Halloween 2010 Haunt Page
November 5th, 2010 by John Wolfe
Just posted the 2010 haunt photo page. Overall, I was going for a darker look this year as well as a more organic feel — I officially retired the tombstones from years past and decided to go solely with crosses made from old wood planks; I collected several dozen pumpkins for the display, the majority will be on their way to a local food bank next week; and I brought the cornstalks back for 2010 as well. I hope you enjoy the photos: Halloween 2010 Haunt Page.
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November 5th, 2010 at 10:51 pm
Wow John!!! This is truly exquisite work my friend and in more ways than one: again I say your eye for meticulous detail and angles with photography is unreal, how you were able to transform the front of the house into looking like some OTHER place out in rural land, the angel of death and how striking he is visually, the set up and perfect placement of every item in the haunt and of course the wonderful mixture of light and darkness. Now I shall elaborate
The first picture is awesome and I adore how much your able to get in the shot: fog, pumpkins, crosses, lanterns, the ground breakers of your angel of death. The AoD is really interesting because of the lighting, his face does NOT look like the face we’ve seen or see in other photos here. He looks like a brother of the first AoD so you were even able to make the same angel look like someone totally different. Fantastic! I love how your down low in taking the shot so his massive height looks all the more intimidating.
The second pic right next to the side of the first one, so on the right hand side, is one of my many favorites! He looks like he’s consuming the entire grave site and calling up the ground breakers. I adore how he looks in this photo.
The third pic, back to the left second one down, I love how close you are to the ribcage of that ground breaker. It gives us the viewer an image as if we to are rising from our graves and beginning to crawl over him. Those low down shots are really spooky and time and time again make me feel as if I AM one of the ground breakers. LoL, I even get slightly cold when I view these pics John. You create quite the atmosphere my dear
Ok I have to talk about this one: the 5th picture down on the left. When the page finally quickly loaded and suddenly it was on my screen, as I’m sitting rather close to the monitor, that horrid face jumped right out at me! Once in a while we get to see the AoD face up close and personal but see this photo was like seeing it again for the first time and being creeped out. How do you do that to the faces John?! The texture, the paint, the color contrast in his face…..it almost looks like blood veins and he’s more alive than we know. I LOVE this pic John. Again thank you for your extraordinary gift for photography.
Left hand side 9th pic down: LOVE IT!!! I much prefer the look of old weathered wooden cross that the bugs have eaten somewhat and tied together with twin as markers for the grave than the big clunky tomb stones. Plus, by having the wooden crosses instead of the other, it opens more the haunt more so visually and we can see MORE of the haunt. We can see what’s behind it, to the side of it and so forth so I think it allowed more of that organic and natural look you were going for. You absolutely achieved that with your haunt for 2010 John.
Your haunt was remarkable and extremely realistic. Everything looked marvelous John and you truly did out due yourself this year. The more your at this, the more wickedly delicious your creations become. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for Halloween 2011. Awesome work my friend!!!
P.S. I forgot to mention how much a relished the look of the corn shocks John! They added an extra special touch this year and helped the haunt to look more rustic and primitive.
I’m sorry for repeating myself here but I think it contributed to the rural element big time. I felt as though I was on a farm, a haunted and condemned farm that is, but having the corn stalks set up as corn shocks make your haunt powerfully natural. Now add that to all the wonderful pumpkins and the deliciously old eaten wooden crosses and you created a scene for me in which I thought for sure I was IN a dream and walking around someplace here on Earth that everyone has forgotten about…..except the DEAD! I love, love, love the corn shocks John. Will you do that again for 2011? Seemed to be easier to work with than the corn stalk walls, yes?
Truly an outstanding yarn haunt this year John. I’m so happy I found you when I did…..whew
November 5th, 2010 at 10:58 pm
John. That was like the most amazing movie set! I just have to go see your display next year if I’m still in AZ!
November 6th, 2010 at 11:56 am
This is definitely your best year to date! Can’t wait for next year!
Oh, where’d the scarecrow go?
