Under the Influence Research - Lucy Yeates

Joshua Hoffine

https://www.joshuahoffine.com/

Joshua Hoffine is an American photographer known for his staged horror photographs that explore childhood fears and the darker aspects of the imagination. Hoffine blends multiple photographs to create seamless, hyperrealistic scenes that feel both cinematic and unsettling. Hoffine often constructs elaborate sets, using actors, costumes, and props, which he later enhances in Photoshop. This allows him to push the boundaries of realism, creating photographs that resemble film stills rather than static images. His use of lighting, shadow contrast, and saturated tones gives each composition a heightened sense of tension and atmosphere.

Hoffine’s images are characterized by their careful composition and narrative clarity. Works from his series “After Dark My Sweet” (2003–2010) demonstrate his skill at directing the viewer’s gaze through the use of light and spatial arrangement. Whether a child hiding under a bed or a figure lurking in the background, each element contributes to telling a story. Hoffine often uses low camera angles and deep focus to create a sense of immersion, as if the viewer were inside the nightmare. His color palettes typically feature muted browns, greens, and grays, punctuated by warm highlights, evoking the visual tone of classic horror films.

I especially love this type of work because it explores fear as a shared human experience. He draws inspiration from fairy tales, horror cinema, and psychological archetypes, often using children as protagonists to emphasize the vulnerability and intensity of early emotional experiences. His photographs balance theatricality and realism, forcing viewers to confront their own subconscious anxieties. In my project, I plan to extend Hoffine’s techniques by experimenting with compositing to merge fantasy and reality. Using Photoshop layers and color grading to build surreal scenes that explore the theme of memory and distorted perception, I want to create images that feel both familiar and haunting.