Danse Macabre

I've been planning this shoot for a while now. It started when model/tog Roxy Stardust contacted me via Modelmayhem in September, and I suggested some setups including this one. The original inspiration came from this rather terrific photo on Flickr. I loved it, but for some reason I thought my version should have a woman dancing with a skeleton. Don't ask me why, I just did.

It took a bit of time to organize. I had a willing collaborator, but I needed a location and the vital prop. Roxy herself suggested Drumcross Farm, which turned out to be a bitterly cold studio in the January freeze; we lasted about 90 minutes before our blue extremities forced us to give up for the day. The dancing partner himself proved elusive, until I finally gave in to temptation and bought one on the internet. Expensive, but I'm planning to hire him out to other 'togs in future, so hopefully I'll recoup some of my investment.

Things didn't go entirely to plan. The biggest problem was the sheer weight of the skeleton, which made my original idea (having Roxy swishing around the room with the bones in tow) a bit unrealistic. In the end I settled for some more "staged" poses, and hoped I could minimize the support stand in post-processing as much as possible.

Since our original conversation, things have moved on a little. Rather than a single shoot, I'm now planning a whole necro-romantic series. Roxy and Mr Bones share a candlelit meal... Roxy and Mr Bones play chess... Roxy and Mr Bones go to the beach... Roxy and Mr Bones get married...

The possibilities are endless.