November 6th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Goldie,
Some years it works out better than others, but that’s always my goal with the haunt, to try and set it up in a way that almost prevents the house from being seen at all. That way it looks like it’s taking place in an abandoned or rural location. I’m glad the intentional camouflage of the house and yard really came through in this year’s setup and photos!
A lot of the images and the elements that come together within them are purely accidental, while others I try to plan out as best as I can. It always seems like the ones that are more of an accident turn out better than the ones I intentionally try to plan, though.
Not to mention the camera has an awesome night setting feature on it that deserves more of the credit than I do… lol.
I’ve turned into a huge fan of the mini-tripod myself! It lets me get into funky positions and low, crazy angles that the regular size tripod can’t even think of doing. Though that first pic came out super dark and didn’t show hardly any detail on the props whatsoever, I really liked how creepy it looked, especially with the groundbreaker obscured by darkness, the Angel above him, the back lit fog rising up from behind the crosses, pumpkins below and cornstalks to the side. Those types of elements are what I always associate with Halloween and after seeing how they “performed” in the haunt this year, they’ll all be making a return appearance again next year.
In some of the pics, like the second one, the Angel does sort of appear to be beckoning to the groundbreakers and in some of the others, to me, he sort of appears to be rushing forward towards the camera. It’s always interesting to see how lighting and camera angles can create different looks and impressions.
Yeah, in that third photo I was definitely going for an up close “skin” shot of the corpse! Though I like how most of the pics came out creepy because of the added darkness this year, I still wanted to have a few that showed the detail of the skin.
Being that the entire setup was pressed for time this year, I really wanted to get even more closeups of the Angel’s face and hands, but didn’t have an opportunity to do so. Thankfully I was able to get that fifth photo. Next year, I’d like to have a ladder out in the haunt so I can really get in tight on his face.
I can’t thank you enough, Goldie for your kind words and awesome feedback about the photos! I’m proud to know you enjoyed them and liked everything so well. And I’m really glad you liked the replacement of tombstones with even more crosses. I’m definitely going to be scouring more old ghost towns this year for additional old wood planks, as I’d love to add a few more crosses to the setup.
And, yeah, I’ll definitely be going with the corn shocks in the future as well. I, too, liked the look and found it it to be far easier to setup than the old wall of corn I built in 2007 and 2008. Though I’m always up for whatever additional work it takes to bring in a certain look for the haunt, the shocks seemed to pay off in a bigger way and the investment was minimal. I spent probably 90 minutes setting up four shocks (the pics only show two, but there were two additional shocks off to the side) and in years past, I spent days upon days building that wall of corn.
Thanks again!!!
Autumnforest,
Thank you!!! That’s very kind!
Damian the HalloweeNut,
Thank you so much!! The scarecrow never made it out of storage this year. I wanted to add him to the haunt as well by setting him off to the side a bit, but we just ran out of time. Depending on the setup next year, I may try bringing him out again. Thanks for noticing he was missing.
November 6th, 2010 at 8:54 pm
Awesome, John! I like all the red lighting–gives it a manic feel. I added some tombstone crosses this year, too, and I really like the feeling of oldness they gave the graveyard. I built mine from old flats, however. After they’ve been out in the weather a year, they look pretty worn.
The raggedness of the angel wings is really creepy, too.
November 6th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Nice job, John. Think we’re going to work on a Jeepers Creepers type scarecrow for next year. Might want to discuss wings with you ! Thanks for the pictures! You’re great with a camera, too! xox
November 6th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Well, you have outdone yourself this time. Those are amazing photos. I agree with Autumnforest….I would love to see it in person. It must be stunning to be “in” the atmosphere that the picture portray.
Thanks for sharing this whole process with us. Been a great ride!
Cheers!
November 6th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
wow! it is simply stunning! what a gorgeous haunt…it was worth waiting for these pics!
November 7th, 2010 at 1:04 am
Totally awesome! You do excellent work.
