The S’mores Sacrifice

Nostalgia is the sound of a crackling fire and the feel of a cool summer breeze as you warm yourself. You enjoy a smile while holding the perfect roasting stick you found during a late-night kindling hunt. As you rotate the marshmallow over the flames, you become entranced by the thought of that delicious first bite. Pay attention; you'll burn—too late!

I have had this idea for some time, and knew there would be some logistics to solve. When I sketched this out, I wanted to focus on lighting, especially the idea of a campfire in the distance and the feel of a campsite. I knew the characters had to be comically terrifying.

Dremeling Graham Crackers was a first for me and a lot of fun. For the look and feel of the characters and scenes, I took inspiration from the Pacific Northwest and Polynesian culture. (We also just got back from Hawaii.) I used the plastic graham cracker wrapping as the grass skirts. I almost filled the faces in black, but I loved how the light passed through the cutout, giving the cracker characters more life.

The set was constructed in the studio. My son (in the background) loved having the tent up and an open bag of marshmallows, of course.

While working on this piece, I wanted to challenge myself in post-production to clean the clip out and make the scene fluid from the foreground to the background. I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome and the challenges met. This image always brings a smile to my face.

Thanks for your time.

Breakdown:

Props-

1 graham crackers $2.79

1 6-pack of Hershey's Milk Chocolate $4.97

1 Marshmallows $1.29 (mistake to buy generic)

1 wood matches $1.59

TOTAL= $10.64

Lighting:

1 Broncolor 800L bare bulb with CTO doubled on a floor-stand

1 Broncolor 400L octo gridded overhead.

1 Brocolor 400L in the tent with a 1/2 CTB

1 2’x4’ shinny board

1 sweet homemade cucoloris (IYKYK)

fills and negs

Lens:

I only used my 50mm shot on a tripod.