Daughters of Darkness is the result of a twelve-year labor of love from Jeremy Saffer, one of the most iconic concert and celebrity photographers of our time. His lifelong love of Metal and all its sub-genres, specifically Black Metal as well as his mastery of lighting, have transformed a powerful collection of fine art female nudes in corpse paint into a coffee table book work of art in his first-ever coffee table book, Daughters of Darkness (Rare Bird Books).
In the evolution of his passion, Saffer’s photography of both models and musicians grew from the idea of producing a calendar 12 years ago, into being driven to this amazing body of work. Realizing that a third of his life had gone into perfecting his craft, he sought a publisher that would understand his goals and share his vision. After not finding that connection initially, Saffer was led to Rare Bird Books, which shared both his love of Black Metal and the vision he had for his book without hesitation.
The timing for Daughters of Darkness could not have been better. Saffer was able to review images from his vast collection of greater than 400 models to select the ones that were best suited to this final journey.
When you receive Daughters of Darkness and open it, it is evident that the collaboration between Saffer and Rare Bird Books is a successful one that produced a top quality collection of images meant to be displayed and not put on a shelf. Saffer’s mastery of the use of light on the posed female form is a welcome balance to the darkness of the corpse paint and overall imagery. The models in his work are powerfully portrayed without the use of props and are presented without much over-editing. The viewer is seeing the subject as an imperfect perfection which also highlights the other contrasts present here such as dark vs light, beauty vs beast, and femininity vs corpse.
Not satisfied to offer something just for your visual senses, Saffer goes a step further and also offers two LP’s of personally chosen Black Metal favorites from the vaults of the Season of Mist label. As the powerful imagery on vinyl covers initially inspired Saffer’s journey into photography, and ultimately this collection, he included music to complete the experience he wanted you to share.
Daughters of Darkness is available in several bundle options:
The Standard Edition bundle
The Bathory Edition bundle
The True Daughters of Darkness Deluxe Box Set
Purchase it at:
9 / 10
KIM HANSEN