FolklifeHalloween2014 is Underway!

The local art center invites community members to create ofrendas and other artwork.

Walker’s Point Center for the Arts Dia Figures by Daniel Baker.
Walker’s Point, a neighborhood in Milwaukee, WI, hosts the largest Dia de los Muertos celebration in the state. The local art center invites community members to create ofrendas and other artwork. The local art center invites community members to create ofrendas and other artwork. See it on Flickr!

FolklifeHalloween2014 is underway! This is the first day we’ve asked people to share their Halloween and Day of the Dead photos on Flickr with the tag #FolklifeHalloween2014. Of course, a few early birds had already begun to use the tag last week, like Daniel Baker, whose photo from 2009 is above. Others shared photos of early festivities this year. We thought it might be fun to share some on the blog for the official first day of the collection!

To recap the project, we’d like to see how people out there celebrate the cluster of holidays at the end of October and beginning of November: Halloween, All Souls’ Day, All Saints’ Day, and Dia de los Muertos. So we’ve asked you to share your photos of all these events with the tag #FolklifeHalloween2014, a Creative Commons License, and a brief description of each photo.

To see a detailed overview of the project, visit this blog post.

For simpler, step-by-step instructions, visit this post.

And now, to some more of the Early Bird photos. Here’s one showing a detail of an elaborate house display. I love the composition of this photo and the crazy angles of the ghosts:

Strolling Down Stockton St. (3) by Jacqueline Gaines
This is a display outside a home in the Historical District of Hightstown, NJ, which hosts some of the area’s most beautiful Victorian homes. Each year I make a special trip to enjoy and admire this person’s creativity. See it on Flickr!

Nothing says Halloween like a fall cemetery scene. Here’s one with our tag. No zombies, but you can’t have everything!

Peace Fall Resting by Dave Goodwin
Beautifully lit Fall cemetery scene in the backcountry of Shenandoah National Park. The photographer is Dave Goodwin, a Falls Church-based outdoor athlete and photography enthusiast. See it on Flickr!

Finally, here’s an untitled one uploaded by Martins Pond. Although we do want photos with a title and description, we couldn’t resist this monster taking a selfie. We don’t know if those glowing red eyes are part of the costume, or red-eye from the camera’s flash…but in this case, it’s a perfect detail in a very modern Halloween photo!

Untitled by Martins Pond. See it on Flickr!

Thanks to these photographers for getting us started wih the tag. We hope a lot more of you will begin contributing , now through early November. As we say in Social Media, “pics or it didn’t happen!”

One Comment

Polymath Newsberry
October 24, 2014 at 6:07 pm
Elves and goblins prowling. Gruesome faces are seen. If this scares you half to death, it is because it is Halloween…..

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