Post by @sysop408@sfba.social

I’m about to start my mega-Halloween hell weekend. I’m doing event photography in costume for 2 huge Trick or Treat events plus a 2 hour Zombie Crawl Flash Mob.

2 cities, 3 events, 28 hours and a lot of hurt. A few pics of what my next 24 hours will look like.

I can thank the pandemic for giving me the idea to improve my outfit with a Spidey themed face mask. I’m the only Spider-man with a functional face mask that doesn’t get in the way of being a photographer.

#halloween #photography #covid

4 media files

Me in a Spider-man costume with a camera and Deadpool pose for a portrait.

two women dressed as venus fly traps in the middle of a busy street filled with children trick or treating.

Man dressed as a zombie snarls at the camera.

woman dressed as a zombie performs a jump scare at the camera during a trick or treat event.

#covid #halloween #photography

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Sheldon

@sysop408@sfba.social 7 days ago

I survived my Halloween hell weekend.

At the end of my last event, I had to be the mean guy who told families the end of the line is at this arbitrary spot because the event was over. It was true it was time to wrap up, but really I was so tired that I couldn’t just keep letting one more through no matter how much they begged.

We had a lot of pumpkins that were used as decor for a photo booth. I announced "please take a pumpkin" to the remaining kids at the end of the line and they all exploded with excitement.

YYYYEEEESSSS FREE PUMPKINS! They swarmed the pile of around 30 pumpkins and made short work of it. One kid hauled away a pumpkin as big as he was.

I love how anything that's free is the best thing ever for kids.

Sheldon

@sysop408@sfba.social yesterday

Me when I start editing large photo shoots: There are some bits completely blown out in this photo. It'll be some work, but I can recover it in post.

500 photos later: the lighting in this one isn't absolutely perfect. Discard.

#photography

Three people dressed in red and white retro 1950's style fast food uniforms with pin striped aprons, red bow ties, and white and red paper hats. They've got on makeup to make them look like zombies. They're inside a building with large colorful abstract art murals on the wall and they're in the middle of doing a dance.

Sheldon

@sysop408@sfba.social 3 hr. ago

So... some #Halloween photos from the shoots that I did last weekend. This is a tiny sampling from my most physically challenging weekend of photography each year.

Here are four pics from my first of 3 back to back events over 2 days. This is a Trick or Treat in #Monterey, CA.

1/4

#photography

4 media files

A Latina teenager dressed as a ghoulish circus clown stands at a podium at a Mexican Taqueria waiting to seat guests. Behind her is a mural showing neon prayer hands with the words "In Tacos we Trust".

A small dog wearing a "Chucky" knife wielding costume walks down the sidewalk, flanked by another dog and a child on either side. The other dog is wearing a bandana around its neck that looks to indicate it's supposed to be a Minion. The child is dressed as a circus clown.

Three women in matching electric pink satin jackets look over their shoulder at the camera. They're facing forward, but turning back in a gaze. On their jackets are the embroidered words "The Pink Ladies." Behind them are two red VW Bugs with their front trunk opened to show Halloween decorations and buckets of candy for kids Trick or Treating.

Two women walk down the sidewalk in large transparent umbrellas that were decorated with lights, fabric, and glittering streamers to look like jellyfish.

Sheldon

@sysop408@sfba.social 2 hr. ago

After I do an afternoon shoot in Monterey, I have to rush back home to join a Thrill the World Zombie Crawl for a few hours. This is an annual event where people do flash mobs as dancing zombies who do a modified dance from the Michael Jackson Thriller Video.

There were 11 stops this year. I was able to get back in time to be there at every stop. I always stumble back in town with only a few minutes to change into my Plants vs. Zombies t-shirt, swap out batteries, and switch lenses.

This is probably the most fun thing I shoot all year, but it's also physically challenging and difficult to shoot because it's crowded, dark, and everyone is moving.

I absolutely love this event, but it takes so much out of me... first in shooting it and then with all the work to process and edit 1000+ shots.

2/4

#photography #zombie #thrilltheworld #zombiecrawl #flashmob

4 media files

Two zombies lurch forward covered in blood and guts. One is dressed as a airline captain wearing a white shirt, and very askew blue necktie, all spackled with blood. The other zombie is a woman wearing the yellow outfit Uma Thurman's character wore in the movie Kill Bill. She's screaming menacingly and she's also spackled with blood everywhere.

Four zombies lunge forward at the camera clawing at the air and screaming. Two of the zombies are mostly off camera so you mostly see their hands. The two zombies in the middle emerge through the chaos almost perfectly framed framed by the clawing hands around them.

Three women dressed as zombies perform dance moves inside of a dimly lit bar with lots of colorful ceiling lights. The center zombie has a turquoise dress and purple hair. Her purple hair is flowing all around her face as she spins and you can only see one eye peeking through her hair.

One woman sits on a leather bench as a male and two female zombies charge at her with their teeth bared and hands clawing through the air as they rush her seat. The male zombie has his hands on the bench and he's climbing over it to get to her.

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Chris Hessert

@chessert@mastodon.online 3 hr. ago

@sysop408

The jellyfish costumes are cool, and creative!

Sheldon

@sysop408@sfba.social 5 days ago

I was premature in celebrating getting through another Halloween hell weekend. It had an absurd ending because of course it did.

I get home exhausted after 8pm on Sunday. I'm completely wiped out and I seriously have to pee. Only one problem. My wife wasn't home and I can't get out of my costume by myself.

It was custom made to be skin tight. I've never even tried to get out of it by myself before, but maybe if I can nudge the zipper down a bit, lean back, and roll my shoulders I might be able to slowly wiggle out. Nice idea, but big nopes.

I'll have to ask a neighbor for help. Which one won't be freaked out by me showing up after dark needing help to undress, but also who would think it was the funniest shit ever that I show up late at night urgently trying to get out of a Spider-man outfit?

I ring the doorbell. He calls out suspiciously "WHO IS IT?"

I reply. He opens the door wearing only boxer shorts and a wife beater.

"Hey, got a weird request..."

He'll have a good story for the rest of the week.