The Brisbane Zombie Walk runs through the CBD every year, drawing participants whose approach to the undead aesthetic ranges from face paint and fake blood purchased that morning to months of prosthetic makeup work that would not look out of place in a film production. The gap between these extremes is interesting — but the best photographs usually come from the committed end.
I came with a standard zoom and no flash, which meant accepting the limitations of midday CBD light in exchange for the depth of field that comes from being able to move close. The zombie makeup rewards close shooting — details that look like cartoon gore from a distance become genuinely uncomfortable at portrait distance.
On the makeup: The quality of zombie prosthetics has risen significantly since these events began. The woman in the zombie nurse costume — green contact lenses, a torn cheek, arterial spray on the Peter Pan collar — had clearly been worked on by someone who understood wound anatomy. The brain-holding redhead had built her costume around a consistent colour palette: everything was red, including her hair. That level of compositional thinking in a street costume is unusual and the camera responds to it.
On the Umbrella Corporation: One participant had assembled a full Resident Evil Umbrella Corporation tactical kit — body armour, helmet, rifle, radio, the patch — and walked the entire route in character. He aimed the rifle directly at my lens when I photographed him, which was the right call.
On the crowd: The Zombie Walk draws spectators as well as participants, and some of the most interesting photographs come from the edges — the contrast between ordinary Brisbane pedestrians and the undead mass moving through them. A woman eating a sandwich at a café table, watching a zombie clown walk past, looking neither alarmed nor particularly interested.
On exposure: The challenge at a midday street event is managing the contrast between the white of the zombie skin and the dark of the clothing. I exposed for the face throughout, accepting blown highlights on the occasional white shirt. The grain from pushing the shadows back slightly added something to the mood.