First Look at Photographer Joshua Hoffine’s Newest Project Persephone

Steve Barton   |  

Feb 29, 2012

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Those of you who are familiar with the absolutely incredible work of horror photographer Joshua Hoffine know that his creations are quite simply nightmares captured by his lens. And for you new to Hoffine, think of him as Anne Geddes meets … oh, I don’t know … Satan.

Check out Hoffine’s newest project, Persephone.

We’ve got your first look at Persephone, inspired by Greek mythology, below. Included are the finished images from the photo shoot as well as a load of behind-the-scenes shots. (You’ll be sure to notice the dreadlocked coiffure of Beki Ingram, stand-out contestant on Syfy’s F/X show “Face/Off,” working on the set.)

But instead of us telling you about how amazing Hoffine is, take a look for yourself. Check out the Persephone images, and if you dig what you see, head on over to the official Joshua Hoffine website, where you’ll be able to see lots more of Hoffine’s work and have an opportunity to purchase prints. You should also visit and give a “like” to Joshua Hoffine’s Facebook fan page.

About Joshua Hoffine
Joshua Hoffine is a world-renowned horror photographer, best known for his work dealing with childhood fears. His work has been showcased in Fangoria, Rue Morgue, and Famous Monsters of Filmland as well as numerous other publications around the globe. He sporadically maintains a popular behind-the-scenes blog that delves into the technical effort that goes into his productions.

Hoffine on Persephone
This is my new project called Persephone, named after a figure from Greek mythology. Persephone was a nature goddess, daughter of Zeus and the harvest goddess Demeter. She became Queen of the Underworld after being abducted by Hades. The myth of her abduction represents her role as the personification of vegetation – which shoots forth in spring and withdraws into the earth in autumn. When she is in the Underworld, we experience winter. And when she visits the world, she brings with her spring, flowers, and the resurrection of life. As both a Goddess of Spring, and the Queen of the Underworld, she exemplifies the tension between life and death.

My lovely bride, Jen (Lady Bathory), returned as my assistant for this project as well as my faithful friend Demian Vela. We also worked with some new collaborators. Rebekah Whitt played the part of Persephone, and her make-up was done by Shawn Shelton with Bandersnatch Studios. The walls and archway of the set were made from plastic VacuForm panels that we painted to look like stone. We built the set inside a factory near Robert Kurtzman’s studio in Ohio. Kurtzman is a legendary make-up F/X artist and the founder of KNB EFX. He also wrote the original story for the movie From Dusk Till Dawn and was the director of Wishmaster.

Kurtzman introduced David Greathouse (House) to the project, who created all of the foam latex vines that we wired and glued to the walls of the set. Kurtzman also introduced us to Beki Ingram, who turned out to be the real hero of the project. Jen, Demian, and I were all enormously impressed as she spearheaded the enormous task of dressing the set walls with fake foliage and roses, which were meticulously glued to the walls, one flower at a time. Beki has recently become a TV celebrity. She is one of the leading contestants on the hit reality show “Face/Off”, which features up-and-coming special effects make-up artists in a winner-takes-all competition. The program airs on Wednesday nights on the Syfy Channel, and each week we are glued to our TV sets rooting for our friend.

Demian took a week off of work and drove 800 miles to Ohio to help with this project. I think he was excited by the prospect of hanging out with Robert Kurtzman.

We stole grass and sod from Kurtzman’s backyard and hauled it to the factory in the back of my mini-van. I inserted fake arms (minus the hands) into the set floor. I would have used the hands as well but they looked so fake that I cut them off. We hung giant sheets of black velvet behind the set. Black velvet and a fog machine are all we had to hide the fact that our set was built inside a factory.

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