Scream with Faith (Patreon)

We were already thinking about Halloween when Faith and I shot this over the summer. We knew we wanted to save it for October, and my basement ended up giving us the perfect little setting for it.

That retro striped wall is actually part of the house. I couldn’t tell you exactly when it’s from, but it’s old, and the hanging lamp is original to the basement, too. Between those two things, we already had the beginnings of a set. With the wooden table, red rotary phone, and Ghostface mask in the frame, that corner of the room starts to feel like somewhere a very questionable phone call might happen.

What I love about these photos is how much the surroundings contribute. The mustard tones in the wall, the red and amber glass in the lamp, and the dark wood carry that warm color through the whole set. Faith’s black lace and the white mask stand out against it, while the strong shadows give the room a slightly uneasy feeling. You can almost imagine the scene continuing beyond the edge of the photograph.

Faith brings a lot of personality to it. There’s a playful confidence in the phone shots, and putting on the mask changes the mood completely. Across the sequence, she gets to be both the person picking up the phone and the person you probably shouldn’t have answered it for.

Take a look at how the framing changes, too. In some photographs, the lamp hangs large in the foreground; in another, you’re looking through the back of a chair. Those details make the same small space feel different from one image to the next. That’s part of the fun of working with a room like this: there’s a lot to find once you start moving around it.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing this one with you. Thank you for supporting the work and giving these sets a place to be seen in full. Enjoy a little early Halloween with Faith.