joshua hoffine // childhood fears

June 8, 2008

this is best explained by the copy on his site:

i stage my photo shoots like small movies, with sets, costumes, elaborate props, fog machines and special effects make-up. i use hotlights rather than strobes, because they give me better fog effects as well as a warmer color shift. my images are not photoshop collages. i use photoshop to finesse details and to adjust color and contrast for printing. i use friends and family members as actors and crew. everyone works for free. we do it for fun.

Joshua Hoffine

check out the his site here

deep-thought, great-site, photography, special-effects

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Um. WTF!?

Yeah, me and my family get together for fun little candid shots of death and horror too. It was all fun and games until Uncle Frank really did peal off and wear mom’s face.

David Frey // June 8th, 2008 // 8:17 pm

cool work, I like the lightness to the feeling despite the gruesome subject matter. If he softened it up a bit I could see it being made into a neat children’s book or something.

gm // June 9th, 2008 // 5:54 am

holy shit I WANT TO DO THAT!!! hahah i think subjecting my son to about 2 weeks worth of nightmares is totally WORTH IT!!

jecka // June 9th, 2008 // 9:56 am

wow!! That was really cool.. Im a photographer, maybe i should try something like that.. very creative!:)

Emaa // June 9th, 2008 // 10:34 am

Whenever I see this kind of crap I wonder WHAT THE HELL were the parents were thinking? No wonder child actors get so effed up. Yuk. I hope to God the kid in those pictures didn’t have to look at that stuff.

Anne // June 11th, 2008 // 12:48 pm

This is unbelievably disturbing and a disappointment. If this is the best use of these parent’s time then they need some serious counseling. To include their kids in these events, in the name of creativity and “fun”, then they’re kids would be better served on the foster care circuit. Everything wrong with our base humanity is represented in these photos and is no place for, not only a child, but any other human being as I feel this is not a far cry from mental instability. This is child abuse, a perversion of wasted creative motivation and is inexcusable. What a disgrace… aren’t enough things wrong with this world without this useless garbage?

Mr. Diggles' Brother // June 29th, 2008 // 9:50 pm

don’t hold back grant. tell me what you REALLY feel.

mr.diggles // June 30th, 2008 // 9:49 am

Mr. Diggles’ Brother, your lack of education (and humanity) is showing.

Ragdoll // October 21st, 2009 // 9:15 am

rough crowd this week.

mr. diggles // October 21st, 2009 // 10:50 am

No kidding! And sorry, Ragdoll, I think I’m with Grant on this one. I can’t even look at these.

Anne // October 21st, 2009 // 11:41 am

Oddly, I have always liked these. They so remind me of some of the fears I had as a child. It’s nice to see I’m not the only one. I think it would be fun to pose for these as a kid. To see it all carefully staged would take the fear out of it, I think, when you know it’s not real. And these really play to my morbid sense of humor. They’re creepy, but fun.

izafelidae // May 31st, 2010 // 9:43 am

I had the opportunity to work with Mr. Hoffine on one occasion. Brilliant guy. Those of you with strongly formed opinions should check out his blog, particularly the “behind the scenes” of some of his work. The blond child is his daughter, and everything is carefully staged, and photoshop is a heavy factor in the creepiness of some of these pictures. The very last picture at the bottom of this particular post shows his daughter after work is done; I don’t think she looks too traumatized:

http://joshuahoffine.wordpress.com/2008/11/03/making-devil