I was recently thinking about *all* of the photoshoots we’ve created over the years here. I have loved art directing and building these little glimpses into the Gloomth Universe from day 1, and am enjoying it even more now that I am learning photography myself. At this point we’ve completed well over 200 photoshoots and we’re looking to create even more this year! It’s a constant source of inspiration and excitement for me, even if it is an alarming amount of work to coordinate and dream up these projects…

So here are some facts and little stories behind some of our shoots over the years!

The hair we created with Savija Ellis for our “Sugar Sparkle” photoshoot involved pinning heaps of curled extensions to chunks of cut green floral foam. Savija is super talented, not only was this method super light weight it didn’t mean the models had to have miles of super long hair to work with. You’d never know what was inside from the photos. 😉

Our “Chinatown” photoshoot was one of those days where it feels as though the Universe is aligning somehow to help you make art. The street where we had planned to shoot is usually packed with people and cars, we had expected a quick and frantic shoot avoiding crowds- but when we arrived at the location the street was closed to everyone but local pedestrians. There had been a fire the night before, which had obliterated a building on the corner, so the street was nearly empty! It was like having a movie studio all to ourselves with amazing street backdrops. The bored shop keeps even helped us get some neat shopping photos! The only odd thing was an elderly dude on his porch watching us shoot from across the street and screaming “YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL” over and over at our model Vamp til she acknowledged him…..

Speaking of Vamp, in our “Dark Dream” photoshoot it was early April and still super cold and damp here, it was such a gross day outside I ended up holding a big car blanket up to block the wind and rain from the photographer and model like big cotton bat wings. Must say she and the photographer (coincidentally my brother Russel) braved it super well and the resulting photos are still some of my favorites.

The very first time my brother Russel shot for Gloomth was for our St.Gloomth Academy line launch! Before this I only shot with one photographer so it was very strange creating with another one for me, but ended up being so wonderful and has led me to working with so many talented and amazing photographers. R is one of my main collaborators these days and it’s always a lot of fun to make art with him.

The candy store photos from our “Street Style” photoshoot were obviously shot in a real convenience store. There was a young girl working the cash and she said she was fine with us taking photos if we left as soon as her parents came back. So we snapped like crazy with CheshireCat and Jasmin Skull! I love impromptu photo locations like that and will sweet talk our way into all sorts of weird spots. You can also see in the photo above how rainy it was outside, CheshireCat’s dress is nearly soaked (our models are wicked tough).

Sometimes locations are less friendly about us shooting in them. This year during our “Musee de l’Orangerie” shoot with Hexcelle we got kicked out of a Victorian public garden because we did not get the terribly expensive photo permit to shoot there. Woops! We did manage to get a beautiful pile of photos done before this happened however and I’m so glad we risked it!

None of what I create is possible without the help of our incredible models, friends, photographers, stylists, and fans. Gloomth is my monster but it’s being raised by a village of other magicians and misfits, and I am so grateful for that.

-Taeden