Interview with Team Sinister

What was your first experience with horror and what impact did it have on you?

Missy Poison:  My first experience with horror was at the age of 10 when i was allowed to watch Nightmare on Elm Street by a babysitter, I was so mesmerised by what was going on and extremely afraid but clearly not afraid enough because it became the one film i wanted to watch from then onwards, I very moved on to Cannibal Holocaust which i was told i was allowed to watch to actual frighten me

into not ever wanting to watch another horror again...that didnt work, so I see it as having a great positive impact on my life even as a child. I knew from a very early age that it wasnt real and to not be afraid of the things that go bump in the night.

Where do you get inspiration for your photos?

Inspiration for us comes from all sorts of sources, not just horror. I am inspired by beauty and make it my mission to make it dark and sinister looking so people can use their imagination to see the beauty in the darkness of the world.

Movies inspire you very much. If you were to name the three most beautiful horror films of all time, what would they be?

Nightmare on Elm Street is top of the list….not only did it mark the start of a beautiful relationship with horror for me but looking back now the idea of having a man who is actually able to drag you into his comfort zone, torment and torture you in your dream and kill you was definitely something very different and original.The Excorcist is another top 3 for us, again its one of those iconic films that at the time of release it was different and original and controversial.

Our third has to be House on Haunted Hill the original Vincent Price, it has inspired us to not only shoot a great set of images from it but it also gives us inspirational material for our photography and video work.

What do you want to convey with your pictures and what you feel when you create one of your own work?

Our own work conveys our love for all horror genres, not only do we pay tribute to all the films we love but we do it with raw emotion, we are not afraid to go above and beyong to be able to show our passion for it all. The one thing neither of us are afraid to do is get as dirty as bloody or look as menacing and not look at all pretty doing what we do. We do whatever it takes to produce even if just one image that invokes emotion in the fan. When we are able to create our own concepts and storyboards and receive a positive response from our fanbase its an amazing feeling to know that

our work is loved as much as the work of actors that we love and look up to.

What do you think is your trademark?

Our trademark is being able to show the emotion even through our photography work, we pride ourselves in being the best at what we do, from our trailers to our images. we are known for producing story boards, as people flick through our images they see us tell a story not just two girls covered in blood trying to look mean or evil. We are known as the evil twins and individually have created two very different characters, the iconic vampire and werewolf with a real life, real dilemas and human traits so that people can actually relate to.

What do you think of censorship in art? It has ever involved you?

We made the decision to shoot what we believe are beautiful nude images covered in blood, as our tribute to the sexy gore on the big screens, we have branded our images as blood porn because we knew that the hardcore horror fan appreciates the gore in the images but the no so horror loving fan would only see the nudity. the positive outweights the negative and for us rolling around in (fake) blood is great fun and we have proved it makes for great images so we dont plan on stopping any

time soon.

We understand that there is a place for nudity and its not to everyones taste but as models we see the beauty in everything and dislike the censorship in art because of the narrow mindness of the human population.

What do you think of blood and violence applied to photography? It is a growing phenomenon, but not everyone likes it.

We know the blood and violence is not to everyones taste but its something we do so we are of course very anti negativity when told its wrong and its delivering the wrong message. I was told before watching Nightmare on Elm Street that none of it was real and that has stuck with me until this day...i became aware that violence was real and it existed but us holding an axe and delivering a story board to our fanbase does not make us maniacs, it is all a whole load of fun and no different to people believeing that when we are shooting a pin up set and i am baking a cake for the sake of that

specific concept i have all of a sudden turned into a rockabilly loving housewife. I like slashers and they inspire a lot of our violent concepts, i believe the hardrcore fan will always want to see more and that is one thing we will continue delivering.

You have worked well with many bands. It's a different kind of photography, or do you apply the same standards of photography for advertising?

As well as models we are also photographers and have not only been published in music magazines but we have work in tattoo magazines, the horror publications and coverage online from events we have attended, for us its knowing our trade and understanding that we cant just focus on shooting it all the same way. Before we work on any project we sit, study and put together a plan on how to do

it so we feel organised and comfortable taking on a band or a model. the focus shifts depending on the project and to work with band the focus is to be able to show off not only their talent but to take the rawness of show especially live to their fans.

Can you give some advice to aspiring photographers and models, who are reading and would like to follow your path?

We get asked all the time what we do and what we do is WORK HARD, it is a dream to be able to be involved in some great projects but it is also extremely hard to juggle some normailty, steady income and to be able to deliver images of extremely high standards to all the publications that want our work, to the models wanting to be published and to find the time to work on all our concepts.

The assumption that a model just turns up to a photoshoot and looks pretty for a few hours and walks away with a whole load of money is a load of crap, unless you are a supermodel thats not real…..and its the same for the photography, we would love to be able to just take a picture, upload it and send it to the model...sometimes we can but what happenes to the hours we spend editing and preparing those images for a magazine or to send back to the model, people very quickly forget

about how much time it takes to do it all.

If its something that people want to do be prepared for it consume all your free time, to put in 100%

at all times no matter how bad of a day you are having, and never give up.

Can you give us a preview about your future plans?

We have amazing projects coming soon, and one of our goals was to be able to trade our official merchandise, prints and to meet the fans at a convention in 2015, we have worked hard enough to be able to deliver that this year and on the 14th of December marks the first of our meet and greets at the London fetish fair. One of the things we are both very excited about is being given the opportunity to take over a whole issue of Malevolent Magazine in January, the editor has very

kindly allowed us to showcase 12 storyboards and a Team SYNister editio of the magazine will release to horror fans at the start of a brand new year. We have plenty more to come including short movies releasing on our you tube channel.

As much as we love the photography side of what we do, we are both ready to take on a whole load more film work so for us 2015 marks the start of even more EVIL twin fun and we will be able to attend even more conventions and continue sharing our love for all things dark.

All images of Missy Poison taken by Luna Wolf 

All images of luna wolf taken by Missy Poison SYNfullysweet photography