, or the sharpness a bit higher.
You've put a tremendous effort into all the subtle details of the set, but they're kind of hard to make out.
For me, this is an image I want to rest my chin on my hands and stare at, picking out all those details!
Nicely done!

Hi Matt,

This photo boast of what they call "mise en scene". Remarkable, very well thought out. My only nitpick is that perhaps the light on the models could be much warmer, closer to the lamp.

Matt Halstead said:

Hi guys,

I haven't posted in a while as I've been mega busy working on my new website. Anyway, I'm back now and have a load of cool images to share with you!

Here is the first:

Click to expand...

Matt,

This is a blast! You've done a great job of recreating the place where a girl, lost or car out of gas, seeks help in a storm in a deserted house with flapping shutters and some light flickering and sparking on an off.

Well here she is being sawn up and you just knew it! Still it's scary, why I have no idea!

I like all the detail and paraphernalia but I've reservations. I thought that there was a poster of the cutting up and it was a nice little touch but I couldn't find the main topic! I had no clue there was a mirror. A shadow of the saw and a limb would have brought that reality to us. Also a border on the mirror and having something else in view that we also see in elsewhere in the room would signal a mirror and not a painting or poster.

The hanging hook is potentially most frightening but is blurred. Why would you do that. The electric light on the bench is now, I realized a distraction. That should be above the leg cutting operation! We should get most of our information from the mirror. as it is the mirror, without reading your blog, can be interpreted as an accessory.

Still, nothing is lost. Being a cheat, myself, at this kind of thing, I'd not hesitate to tame the bench light, add a frame or artifacts to show the glass of the mirror and brighten it to dominate the scene.

Asher

Matt,

I like this. Oodles of suggestive details, although I would argue that some is too overt and tilts the scene too much toward a frame from a kiddie horror movie (in which everything must be unambiguously spelled-out).

The visual style is quite popular these days.

If you're interested at seeing others efforts along similar or parallel likes look for work by Gregory Crewdson, Carrie Schneider, and some of Jeff Wall's scenes. Crewdson and Wall, in particular, go to absurd lengths to over-produce their images. (Greg's shoots look like a major motion picture production...and cost like them, too.)

Matt Halstead said:

Hi guys,

I haven't posted in a while as I've been mega busy working on my new website. Anyway, I'm back now and have a load of cool images to share with you!

Here is the first:

For anyone interested I have a lighting diagram along with explanatory text over on my blog:

ImageSpike

Any feedback, as ever, more than welcome!

Thanks guys

Click to expand...

Oh, goodness! I hardly know what to say. Terrifying! Utterly terrifying! And that is why I absolutely love this photo. I'm a big horror buff! So dark and twisted. I especially adore your attention to detail with all the unsettling bits and bobs... Blood soaked piece of clothing hanging from the self, fingers floating in jars, severed limb on the shelf, fingers lined up beneath the mirror, article on the wall, etc. They all really bring the whole thing together.

Matt, this is wonderful for its details and atmosphere.

Is that your local joint?

Really well done.

Hi,

This is a real good and funny picture. Dark humor and horror movie style.
However, i think you could improve it : in my opinion, mirror is too centered and you should get more tension by moving it on the right.

It remains an excellent work !

Regards,

Cedric.

Creepy, weird, dark...and since that's what you were setting out to achieve, you've nailed it.
Overall, I wish the setting were just a bit brighter, or the sharpness a bit higher.
You've put a tremendous effort into all the subtle details of the set, but they're kind of hard to make out.
For me, this is an image I want to rest my chin on my hands and stare at, picking out all those details!

Click to expand...

Totally agree,
It reminds me of the story of "The butcher"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ronald_Brown


This story prevented me to sleep for at least 3 nights in a row...
(Why the hell is she reading that kind of stories)