Jun 14 2009Childhood Fears Recreated As Photographs

Joshua Hoffine is a photographer who recreates scenes of childhood fears. They are scary.
My images are not photoshop collages.I use photoshop to finesse details and to adjust color and contrast for printing.I use friends and family members as actors and crew.Everyone works for free. We do it for fun.
Wow -- I know one guy who's gonna be sleeping with his light on tonight. His fleshlight. God, I can't believe I even know what that is. No, no I'm not.
Hit the jump for several of my favorites, then hit the link for a bunch more.




Joshua's Porfolio
via
Childhood Fears [soothbrush]
Thanks to Sarah, who laughs in the face of fear and then calls it a little bitch.
Related Stories
Death By Plastic: Gallery Of LEGO Monsters (09/29/2009)
Scary: A Childhood Photo From The Future (04/23/2009)
Uh-Oh: Little Robot Can Jump 25-Foot Fences (09/16/2009)

Reader Comments
1. Tennist0 - June 14, 2009 3:22 PM
AHHHH...at least he didnt show any bacon burning...thats the real nightmare!
2. Rish - June 14, 2009 3:24 PM
That's freaking awesome!
3. bendizle - June 14, 2009 3:24 PM
JESUS!!!!! i thought i saw a pedobear running around
4. Captain - June 14, 2009 3:24 PM
Must See!!!
http://captain-hash.mybrute.com
--------------------------------------------
5. Mary-Jane - June 14, 2009 3:24 PM
Scary! But kinda cool!!! XD XD XD
6. ExZ - June 14, 2009 3:26 PM
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
7. Muppet - June 14, 2009 3:30 PM
Christ alive - the guy behind the door in the last one is terrifying but I jumped a MILE when I noticed the head in the fridge.
Ughh.
8. great fix - June 14, 2009 3:31 PM
good fixins
9. paul - June 14, 2009 3:38 PM
@7 "...the guy behind the door in the last one..."
I think if you look closely you'll notice it's female. :P
10. 3.14chan - June 14, 2009 3:41 PM
OLD! I remember this from 3 years ago.
11. chimp - June 14, 2009 3:43 PM
the last one just looks like a bald naked pedophile... a totally uncool type of monster.
the gollum one wins.
12. Heather (on vacation!) - June 14, 2009 4:28 PM
This. Rules. It has been decreed.
13. Logos - June 14, 2009 4:30 PM
Aww! The hands in the first one spelled out "Daddy" with the blocks. That's so cute!
14. Truk - June 14, 2009 4:49 PM
@13 -It says "Daddy No" making it extra creepy and maybe a little too telling about the artist.......
15. Yeags - June 14, 2009 4:50 PM
This is just wrong! It's giving me horrible flashbacks! Nooo, it's going to eat me! Ahhhhh!!!! lol, I feel sorry for the little girl. I'm sure she's going to have some pretty intense nightmares after all those photo shoots.
16. GINORMAGANTUAN - June 14, 2009 4:54 PM
hmmm...... i thoguht kids were afraid of the monsters in the GW's pants!!!!!!
17. supernova_hq - June 14, 2009 5:03 PM
403 Forbidden :(
Anyone got a working link?
18. RandomNigel - June 14, 2009 5:30 PM
Interesting concept.
Failure of a photoshop job.
19. birdman - June 14, 2009 5:37 PM
^i agree, also she could/should have made it scarier/darker
20. Jim - June 14, 2009 6:25 PM
Crazy stuff to say the least. However, I wouldn't want my little girl seeing this type of imagery... let alone taking a part in them.This guy must be one sick phuck to subject a little girl to this. Hope he plans on paying for therapy when she grows up!
21. jaketales - June 14, 2009 6:46 PM
SO WHAT IF IS OLD, UH?? SO WHAT
I NEVER SAW THIS IN MY LIFE, IF IT WASNT FOR THE DEAREST GEEKOLOGIE WRITER I WOULD HAVE NEVER COME ACROSS MANY, MANY MANY THINGS YOU PEOPLE SAY "OLD BLABLABLA"
i just GET FED UP that everyone likes to tell the geekologie how this is either stupid because is old, or somehow he is supposed to KNOW every LITTLE thing in the internet,
Well this is the first time i see it
so THANK YOU SO MUCH GEEKOLOGIE writer :)
22. Lmega5 - June 14, 2009 7:09 PM
i genuinely like the idea behind this art....although, the artist should have made one with the monster in the closet....that's always been a big one.
23. Stuey - June 14, 2009 7:10 PM
@20, being in the image and participating and seeing its is not real and set up and people they know dressed up isn't as scary as the image conveyed.
Hey geekwriter, I know what a fleashlight is, YEAH YUHHH
24. Adam - June 14, 2009 7:16 PM
So, how much counseling will this girl need now
25. Aaron - June 14, 2009 7:49 PM
The guy under the stairs... exactly what I was always haunted by, and looks like my estranged uncle
26. Daisy - June 14, 2009 8:09 PM
FAKE!!!!
This is a complete photoshop job. You can tell its a fake because the shadow's are all wrong.
This is exactly like that scene in the movie NEver Back Down where MAx found he was living in a haunted house because Baja could here the spirits in the TV when it was between channels. He almost got drowned in the swimming pool that was being dug, and the tree by his bedroom window came alive. It turns out the development was sityuated over a graveyard, and the developers saved money by moving the headstones, but leaving the bodies.
27. naas - June 14, 2009 8:21 PM
The refrigerator drawings on the last one are so insane, so craaaazy man
28. Stuey - June 14, 2009 9:17 PM
GAY Daisy, gay
29. GLADIATOR - June 14, 2009 10:22 PM
A MONSTER UNDERNEATH MY BED WAS MY FEAR AS A KID ...
MY OTHER FEAR WAS A MONSTER UNDERNEATH THE BASEMENT STAIRCASE.
THE THOUGH STILL GIVES ME THE HEEBIE JEEBIES
*
*
*
Come and join the short and easy game mybrute:
http://burpnassker.mybrute.com
The game takes less than 5 minutes to play!
30. Alex - June 14, 2009 10:33 PM
hahaha ...it's not true ..Movies ...God bless
31. Jiakasuma - June 15, 2009 12:15 AM
OLD!
32. Sarah - June 15, 2009 1:19 AM
Seriously, she needs to make the one of the monster in the TOILET. I was always ALWAYS afraid that there would be a shark/alligator or something that was going to crawl up the drain of the toilet and BITE MY BARE BUTT!!! My all time childhood fear!
33. Dominuse - June 15, 2009 2:37 AM
Could you PLEASE change the policy from:
"promotional comments may be removed"
to:
"promotional comments WILL be removed".
Hey Gladiator - go flog your tired shit somewhere else for a change.
34. Nikki - June 15, 2009 3:34 AM
@22 if you go to the actual page he does have a monster in the closet one??
Also, everyone making comments on the page about the child being nude need to SHUT THE HELL UP. People with any knowledge of art see nudity in itself art. The child being nude definitely is symbolic of her vulnerability and the fact that we come into this world naked and with nothing to hide behind.
Anyways, I think some of the monsters could have been done better. The monster in the closet one is AWESOME.
35. Sarah's Nightmare - June 15, 2009 3:59 AM
@32, I'm w/ ya on that one. The toilet fear was a big one as a kid.
Check out the links to some of the other photos. There are just as good & better. Clowns, closets, spiders.... yeah. Spiders. And your mother being eaten alive from within by....
Just check it out.
36. Tom - June 15, 2009 4:42 AM
@18 & 19 - Get on with it then, do a better one and get it featured on here. No? Then shut the hell up :)
@26 - Come on, really?
37. Gary Glitter - June 15, 2009 4:43 AM
Damn, it looks like he took a snap of me under the stairs. Never mind at least he didnt show what happened afterwards...
38. Cindy - June 15, 2009 6:04 AM
hahah ..looks funny .
more details: http://www.led-screen.org
39. Lyanna - June 15, 2009 6:51 AM
this is such a great idea !
hm... *think* guess i will try to make also fotos in this style :D
40. Gordon "Fücking" Shumway - June 15, 2009 7:17 AM
@21
Welcome to Geekologie. Now STFU!
41. $.02 and a pocket full of FAH-Q - June 15, 2009 9:43 AM
I am officially creeped out now. Thank you.
42. Butter Knife - June 15, 2009 10:10 AM
OMG!!! I has that same lamp!!!
We all know this little girl summoned these creatures.
Evil bastard.
43. Stryke - June 15, 2009 11:06 AM
Wow. When you go to his portfolio, you see the really disturbing pictures. I believe i am going to have nightmares now. lol
44. DrNecropolis - June 15, 2009 12:23 PM
I can't wait till I have kids. Then I'll hide fake monsters around the house and pretend I can't see them. It'll be great
45. Quik - June 15, 2009 1:57 PM
Yeah, the photos on his page are much worse. The closet one is good.
Definitely put me off my lunch.