November 7th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Stephanie D,
Thank you! Considering all the ghost towns we have here (I know I don’t need to tell you about that), I figure it’s a shame to let the old scrap wood they used in their buildings go to waste (in many places it’s just scattered all over the ground), so I like re-purposing it for the crosses. A lot of those boards have been sitting out in the weather for seventy-plus years, so nature’s done a good job aging them.
I really like your idea of using flats for crosses and letting them sit outside in the weather, too. After all the years I worked as a stocker in a grocery store, I’ve seen and handled some pretty gnarly looking flats that left their imprint on me, thanks to splinters embedded in my hands. The planks from those pallets would be wonderful for crosses!
Donna,
It’s my pleasure! And by all means, feel free to contact me whenever you guys have a question on wings or anything else. I’d love to do my best to help. I’m glad you enjoyed the photos. Thanks for your kind feedback.
The Frog Queen,
That’s very sweet of you! I really appreciate it. Thanks! My favorite time to take pics is just after the last group of trick-or-treaters leaves for the night. It usually starts getting quiet around 8:30 pm, that’s when I can climb around in the haunt and actually submerse myself in the fog and the props just as you mentioned — I love what it feels like to do that! And if I’m using dry ice to power my fog, it adds a nice little chill to the mist passing by my arms and legs as I’m bent over working with the mini-tripod. It’s a total rush to be standing in the midst of it all on a completely silent street, with no other lights on (most of the neighbors have shut everything off at this time) but the ones illuminating the haunt.
Pam Morris,
Awesome! Thank you so very much, Pam. I’m really glad you enjoyed the photos.
Andrea,
Thank you for checking out the pics and for your kind words!
November 8th, 2010 at 9:30 pm
that was just awesome! Great pics!. I like the lighting on the Angel of Death and the pumpkins. Superb!
November 9th, 2010 at 5:04 am
Very cool stuff. You do amazing work. Sorry I have not been on here in so long. My personal computer is down and my cat was missing all through October. He is back but he is skin and bones. I have some fun stuff to tell you about latter as well. I took some video at a local graveyard and I also stayed overnight in a small overgrown graveyard near my house. Happy Haunting all!!!
November 9th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
John,
This is without a doubt thee best haunt you’ve ever done! If I didn’t know it was staged in front of a house I would have never guessed it! It does look exactly like a haunted, deserted, open space like a corn field. It is so elemental- fire in the pumpkins, light in the lanterns and then all the organic elements, the cornstalks and the leaves and the wood of the crosses and then you have this layer that is still of this earth but very much *not*. It’s like this unknown element that creates the red light and the angel and the ground breakers. They seem to be of the earth but are so other-worldly it makes us concerned and uncomfortable. There are all these things that we can identify and are so basic to life and then there are these other things that are so alarming! It’s brilliant! I think you’ve captured the feeling of autumn and harvest and, of course, Halloween so perfectly! The spirit of it comes through so clearly- it’s beautiful and scary all at once!
Now on to a less ethereal topic.. the mini tripod… aren’t they the best?!? I spent two years trying desperately to catch my haunt in a non-blurry moment and had nothing but swatches of color and fog to show for my efforts. Then, 3 years ago, I got a mini tripod and 2 years ago a full sized one and our haunt, or at least the pictures, are looking far better! lol!
I LOVE shooting our haunt the day after Halloween so I understand you loving that silence once your neighborhood goes quiet. I shoot daytime shots for detail and then, just as the sun is setting, I go full throttle and just snap away until the daylight is gone! Our house faces north so the sun goes down behind us and I love to shoot from those low angles looking up at the house and the props as the camera grabs the last of the light from the sun so I can shoot without flash. I will give you one guess where I learned to shoot like that….. give up? YOU! All the angles I’ve learned to shoot from I’ve learned from looking at your pictures! The idea of layering light sources from pumpkins and lanterns and primary colored floods I’ve learned from you!
