Decline Studio News

November 2007

Welcome to the last update of the year. I've just come back from four days at this year's Whitby Goth Weekend and what a time I had! It was a great opportunity to spend some time with my fellow photographers Fozzie, Mary Celeste, Darkest Angel, Dave Fish, Gothindulgence and Steve Avatar. As you would expect there was plenty of model talent attending including Thamniel Kain, Lestacia and Scotland's Amaryllis. I managed to get a couple of shoots in on the Saturday and Sunday which I'll share in the New Year.

In the course of a year, Declinegothica gets around one hundred thousand visits from Goth Art fans around the world but only a tiny fraction of those people contact me in any way. What I'd like in this lead up to Christmas, is to hear from you, the visitors to this site. Tell me a little bit about yourself, where you're from, what you're into, your favourite bands, why you visit this site and I'll pick some of the most interesting and send them some signed postcard prints for Christmas. You've got nothing to lose, so go ahead say hello - mailto:declinegothica

It's my pleasure this month to introduce a new model to the team; Giselle Bourignon. She's a very exciting young model and I think she'll be taking the Goth modelling scene by storm. You can find my first image with her in Gallery Four entitled "Opera" but you can expect lots new images in January's update as she's part of the team for the last shoot of the year, November's "Cabaret of the Damned".

At the start of September I got to experiment with an idea I'd been toying with for sometime, that of photographing in a river. We chose a shallow part of the river Stour in Warickshire and I have to thank the models Sancia Lux, Phoenix, Violet Raven, Vampy Poet and Pyro for being true professionals and being willing to get wet on what was not the warmest of days! You can find several images from the "wet" and "dry" sections of this shoot in this update.

"Lost and Drowned" - Sept 2nd 2007

Phoenix, Violet Raven, Sancia Lux, Dave Charsley, Vampy Poet and Pyro

The second weekend in October was a slightly mad one for me, as I attempted to do two shoots in so many days. It was an emotionally draining experience but the images I got in camera were worth the effort. The first shoot on the Saturday was in my beautiful friend Alrune's basement and also included fellow Leicester model's Miss Malicious and male model Darkest Sin. Our "Beautiful Dead" shoot mixed fetish styling with an outstanding performance from the models.

The Beautiful Dead - October 13th 2007

Dave Charsley, Alrune, Miss Malicous and Darkest Sin

The next day's "Hell Circus" was my first collaboration with Make-Up artist Jenny Gray. Jenny's been teaching make up in the middle England for years now, so she was an ideal choice to turn model Chackra into a fierce tiger. Deaz completed the team, as the sexy ringmaster.

Hell Circus - October 14th 2007

Deaz, Chackra, Jenny Gray and Dave Charsley

Thanks to everyone for again making this year a fantastic one! I worked with over forty models, had twelve major shoots and countless mini ones. I got to meet some fantastic people and have some wonderful new experiences.

Thanks to the models for lending me their beauty this year: Sancia Lux, Satanic Angel, Xero, Ebb, Violet Raven, Tattered Alice, Thamniel Kain, Estrella Oscura, Deaz, The Druidess of Midian, Pheonix, Mendees, Fracture, Chackra, Roswell Ivory, Caelia, Scarlet Angel, Demondaz, Tragic Wrath, Lacrimosa, Bathory Nightmare, Zoe, Twiggy 0.5, Giselle Bourignon, Vampy Poet, Alice DeVille, Angel Serenity, Melanie Morticia, Pyro, Amethyst, Hellypickles, Jonny, Ravenstar, Wolverina, Lestacia, Amaryllis, Miss Malicious, Darkest Sin, Narcotica, Emily, Benedicta,

To Jenny Gray for the make-up, Jaded Jazz for the Videos, Paul Smith for the fantastic props, my TOG mate Dave Fish for the help with "Goth pinup" and Hex Freq for all the running around