Miroslav Parushev and Todd Duane Miller

Author Christian Hummel describes Halloween this way: It is a "time when the veils between the worlds were thinner, and so many could see the other side of life. A time in the year when the spiritual and material worlds touched for a moment, and a greater potential exists for magical creation". Las Vegas Photographers Todd Duane Miller and Miroslav Parushev get that and with a special take, as Las Vegas has more than it's share of unusual characters. So how do two high energy, and creative photographers make the most of the official, "Day of the Dead"? By packing up a studio and heading out to an obscure downtown parking lot to see what crawls out of the cracks. Todd and Miro firmly believe in letting the spirit of Halloween crash into the law of serendipity, and their "a-little-off-kilter work", Project Halloween prove it. Conveniently located within shouting distance of a haunted house, it didn't take much coaxing to get true believers onto the set. Perhaps it was, as Hummel writes, "The normal laws of space and time were held in abeyance during this time, allowing a special window where the spirit world could intermingle with the living", or maybe the dark creative whimsey of Miller and Parushev. Whatever it was that night, the Photographers saw it, helped it along, and ushered in a magical creation.

About the Artists: Miroslav Parushev, stuck in "Public Administration" University in Bulgaria, simply cannot stand it one more minute.Born into a lovely but non-artistic family, Miro stuffs his love for the visual arts as long as he possibly can. In his last year in University,Miro heads out to the USA, and buys his first camera. He is hooked, and while traveling the USA, stops, fascinated with Vegas. Before long his is entrenched in the Commercial Photography program at CSN . Relentless in his pursuit of artistic perfection, Miro cannot get enough of anything photographic. He is currently finishing up this degree while working on many other projects simultaneously. Project Halloween was Miro's brain child, one of the unending great ideas that will come from this charismatic young European. You can view his website at: www.parachue.com

Todd Duane Miller, an army brat as a child, ended up his adolescence in Wood River, Illinois. When his Dad died suddenly when he was 15, life started veering off course. His saving grace was finding a little manual 35mm camera, along with a set of Time/Life books in his Dad's stuff. Todd became obsessed with picture taking, and for the next several years would pour through those books, relishing anything that would help him become a better photographer, even taking advice from the guys at the film developing lab. Years later, after a series of empty, laborious jobs, Todd moved to Las Vegas with the love of his life, looking for a new start. He enrolled at CSN, and everything gelled at once for him. Todd is currently in his last stretch of education, an expert in HDR techniques, and always has that next trip planned in which he can expand his ever impressive portfolio. http://todd-duane.blogspot.com