In celebration of that most lauded of holidays for costume freaks, Halloween, I must share the discovery of the eerily gorgeous photographs of Christopher Perez, from his Flickr set called Alternative History. 
In Christopher's own words: "Images gathered from across the Multi-verse. Exceedingly rare and difficult to find, these appear to be from the Ages of Victoria, Punk, Steam, Tribal, and Samurai. How they withstood the stresses of crossing the gaps between Ages in the Multi-verse may never be known, let alone understood."
Perez hails from that bastion of everything wondrous we call Portland, and has the good fortune of a seemingly endless supply of wicked and gorgeous characters for subjects.
Many featured in these images are from a performance troupe called Bogville Creature Features, a mysterious and enthralling host of miscreants who have thoroughly captivated my imagination. A visit to Portland to experience such splendor in the flesh seems imminent.
The Bogvillians seem to have been assembled by tribal steam enchantress NagaSita, of Serpentine fame.
Their makeup and costuming is impeccable, but Perez' eye for capturing essence and his meticulous embellishment of the portraits is what makes these brilliant.
He perfectly ensnares the souls of the characters, and as with much of the imagery that appeals to me, implies a fantastical story just beyond the frame.
We hope to lure Christopher down for the next Handcar Regatta, to set up a Photonic Capture Tent for more alluring portraits... but in the meantime ~ content yourself with inspiration from these lovely freaks. 
Find out more about Christopher's work on his blog or his Web site. And spookiest of All Hallow's Eves to you, lovely readers...
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3 comments:
Beautiful and provocative statements regarding this excellent artistic find. It's amazing how well this troupe and photographer integrate steam, tribal, Victorian/Edwardian, and Asian and perhaps Middle Eastern themes. Oh yes, the land of Portland - the golden city in my heart.
Most lovely and inspiring! I love the way each character in this group is so unique, with his or her own distinct look, yet the acid-etched photography style unifies all the portraits as well. Can't decide whether I like Eyelet or the Ancient Samurai best. Hrmm: striped tights and peacock-feather fan? Or goggles with a kimino? So hard to choose!
I love your blog, Choklit. so very imaginative and beautiful.
These are very kewl images...I especially like the piece by Eyelet V. Wayward. This lovely lady reminds of the pictures taken by Bellocq of the Storyville women.
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