Expressive Masquerade by Mount Photography

Most holiday's, religious based or otherwise, were originally meant to be gatherings. People coming together to feast and celebrate a birth, a death, a person or event. North America however, has decided that every holiday MUST be yet another way to pull money out of the pockets of people who really cannot afford to spend it. Many are more excited about the now corresponding 'blow out sales' than they are about the day itself being celebrated. Business's have worked extra hard the last few decades to make sure every holiday, Halloween included, is as big of a money making cash cow as Christmas become.

Despite all of this however, I still love holidays. I try to avoid the commercialism, as much as I can control, and keep the magic I remember from my holidays as a kid. Halloween for me was always about fun, games, tricks and treats. For me, it was most of all about fear. trying to scare, not just others, but most importantly myself. Forcing myself to watch a scary movie, head into the woods or a corn field after midnight or venture into an abandoned house. Feeling frightened and dancing close to the demented and the dead strangely makes many of us feel alive.

Halloween is also of course about disguise. Costumes, make-up and especially masks, not only frighten, cover and trick, they also maybe more importantly, empower and protect. By protecting the identity of the underneath, the person behind the mask is free to act in a way, and to do certain things, that without the mask, would be truly terrifying, being actually seen.

Although Americans may do things bigger, more brashly and more expensively than the others, Americans did not invent Halloween. Although there are conflicting accounts of the holiday's history, most agree Halloween stemmed from several celebrations originating in Europe. The Roman festival Feralia, a celebration of the souls of the dead, and Samhain, a Gaelic festival celebrating the end of the Harvest and beginning of the darker months of year, are both thought to be part of the holidays beginnings. In an attempt to replace the darker and Pagan elements, Pope Gregory IV declared November 1st All Saints Day. The Night before then became ‘All Hallows Eve’ and Christians would travel from door to door begging for food which they would then use to feed the hungry.

North America can thank Irish and Scottish immigrants who are thought to have brought the tradition of guising with them from Europe. Guising, the wearing of costumes, was recorded in Scotland as far back as 1895 with children dressing up and going to homes, mostly of the wealthy, and performing in order to receive nuts, apples and coins.

What does all this, admittedly suspect, Halloween trivia, have to with these incredible images from Mount Photography... well nothing really, while at the same time everything. I have been doing Halloween themed post since FH began five years ago. Each year I try to find not only great Halloween imagery, but as I always strive to, try to find, feel and see something I have not experienced before. When I saw these images from Mount Photography's Mark Montovio, all three came together beautifully. Although maybe not shot with Halloween in mind, Mark's use of the masks, their purpose and intent, parallel the themes of the Holiday in many interesting ways. The images, all shot in Portugal and Tarifa, a little town in Spain, also had me fascinated to find out how, or how differently, All Hallows Eve is celebrated so far away.

The models featured in Mark's images hail from different parts of Europe. Rogelio and Antonio, featured in the images wearing black material are from Spain. Cristian, in the solo shots above, is also from Spain and Antonin and Vicente, together in the final images below, are from Romania.

'Halloween has been celebrated in Gibraltar for a while now and although it started mainly as a trick or treat day for children linked to Guy Fawkes Day, a UK celebration, in the last few years grown ups have organised parties at nightclubs etc. In Spain it has just sort of started and only really celebrated where there are large concentrations of British expats. You can tell where that is because shops will have many more pumpkins than they would normally have on sale at this time of year. Horror movies have made Halloween more popular in Spain, although there it is still a Catholic Feast day where people visit the cemetery to lay flowers, but really it has been the business sector pushing it to add another peak sale season to the year!'
Mark Montovio

Back to the masks... It is sort of interesting that both protection and bravery are weaved into their purpose. The Celts believed that on the night before Samhain, the veil between our world and the underworld, became very thin, and that it was possible for each to cross over into the world of the other. Afraid of who or what they might come in contact with, the Celts wore masks to give them protection and the strength to frighten away the monsters they might encounter. This strength, stemming from the disguise, provided them the ability to express themselves bravely in a way they could not do without the mask.

'I often find that using masks helps new models to focus on expression and work a little bit more on how they communicate with their bodies which is an important consideration in the sort of photography I'm interested in. It often works instantly as if they are no longer the person they were before wearing the masks and the shoots after that work so much better with models being able to combine their facial expressions with how they move. I'm much more interested in creating stories and developing expressive ideas and this is usually the deciding factor when planning to work with the same model a second time round.'
Mark Montovio

It is rather incredible that a veil, a covering, can be used to illicit an even greater expression of emotion. On the surface, it seems to make no sense, yet underneath, thinking about Halloween, and the power and pleasure that a costume can provide, really makes perfect sense. As many of us have experienced, hiding or guising, has helped channel a strength and power, the ultimate expression of emotion and self.