Behind the Mo
For Movember, I stepped in front of the camera with a drawn-on moustache, a white shirt, a polka dot bow tie and a borrowed sense of swagger. Before picking up the camera, I laced up my trainers: I completed the Movember activity challenge on MapMyRun, logging over 39 hours across 31 workouts and finishing in the top 5% of more than 26,000 participants. Behind the Mo is my Movember-themed portrait series, playing with classic menswear and a moustache that’s part humour, part statement. The styling is playful, but the expression is honest, because behind every moustache is a real person, and how someone looks isn’t always how they’re doing. This November, I’m photographing men growing their moustaches for the cause, some of them sharing a challenge they’ve faced and what helped them through it. If someone comes to mind as you scroll through, send them a message today. Asking how they are, and really listening, can make more difference than you think.
The Concept
The Haunted Patisserie Doll is a conceptual Halloween series that blends Victorian romance, surreal confectionery couture and the quiet menace of an antique porcelain doll brought to life. Set against a soft powder-pink backdrop, she wears burgundy velvet, ivory lace and a sculptural cake headpiece dripping with chocolate, cream and cherries, with gravity-defying braids, antique cutlery and a fine crack across her porcelain cheek. The series doesn’t rely on conventional horror. It finds its darkness in contrast: sweetness and the supernatural, innocence and unease, and a doll that has stayed perfectly still for centuries… until now.
The Process
The series began with a simple starting point. I put on base makeup, tied my hair back and photographed myself on my Sony camera. Everything else was created in Adobe Photoshop: the velvet gown, the lace, the cake headpiece, the floating braids and the porcelain complexion with its rosy cheeks and fine crack. I then brought the doll to life on video using Adobe, with a slow blink, a slight turn of the head and a gaze that fixes on the viewer, keeping every movement deliberately small so it feels quietly unsettling. Finally, I added music in Adobe Express to give each clip its eerie, music-box atmosphere.
