What started your fascination with the horror genre?

I've always had a fascination with Gothic Horror ever since I watched one of the old Universal Horror movies featuring Frankenstein's monster.  With these old black and white movies, the producers didn't have CGI to rely on for providing us with the fear factor.  Instead they made use of creepy scenes like smoke filled graveyards and lighting that cast long eerie shadows.  It was a different world, one where our imagination ran riot and the unknown caused fear. 

Then along came my introduction to HAMMER HORROR and Christopher Lee as Count Dracula.  He was scary, but exciting at the same time.  I also loved the Gothic atmosphere that Hammer created with their films and I always longed for Christopher Lee to appear at the foot of my bed and take me away to become a 'vampbitch' from Hell.

Finally, my introduction to Mr Barlow the hideous vampire from 'Salem's Lot' as a young teenager was my first taste of true horror.  I cried myself to sleep as none of my sisters would let me share their bed with them and to this day, I can't sit or sleep in a room at night with the curtains open.  Even bare trees in winter that look like bony hands remind me of this film and it's true fear.

Recently, I put the film on for my 19yr old daughter thinking that she would laugh at it and mock me for being a wimp.  How wrong was I? 

The first scene that showed Mr Barlow with his yellow eyes and ugly mouth, hissing and screeching was enough for her to demand that I turn it off right there and then.

Most of my favorite films feature vampires and Dracula and when I was a teenager, me and a friend were going to trek to an old graveyard on a foggy night, simply because we were inspired to do so by such films.  We chickened out!

How about photography?  Do you remember your first photograph?

I don't remember my first photograph, but I do remember my uncle who dabbles in photography telling me how I had an eye for it. 

One day, I had the urge to photograph a childhood haunt of mine, which was a graveyard by the coast.  I have fond memories of this place and it's so quiet and peaceful.  I re-visited the graveyard and took lots of photographs to try and capture how I felt about it and at first I liked them and I got good feedback. 

I look back on them now and they're awful and don't have much atmosphere as they're simply snapshots.  Please refer to the 'Gravestones.jpg' image attached.

Your cemetery photographs capture the essence and the ethereal dark beauty of these places.... Why cemeteries?  What is it about them?

You've more than likely gathered that it's my love of Gothic Horror and my childhood haunt that inspires my cemetery photography? 

Cemeteries are such special places where those that have gone before us rest.  So much history can be revealed about the surrounding area from reading the headstones.  One interesting photograph I took titled 'Unfortunately Drowned' fascinates me as it's very old and it reads..

'All you that come my grave to see

Prepare yourselves to follow me

Repent in time make no delay

I was in my prime was called away'

To me, it's a message from the dead person buried below and I find it very spooky.  It's simply priceless to have something about yourself last for years and years after you're long gone and it leaves a lasting imprint on those that read the headstone.

I would like to be buried rather than cremated and I will have to have something similar on my headstone so that I will be remembered.

Another reason why I like photographing cemeteries is to record the headstones and imagery for future generations.  I hate with a passion when graveyards and cemeteries are uprooted to make way for development or to make parks.  Why do this? 

I think the majority of people who wished for burial would turn in their graves if they knew what had happened to their memorial above.  I think it's totally outrageous and it makes me very angry.

Have you ever captured anything other than gravestones and statues in your cemetery pics?

If I told you a couple of ghosts and that I had the proof, would you believe me?

Back in 2004 when I started taking photographs, I was reviewing some of the photos and I could clearly see two heads peeping out at me from over a tomb.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing and to this day I'm unsure as I'm such a skeptic.

I've revisited these tombs and although there is a father and son buried there, I think that it's the coloring of the tomb wall that gives the outline of the heads and the engraved letters that make the eyes.  There was also a large weedy plant and its stalk rises up and it is this that makes it look like two heads.

Ghosts or not?  You decide!

Do you photograph cemeteries only in your immediate area, or do you travel to other places?

Whenever I travel I'm always on the lookout for cemeteries and graveyards.  One day I will visit London as they have so many wonderful Victorian cemeteries and I long to visit these.  I bet I could spend a couple of days easy just taking photographs.

Recently I toured Romania and their graveyards are totally different from what we have over here.  Lots of wild flowers make the graveyards so colorful and the majority of headstones are metal crosses.

Tell us about your dark portraits.  Who are your subjects?  Do you offer this service to the general public?

Friends and my family are my subjects.  I often laugh as my photo album is like one that the Addams Family or the The Munsters would be proud to own.

Inspiration for my dark portraits stems mainly from the old Universal Horror movie posters that featured Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein's monster.  One image of my boyfriend Luke reminds me of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's Monster. 

