'Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary.'
Edgar Allan Poe
Though Costumes are all about concealing, the often do just the opposite. Our choice of costumes, especially at Halloween, often reveal more about who we are than we might realize. When I was a kid, I spent a lot time hiding who I was, even before I really knew what that was, or what that meant. Even at Halloween, I'd mostly wear traditional costumes for young boys, donning cowboy hats, Vampire fangs and a Superman cape.
I played the part at my elementary school Halloween party and while out trick or treating, but later, I was myself. When alone, I posed with that hat, and twirled with my cape, morphing from the Man of Steel to a another superhero, one a little more wonderous. I think the reason so many people love Halloween so much isn't so they can disguise themselves, but because they can display parts of themselves, parts they may not feel safe to expose the rest of the year.
My goal with FH is to reveal and uncover. My hope, it that I not only unveil beautiful bodies, but uncover their stories and how the process behind how the images were created. That's one of the reason I bugged photographer Tom Nakielski to dig back into his Halloween shoot with Zilo. Many readers remember that Ton's shots of Zilo headlined last years Halloween celebration on the site. (Skin & Boned) Although this one of Tom's last shoots before he took a fall, it was his first with Zilo.
I've been featuring Tom's holiday themed imagery for the past eight years now, and although he's not currently shooting, I didn't want the spooky season to pass by, without celebrating his skill and creativity. Tom's imagination and idea's has conjured up a various demons, vampires and witches over the last few years including Zilo's crazed bone collector from last year.
Thankfully, Tom was able to dig into his files and not only find some fun behind the scenes shots, but some visuals I hadn't featured before. I focused last year on Zilo's skin and bones, leaving out the shots with the Halloween scarf and his rodent appetizer. The origins for this shoot clearly had connections with Poe's The Raven, but it was some facial tattoos that Tom had in his prop collection that really drove the narrative.
As I previously shared, Tom's movement has been limited the last year, and he has been relying more on support from others. For this shoot with Zilo, it was Tom's friend, and studio partner Karah, who helped out, and even provided a little ass assistance. Although being drawn to Zilo's behind is natural, even for a corpse, this particular skull was heavy, and required Karah to lend a hand to ensure it was positioned perfectly in place.
As much as I loved Tom's final images, I equally enjoyed a glimpse behind the scenes, and seeing Karah at work not added an CFNM element, they were also a lot of fun. Zilo had no issue being completely nude in front of Karah, and shared he had a blast with the shoot, Zilo enjoys modeling, in clothes, or without, and feels right at home in front of the camera.
Not only was Karah helpful during the shoot, she also helped nudge Tom on to get Zilo out his bone collector costume. Tom loves to take as many shots as possible, and they were nearing the end of their scheduled time and Tom was still looking to capture great shots of Zilo in costume. Karah reminded Tom that if they didn't get Zilo's clothes off, they wouldn't have any nudes to include with the series for the post. Thank you Karah! Thanks to Zilo as well, and especially Tom, for heading into his files and sending on these behind the scenes shots.
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