46. Boogeyman King Dong - June 15, 2009 3:36 PM
I just wanted to grab some candies! But these weren't candies!
47. Daywo - June 15, 2009 8:52 PM
LOL, but they forgot to add the one when you run down on Christmas morning and the one gift you wanted you didn't get.
48. boo - June 15, 2009 10:03 PM
I actually adore this art~
It's really creative! The one with the cockroaches everywhere and the one with the spider on the child's stomach are my favorite.
49. Jaded Icon - June 16, 2009 8:08 AM
Not gory, but concentrated on fable terrors.....hmmmmm....I like it.
50. The Envoy - June 16, 2009 9:43 AM
One more would be the monster out of the side of your eye while your brushing your teeth in front of the mirror.
51. Quik - June 16, 2009 10:16 AM
What about the storm drain monster. Just thought of that one last night while walking past a storm drain in New Orleans, where there probably was some form of monster.
52. the man - June 16, 2009 1:52 PM
wow i think i shat my pants looking at this stuff. wow i loved the one with the spiders coming out of the mothers mouth when she's holding the baby it was wicked creepy oo
0 spider spider spider spider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spiderspider spider spider
53. bazzy - June 16, 2009 6:53 PM
The girl is far scarier than the spider in pic #4...
54. bob - June 16, 2009 10:03 PM
that iz frekin awsome
55. Breakup Makeup - June 17, 2009 12:18 AM
More!!!!!!
http://www.BreakupMakeup.com
56. HarryHorror - June 18, 2009 3:07 AM
Reminds me of the kind of scary stuff that FEWDIO does. Only Fewdio does them in short films - same horror canon though.
Great stuff!
57. HarryHorror - June 18, 2009 3:07 AM
oops i should post this too in case youre curious
www.FEWDIO.com
:)
58. everything is RENT!!! - June 18, 2009 4:16 AM
wow this is creeeeepy......
59. Brandon - June 18, 2009 1:41 PM
And in other news, WWII is finally over!!!
I'm not one to usually do this, but.... this is very very very outdated news. :/
60. Amanda - June 18, 2009 2:46 PM
The monster hiding under the basement stairs...I'm still terrified of this. For some reason I'm convinced he will be waiting there and slash my Achilles heels (a la Hostel) and my feet will stay planted whilst my body tips forward down the stairs.
61. Dawid Ryba - June 18, 2009 7:19 PM
Really creeeeepy...... I want More!!!!!!
62. honda - June 18, 2009 8:49 PM
the 3rd pic was the only relatively creepy one.
It looks like its waiting to grab you by the ankles, and pull you behind the stares. other than that, meh..
63. Bobcatt122 - June 20, 2009 6:33 AM
Brings back memories!!! EEEeeeek!!
64. BI - June 24, 2009 3:21 PM
Whats with all the little blond girls? I guess minorities and boys never get scared huh? :)
65. manders - June 29, 2009 1:54 PM
As soon as I saw this, all my childhood fears come flooding back.....thanks. Especially the guy under the stairs
66. STOMPY - June 29, 2009 8:22 PM
So Freakin Cool
67. Hellian - June 30, 2009 2:06 PM
I know this photographer fairly well. His sister and I were very good friends in high school and we roomed together in college. Josh is a wonderfully talented artist and he excels in not just photography but in other artistic medias as well. For these photographs, he utilizes Photoshop only to bring out some of the details and to slightly enhance the coloring for the prints. Which he explains on his website. 99% of the photo is exactly as it was shot without enhancement.
As for the little girls in the photos, they are his daughters and they're perfectly fine. Most of the subjects in the photos are either good friends or they're family members. They all have great fun during the shoots and love being a part of the work.
His sister has been so kind as to show me some of the "behind the scenes" photographs and underneath all the gory makeup and despite the dismal backdrop, you can see that everyone laughing and genuinely having a blast. The "behind the scenes" photos are stangely surreal with people dressed up as monsters in the night laughing with the kids they're supposed to be scaring. It's wonderful.
I've been watching Josh's work since high school (I'm 30 now) and his art only gets bolder, gutsier, and more exquisite every time a new piece is released. What's in store for us next? Lord...I don't know but I can't wait to see it.
68. توبيكات ماسنجر - August 2, 2009 10:38 PM
the 3rd pic was the only relatively creepy one.
It looks like its waiting to grab you by the ankles, and pull you behind the stares. other than that, meh
69. Rachel - August 12, 2009 8:26 PM
This oddly reminds me of a Tool Video. Nice stuff.
70. Doooo O_O - October 10, 2009 4:57 PM
OK all of those, = SCARY o.o