I love that in some of your pictures your jack o lanterns are lit and in others we can just barely see their faces. I love that sometimes the ground breakers are lit and sometimes we just see their frightening silhouettes. I love that the crosses are at uncomfortable, odd angles. It makes us wonder “How did they get that way? What disturbed them and what is out there that knocked them that way?” I love how the angel is presiding over the whole scene. His size and stature really bring such a sense of ominousness to the haunt (is ‘ominousness’ a word? I guess it is now..).
His reaching hands are the epitome of creepy.
You have done a magnificent job and should be deeply proud! And, as always, your artistry, your work and dedication and craftsmanship have been an inspiration to us both spiritually, for your friendship and support, and aesthetically, as we learn from you and are challenged to be better in our own ways. Thank you so much for sharing your process and experience and yourself with us over the last year- and I can’t wait to see what comes next for you, for this site and for your haunt!!! Thank you so much, John!! We are so grateful to you for everything!!
November 9th, 2010 at 2:45 pm
ssflipo13,
Much appreciated! Thank you!
Ethan,
I noticed you hadn’t been around much lately and was thinking about you — hoping you were doing well. So sorry to hear about your computer and your cat, but glad to hear he’s home now! He’s probably more than content to stay around for a while, catching up on his meals and his sleep, I’m betting. He’ll be back to his fighting weight in no time, I’m sure.
Very cool about spending a night in an overgrown graveyard by your house. I’m looking forward to hearing about all of your experiences!
Thanks for your kind words about the haunt. It was your image of the pumpkin-headed sentinel holding the blade that encouraged me to add a lot more pumpkins to my display. Seeing how the shocks and the overseer in your image were covered in gourds really inspired me. Though I didn’t quite create a sea of pumpkins like the one in your work, I did what I could with thirty-eight of the orange guys. Now I’m thinking I should have transposed the numbers to eighty-three — that would have been a better amount in terms of coverage.
Camile,
My friend, I don’t know how you do it, but you and Goldie are both always so thorough and articulate in the wonderful comments you leave! You both have such great eye for detail, commenting on things that I don’t even notice — and I love every bit of it! I know at times you’re concerned your responses are too lengthy, but please don’t ever worry about that and don’t ever change anything about the feedback you leave as I enjoy hearing all of the details that inspire you. I always encourage everyone to leave as lengthy a comment as they feel appropriate, nothing’s ever too long (or too short).
I’m definitely not the fastest prop builder around… come to think of it, I’ve always been slow at just about everything I do. I’m always the last person at the table to finish a meal. I was always the last kid in school to finish almost every test during my entire academic career. I’m one of the slowest drivers on the road (most call me a grandpa for driving like I do), and the list goes on and on. As the old saying goes, ‘God takes pity on babies and fools,’ and it’s a good thing cause I’m certainly not a baby any longer, but I digress.
Anyway, because of how meticulous I am when it comes to creating my corpses, I’m doing good to add one to three new props per Halloween (depending on whether they’re groundbreakers or a full-sized overseer), and because of that I try to make up for it by bringing in other elements that create a slightly different feeling each year. The quantity of pumpkins, the manner in which the corn was displayed, the added crosses, and my playing around with the lighting were all things I hoped would give it an even different appearance this time around. I’m so glad you enjoyed the attention to detail that was spent on all of these additional elements and I’m glad they paid off by giving the haunt an even richer feeling!
It tickles me, Camile, that the photos actually cause you to have an inner-dialogue with yourself about how certain things came to be the way are in the photos! That’s a huge compliment to know the pics make you lose yourself just a little in a fictional world of the cemetery being real for just a moment. Thank you so much for sharing that. And I’m also happy to know my camera angles have been helpful to you!
Wow! Thank you so much for all of your wonderful, kind words, your feedback and encouragement. I truly appreciate having you be a part of everything here at the website. While I’m passionate about everything I do associated with SOS, you (and so many others) help to inspire me to reach deeper and find even more creative ways of doing what I already love. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (never tiring of saying it), what I do would mean very little without having all of you taking part in it with me. It’s me who is grateful to you, my friend.