Joshua Hoffine is a world-famous horror photographer, renowned for painstaking practical compositions that capture the horror lurking inside a child’s imagination. The former Hallmark artist and wedding photographer is a Kansas native, growing up in Emporia and currently based in Kansas City.

Fangoria describes his work, which employs his family (including his daughters) and friends as models and crew, as “nothing short of jaw-dropping.”

If you dig what you see here, Hoffine sells prints through his website, joshuahoffine.com, and he’s beginning a Kickstarter fundraiser to raise money for his next ambitious horror photograph, called APPLE. He’s also recently completed a project for Famous Monsters Magazine called PICKMAN’S MASTERPIECE.

CaFE: Joshua, how did growing up in Kansas influence your work?

JH: I’m not sure that growing up in Kansas has influenced my work in any kind of direct way. My work is not very regional in nature. I am primarily concerned with universal ideas that we can all relate to.

CaFE: Do your consider your photography to be horror?

JH: Definitely.

CaFE: Your work is refreshingly full of practical setups rather than pure photoshop trickery. Do you do this to give you more control over your compositions or in hopes of the “happy accident?”

JH: I enjoy the process of staging everything practically, and I believe the approach yields more believable results. And yes – I’m always looking for the ‘happy accident’ that will make things better!

CaFE: As much work as goes into your staging, have you ever considered doing live installations that an audience can interact with?

JH: This has been suggested to me before, and I can understand why – but the photographer in me is very resistant to the idea. Everything I do is in service to the camera. I am not interested in creating an environment, as much as I am interested in creating a perfect moment.

CaFE: Do you shoot traditional film, or digital, and why?

JH: Digital. Cost is one factor, and the LCD screen on the back of the camera allows me to see what I’m doing. Back in the film days I would spend a fortune on Polaroid getting my lighting right.

CaFE: Many of your works feature kids in peril… so how’s that children’s picture book coming? LOL!

JH: Slowly but surely! Well no, not really a children’s book :) The book was originally going to just be about childhood fears, but my work has wandered in recent years, so now it’s all under the general umbrella of ‘Horror Photography’. Although I do have a couple of more child-centered images for the end of the series.

CaFE: Of your art contemporaries, whose work do you enjoy or look to for inspiration?

JH: I have some friends online whose work I enjoy and root for, including Travis Louie, Kris Kuksi, Drew Daywalt, and Chad Michael Ward – whose work I used as set dressing for a recent project of mine called PICKMAN’S MASTERPIECE.

CaFE: What was the stupidest thing you ever witnessed (no names, please?)

JH: I think I’ve forgiven or forgotten every stupid thing I’ve ever witnessed. I expect to make mistakes and fail all the time. The secret is to push through the error until you find the right answer and succeed. I like the William Blake proverb: “If others had not been foolish, we should be so.”

CaFE: I’m surprised you haven’t made the jump into motion pictures. Any plans to?

JH: I still have a ways to go on my book project, but I plan to make a movie when I’m finished. The movie is already written, and is based on the same ideas and iconography as my photography series.

CaFE: If someone is looking into becoming professional artist, what advice would you offer them?

JH: Follow your bliss, and don’t let anyone frighten you away from it.

CaFE: What is the one thing that you have never been asked in an interview that you wish someone would ask, and what would you answer?

JH: Do you ever consider abandoning the Horror genre in order to focus on making photographs based on stories from the Bible? And I would answer “Yes. Yes I do.”

And now, the Lipton 10! These questions were formulated by James Lipton for his television show Inside the Actor’s Studio.

1. What is your favorite word?

JH: Transcendence.

2. What is your least favorite word?

JH: Don’t.

3. What turns you on?

JH: My hot wife!

4. What turns you off?

JH: Cubicles.

5. What sound do you love?

JH: Heavy rain.

6. What sound do you hate?

JH: Alarm clocks.

7. What is your favorite curse word?

JH: Damn!

8. What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

JH: Cult leader.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

JH: Anything involving a hairnet or a name-tag.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

JH: You’re late!


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