I have to give credit here to my friend who is also called Amanda.  She loves posing for me and I don't think that it is obvious that many of the dark portraits are of her.  Amanda is also a fantasy artist in her own right and her work can be seen over at Deviant Art.  http://lamiafemina.deviantart.com/

I've not been lucky enough yet to have taken a dark portrait of a public person.  Perhaps people are scared of me revealing their inner demon?

I once took a photograph of my sister and it disturbed her that much that I'm forbidden to ever show it and she will never look at it again.

What does your family think of your love of horror?  Do they support your choice of genre?

My family don't really have anything to say about it.  My mother is a big fan of Stephen King and loves a good horror film.  She thoroughly enjoyed 'Wolf Creek' where as I had to turn it off as it was too much for me to handle.  I don't like gore and torture like that and I have only watched the first 'Saw' film and will not watch any others.

Are you formally trained as a photographer or are you self taught?

How much time do you spend on marketing your work?

Most of my spare time is spent marketing my work using Twitter although I don't spam my followers solely with news of my latest photography.  I think it is very important to engage with my followers and I hope that 'word of mouth' does the rest.  Other than Twitter, I rely on interviews like this to highlight my photography.

As I have a standard 9 to 5 office job, I only spend a couple of hours each evening and at weekends on Twitter.  I hope that one day I will make lots of money and I can then take up photography full time to provide an income.

What is your favorite horror film?

Arghhh, I hate this question as I have a few of them.

I love horror films that have lots of suspense and don't necessarily have lots of blood and gore.  You don't need special effects to invoke the fear factor and the films that I've listed below will hopefully show you what I mean.

Cujo by Stephen King

Absolutely terrifying with lots of scenes that make you jump.  I find myself on the edge wondering how the little boy and his mother are going to escape the rabid dog and the scene where the little boy looks as if he has died is heartbreaking.

Fewdio (We Create Nightmares)

If you're a horror fan and you haven't heard of Fewdio, where have you been?

These guys from LA are masters of fear inducing horror and they create short films roughly 2 minutes long that will leave you wanting more.

One of my favourite films of theirs is 'Bedfellows' written by Drew Daywalt.  If I was ever woken up in the night by a telephone call and realised that my boyfriend isn't the person lying next to me in bed, I'd die!

Check out Fewdio on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/Fewdiodotcom

And last but not least I will ask you, do you believe in ghosts and monsters?

I don't believe in God and I'm not religious, but, I do believe that there is something spiritual and I like to believe that life as it is now, is just one stage of a long journey of learning and development and I have a few experiences that support my belief.

Astral Projection

When I was a child, I used to lie face down on my bed and I would totally relax myself and I would then sink through the mattress and rest on the hard dusty carpet below.  If I heard someone approaching the room, I would be drawn back to my body in an instant.  Later on in my adult life I learned about Astral Projection and I believe that I could have been experiencing something similar.

Kenny

When my daughter now aged 19 was about 3 or 4 years old, she had an imaginary friend called Kenny.  I personally didn't think much of this, but I was slightly alarmed when I would hear her chattering away to him at 3am.  Her bedroom would always be a mess with toys everywhere.

One day, she started throwing temper tantrums when my boyfriend at the time would stop over.  He wasn't new in her life and he had been around since day one, but for some reason she started playing up.  One night, she came into my room and my boyfriend simply said, 'Kenny, go away!'

She immediately left the room and went back to bed.

I shit myself! (Sorry for the language, but I have to say it!)

My boyfriend then told me how he had seen Kenny peeping at him through the door that was ajar to the living room and he thought it was my daughter, but there was no way she could have got to her bed so fast by the time he had checked on her.

After this day and yes it could be my mind playing tricks on me, I used to see a black shadow out of the corner of my eye and when I looked, nothing was there.  The impression I got was of it being a little boy.

To cut a long story short, Kenny eventually disappeared as my daughter grew older and he never felt like a menacing threat.

In regards to monsters, I will leave you with a fascinating thought concerning the existence of vampires..

A vampire survives off the life-force of humans whether it's taken via blood or energy and a friend of mine suffers from a form of Narcolepsy.  She is woken by fear and paralysed and she 100% believes that she's attacked by a malevolent spirit and amongst this attack she feels a heavy pressure on her chest.  The following morning she is very lethargic and some say that this could be a psychic vampire travelling through the Astral Plane. 

If you would like to read about her experience visit my blog at http://blog.amandanorman.com/index.php/2009/08/05/victim-of-a-psychic-vampire-attack/

I have an open mind!

Horror & Gothic Collection - http://www.zazzle.com/mandy_norman*