, we brought you a look at photographed Adam Jay’s incredible Spider-Man themed photo shoot that featured model Freddie Nova under attack by the Venom symbiote. As it turns out, the project was the brainchild of artist Carlos Blanchard of Rage Custom Creations who also created a similar, Mary Jane Watson-themed take on the same costume with model Alexia Jean Grey and photographer Max Cookie Powers.
“Adam Jay, Max Cookies Power, Alexia Jean Grey, and Freddie Nova did and amazing job bringing my vision of this shoot to life and showing two completely different perspectives, which I am proud to have been a part of.” Blanchard tells us. “I may have come up with the concept and did the Latex paint on both models, but they all put so much effort and passion into this, that regardless of my contribution, it was them who made this work.”
Blanchard, a professional costumer, works primarily with high-end female costumes and props and, among his many other works, created the Chestburster Corset that you can see below (and purchase through his Etsy store.
“[W]hile sitting around one evening working on a commission, an idea for a Spider-man based costume was bouncing around in my head,” Blanchard says of the origins of the Venom shoot. “I was trying to think of how it would be possible to do it in a manner that’s not been seen yet and latex jumped into my head. From there, the progression to what you see in the shoot didn’t take long… I spoke about it to Alexia first since she is a great friend of mine, and she loved the idea, but having worked with Adam so many time, and wanting to get more experience with other photographers, suggested that she wanted to do it with Max, which of course you have seen the results of that shoot, which are amazing.”
The second set of photos, featuring Nova and photography by Jay followed shortly thereafter, offering more of a Gwen Stacy angle to the whole affair.
“Adam and I have collaborated and worked together on several projects,” Blanchard continues, “and I am proud to say that we are also great friends. We went to work creating a story line that would take the viewer of the pictures on a journey into the darkness that would be felt if they had been infected by the Symbiote. This is why, if you look at the pictures in the series, you will notice that the first few are very bright and they then gradually grow darker until she is fully consumed and the images are just black… Freddie Nova took on the challenge of being our victim (in more ways than one) for this shoot, and I have to mention that she was just amazing to work with. Alexia endured the process of being covered in the Latex paint, but hers was just a full body from the begining, whereas with Freddie, we did a progression shoot where little by little she was taken over by Venom. We all had a blast doing this, but I am certain that she covered up the misery of being painted for so long, all the while keeping a great sense of humor about her. To give you an Idea, we started the process at 7pm, and didn’t finish till 3am. The pictures are testament that it was all to create something that no one had ever seen before. To take costume photography into the world of art, and feature it in a way that would be worthy, and honor the creators of the character, which I hope we have achieved.”
Unfortunately, Facebook has been citing and removing some of the symbiote photos from the most recent shoot, but you can check them out in our gallery by clicking the image below:
