BONUS PHOTOSHOOT: Living Dead Dolls Faith

This one hadn't quite gotten her due in the photo department. But how could she have, in March where I live?

I took five Living Dead Dolls on vacation for my first true "on-location" shooting (or at least, the first beyond the property of my house). They went along to our yearly lake vacation spot because I knew they would all benefit from scenery I knew and which I couldn't access near home...or at least certainly not with as much privacy to do so. The lake allowed me the space to take photos without scrutiny--the major deterrent to most on-location shoots. You're gonna get weird looks as an adult guy taking dolls outside and zooming in for photos, and the horror element might even compound the inability to explain! 

Four of the dolls who got to enjoy this trip haven't been shown on the blog yet, and this timing of the trip moved them onto the July list to make sure they were in hand specifically so they could join me, but one was coming along to get her second shoot--after all, Faith is the lake girl! While I was committed to staging the dolls' story scenarios from the very start of my collection of LDD, lake-drowned Faith had to make do with a puddle. 

A puddle that reflected the suburban neighborhood.

My home simply didn't have the scenery for her story to be done justice. But this wonderful place which I've visited every summer for almost all of my life...that's another story.

It was only right that I take Faith to the actual scenery she would have died in. I think she could have deserved the honor regardless, being my first LDD and all, but she was coming to take advantage of the setting. I didn't need her there as a piece of home or anything. Faith's green coloring and the fact that her fatal swim was explicitly an attempt to cross the lake also indicated to me that the environment I took her to was exactly correct--she must have died in a smaller forest lake like the one I go to. You wouldn't think you could cross a lake if you couldn't see the other side. She's not a Great Lakes girl who swam from a more stereotypical summer beach. She died in water surrounded by hills and trees.

I was nearly going to bring my reinvented LDD Viv, since I'd decided to reframe her as a beachy character who got bitten in half by a shark, but I decided against it on the grounds that it's a non-canon design I made, her setting would be a big beachy lake or ocean, not a forest lake, and she'd only really benefit from a photo or two half-buried (or actually, not) in the sand. I covered Viv pretty well with my resources at home, so Faith was the only swimmer I brought. (I'm more open now to someday getting the full Zombini and Viv set and getting both dolls complete as they were, so my reviewed Viv could end up fully customized in such an event. Far from a priority, though.)

To make any key photos with Faith possible, however, I absolutely needed waterproofing, and I discovered this somewhat magical waterproof phone pouch online. 

This was essential to swimming with Faith for photos, and even for underwater shots. I did tape up the orifices of the phone as insurance before putting it in the pouch, but nothing got in. I still kept it above water for most of it and submerged it very briefly each time. My last phone broke in March because of water damage, so I was exceedingly nervous. With this shoot, I took pictures live and then edited them in post for different moods and tones. I couldn't really scrutinize the pictures I was taking, either, because I wear contacts or glasses and couldn't use either while swimming, plus the outdoor light made it harder to see the screen, and the phone is less easy to interact with through the pouch, so I didn't waste my time checking my results. For most of the pictures, I'm holding Faith's feet to position her and pull her under the surface, because the doll is buoyant.

I tried a shot imitating the pose she's depicted in on her chipboard.

Here's Faith peeking out of the lake (she has to be cut off on the bottom of the frame because the water is pretty clear and her body is easily visible--and distorted--under the surface).

And floating on the water--much deader the second way.

Having her just under the surface made for some very eerie photos.

This one was fully underwater.

And here she is rising up again.

I did no hair arranging. It just worked itself perfectly.

I took her onto the swimmer's raft for more pictures.

Then I covered her with her towel as a shroud.

(The towel, as discussed before, is my addition, not a part of the LDD design, but it adds a lot to her and her photo potential.)

And here she is back on the beach.

I wasn't quite sure I'd gotten that perfect photo yet, so I tried again earlier the next day while it was lighter. Here's another take at the chipboard pose. Being two-handed, I couldn't make a splash under her, hold the doll, and snap the picture all at once, so it's still less splashy than the art.

And some more underwater pictures.

And another emerging pose.

This second day of photos gave me some very ghoulish and creepy floating pictures of her. These are highlights.

This one looks like she died mid-swimming stroke.

The warped distortion in this one freaks me out!

Here's a scenario where Faith's body washed up on the beach and she was (temporarily) buried there.

And here's a scenario where she was found in the water...in pieces from decomposition. Why? Well, Faith filled up with water during each day of shooting, so I had to pop her apart to drain her. The second time, I figured I'd use it for a supremely creepy photo!

I felt like I could get a couple 2000s-era (or modern arthouse-horror) movie posters out of a couple of shots.

And by complete accident, the blue striped Ken shirt that arrived on the Wolfgang I customized into the character Bedford wound up on vacation with me because it had gotten stuck and forgotten in the pocket of the pajama pants I packed. Well, hey, the shirt suited Faith perfectly, so I put it on her and decided to wrap her towel around her hair for another look.

Just when I thought I was finished with her photos! 

To play with this, I decided to hunt for a good rock in the water to let her bask on, since I'd played out the swimming lake photos pretty well. Because there weren't any real sunning rocks on the shoreline, I went to a creek in the forest with rocks instead. This created a more cozy closed-in lake feel with a darker atmosphere, closer to my original puddle photoshoot, so I liked the tone the space provided. I first took photos with the shirt and head wrap, and made a mix of horror tones and vintage-photo tones.

I then tried the towel around her waist with the shirt on, putting her on the edge of the creek for a creepy shore stroll.

And lastly, I took off the shirt and put her hair very loosely in an updo held away by the towel as a head wrap. I liked this look for her.

I suppose I could have done the towel around her waist without the shirt over the suit, but the towel wasn't truly tucked in for Faith before because it was so small, making it fiddly to photograph around her. I'm satisfied with what I got. Plus, vicious bugs were pricking my ankles and giving me a whole vacation's worth of bites in ten minutes, so I had to get out of there.

Faith as a doll design is an interesting mix of saturated and vibrant, vintage 1930s, and cadaverous, piercing, and haunting, and I think these lake photos really allowed me to explore the purely repulsive horror of the drowned doll, the retro-historical angle, and the pop factor of a green lake zombie, as well as simply allowing her to inhabit her canonical enviroment and play out her story with authenticity. I still find Faith's snarled hair and wonky eyes to be disappointments and I still won't say "never" to potentially replacing her with a better copy, if there is one, but I do have to remind myself how compelling and successful her design is from time to time. It was great to put her fully in context, the real context, to do her concept justice.