Horror Movie Cosplay Photography: The Surprise Birthday Shoot This Dad Planned for His Son

When a Horror Movie Superfan Turns 14

To say I was stoked to get the email from Spencer’s dad, Jeremy, is an understatement! It’s not often that I get conceptual shoots, but I absolutely love a good theme. And to be honest, it’s not just the theme, but it’s the storyboarding that gets my creativity flowing. I love thinking through a story frame by frame like the still from an amazing movie. When Jeremy and I started discussing his plan, which was to surprise his son with a horror themed photoshoot, we threw around a lot of movie ideas. He told me initally that Spencer would definitely want to do Leatherface, but I told him with masks we could for sure do another look for the session length he booked. So he let Spencer pick the second horror cosplay as part of the surprise and he landed on Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th series.

Bringing Leatherface and Jason Voorhees to Life

We met virtually a couple of times to go over the theme and ideas. They drove down from Oklahoma to Austin, but in the end we landed on doing the photoshoot in my hometown because it has some of the best creepy vibes that really went with both of those themes. Spencer had 2 main cosplay looks and the family was in the first half of the shoot for the Leatherface set. Then we did a coroner bit where the parents were laying on the ground with fake blood covered sheets and then from there we did a few of the Jason photos in the same area but ended that set at the lake to do some of the more iconic jumping out of the lake shots. Did I mention that all the images we made are all practical effects? No AI here! Even the composite below I made using photoshop without using AI all from the images I took at his session.

The Whole Family Got In On The Scares

I think every teen imagines killing their parents on occasion lol and when we had the initial conference for the Leatherface theme of the photoshoot, I asked, “Are y’all going to be in some of the photos too?” Now I was asking this for multiple reasons… When thinking about a horror themed photoshoot it’s not just standard portraits of the character. I mean, no shade, but you could do that at JC Penny’s. No, no, no… we are creating a story.

Now, on the surface it might look like this is just some creepy, scary photos of this kid and this family. However for me, when I’m thinking it through I add a layer and subtext to this specific person, family, and moment in time. What I was thinking about before shooting this is, how teens and young adults are forming their identities. Oftentimes this means forming their self identity away from their parent’s identities and outside of the family dynamics. So, I suggested we do a series of scenes where Leatherface killed his parents. And to my surprise, dare I say horror (?!), they said yes! They pitched the idea of the coroner scene to me for after the parents are dead, to which I replied, “Oh, yes! Let’s do it!” The Jason set was the only part that didn’t include the parents but when you see the photos you’ll know why. Did I mention we did awkward family photos with Leatherface? Yeah, fingers crossed I get a holiday card in the mail for that one!

Why a Horror Themed Photoshoot Makes an Unforgettable Birthday Gift

Listen I don’t have to tell you how awesome this photoshoot was because you can scroll down and see it in all its glory! But if you need a reason then I guess I’ll tell you that not only is it a fun experience getting to be in another world of pretend and create art, you also get the best keepsakes.