The Pumpkin Queen
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Heather TaylorPhotographer
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Nneka TaylorMUA / FX
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Lauren JonesModel
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Genres:Horror, Horror Photography, Dark Art
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Date Taken:October 15, 2016
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Country of Origin:United States
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Camera:Canon
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Student Project:No
Heather Taylor is a Dark Art / Horror photographer from Covington, Virginia, a small town surrounded by the beautiful Alleghany Mountains. A town that is also surrounded by miles upon miles of dark forests, abandoned farmhouses and a ghost story around every corner.
Heather is a self-taught photographer that has always had a deep love and admiration for being able to capture a moment that could be viewed repeatedly. Starting out, she did unconventional photography for Drag Queens and tattoo shops which proved to be extremely fun and challenging, but something was missing. Unable to afford film equipment she questioned if she could take her short stories and convey them through pictures. At this point, she wondered, what could she lose? So, began her new world, a world of dark art and horror.
Heather has been able to shift her love for horror movies, true crime & dark art into her photography. Her work highlights the obscure beauty in the grotesque and obscene using mood lighting, real fear and a love for special effects. Her focus is to evoke intense emotion through expressive imagery as she recreates the conventional perspective of beauty. She, along with her wife Nneka, own and operate an all-female horror photography company rightfully named, GOREgeous, LLC. GOREgeous allows local models the chance to bring their admiration for horror to the forefront and to a worldwide canvas. Often using family or friends to mimic her nightmares, Heather has been able to find art in everyday situations and introduce horror to a whole new audience.
Each shoot is designed like a short film and runs from a storyboard that is thoroughly planned and created from both perspectives, beauty, and horror. Each location selected is usually a danger in itself. Props aren’t brought from home but are selected from the broken debris found lying about. Heather feels that adding the authentic pieces adds to the final images and helps instill the real fear that would take place if you found yourself locked at that moment. She is a firm believer that without the talent and the dedication of her entire team, these images wouldn’t come to life the way they are intended.
From poetry, painting, and photography, she has always been able to grasp the gorgeous silver lining of all the macabre and horror broadcast in the world. She, like many artists, is a firm believer that if you see her art and aren’t still thinking about it later, that she hasn’t done her job. Often taking on subjects that others would steer clear of, she finds herself the most comfortable surrounded by the offensive.
A homage to old school horror movies and the many albums of her favorite musician, Marilyn Manson, Heather is able to beautifully project an image that most can’t turn away from. This is where she prides herself and her art. Like a car crash, she creates her art the same way... Too horrid not to want to look but too beautiful to truly dismiss.