In an age where we truly need to cling to simple pleasures and the things that make us happy, it’s as good a time as any to release Daughters of Darkness, a gorgeous, glossy, full-color coffee-table book featuring models in corpse paint, out via Rare Bird. We spoke with author Jeremy Saffer about the process behind the book and the long, fluid process that brought it to life.
“When I first got into metal, the first band I knew was Cradle of Filth, and then I started to get more into black metal from there,” explains Saffer. “Then I started getting into Immortal, more bands with corpse paint, and I started going to the record store, and I’d flip through the albums, see cool logos and either nature scenery, a naked woman in the cold, corpse paint, or something like that. That’s how I discovered so many black metal bands, just going through records and seeing what looked appealing.”
Like many metalheads, Saffer found a way to join his passion with metal with his day job of photography. Soon, he was shooting both fine art magazine covers and metal shoots or album covers. Still, the two things existed in different worlds, not understanding each other.
That all changed 12 years ago, when Saffer worked with a clothing brand that wanted to go for a hardcore or metal look in their branding. They decided to feature a woman in corpse paint on a shirt design using a professional model painted up for the shoot. From there, Saffer was hooked on the marriage of the beautiful to the macabre, and couldn’t get enough of shooting models in black metal makeup. Since then, he’s shot over 400 models from around the world wearing corpse paint.
“It’s cool because all the models are huge fans of black metal, some of the models came to the project because they were fans who saw the initial stages and hit me up,” he says. “A lot of them are people who normally don’t model or don’t model in this capacity, but they are in the book because they are either fans of my work or black metal, which is awesome. And there are models who shot for this 12 years ago and haven’t seen any of the photos, because I kind of kept a tight lid on the project, and now they’re so excited to see it.”
He also made sure to incorporate plenty of the metal world that inspired the book into its pages.
“We
have Dani Filth [of Cradle of Filth] who wrote the forward, which is awesome
because his band inspired so much of the art that’s in the book,” Saffer
explains. “The book contains over 250 models ranging from musicians, actresses,
and friends, all wearing nothing but the corpse paint. And the cool thing is, a
lot of the models did their own corpse paint.”
Although the book is already out, Saffer and his partner are immunocompromised, and are taking the time to be safe and careful, keeping their distance during the pandemic surge. His plan is to check in online and do Q&A sessions and signings, and then to eventually do gallery showings. He has also started shooting corpse paint again for the inevitable Volume II. Fans of his work can expect more soon.
For more information, visit Saffer’s online store here.
