Photo du Jour: Monster Prom

In high school, we all feel like monsters: self-conscious, abnormal, and frightfully, irrevocably hideous. With Monster Prom, horror photographer Joshua Hoffline captures teenage anxieties through the endlessly awkward ritual of prom. In the style of 1980s prom portraits, he captures Dracula on his very first date, his purple cheeks flushed and fangs obscured by braces. Like most prom dates, the boy vampire is both repulsive and endearing, a companion that is simultaneously sinister and reassuring. Like it or not, we are playfully—and painfully— thrust back into this absurd adolescent space of streamers, stars, and sweaty palms.

Monster Prom was commissioned by Sony UK and came to life with the help of special effects artist J. Anthony Kosar and makeup artists Nikki Moreno and Rod Zirkle. The artist’s young nephew took the role of Dracula, and his body was later composited with an ornate sculpture by Kosar. We certainly hope the little blood-sucker had fun!