Bursting balloons with water wig internet sensation Tim Tadder

Photography Monthly chatted to internet sensation Tim Tadder, who rose to fame with his unusual water wig photography.

What gave you the idea for water wigs?
We toss ideas around in the studio all the time. I’ve been shooting other water projects lately too. We liked the idea of water balloons, and we had this sound trigger to help create the effect. But we wanted to do something totally different that I hadn’t seen before. I thought using bald people would be cool since the explosion is so much like hair. So it just kind of evolved.

How did you go about setting up the shoot?
Well without giving away the exact setup, let’s say it involved a sound trigger, many helping hands, a stool set in a kiddie pool, and lots and lots of very thin, clear balloons in round and long shapes.

What did your models think and how did you find them?
We had the best models. Such good sports. I think they thought, 'Why did I agree to this?' Until they saw the finished images. Now they have the coolest Facebook profile pics ever. We found them everywhere. Our UPS delivery guy, a guy who works in our building, a couple are assistants of mine, and we also posted on an acting casting site.

Did you think it would become such a big hit?
No. We just had fun with it and I’m happy that it made so many people smile.

Did you take any video footage of the shoot?
No but I WISH we had.

How did you manage to do it without getting the balloon pieces in shot?
I don’t really know. In some of them, parts of the balloon are still intact. I think the balloons were just so thin and clear you can’t see them.

Did you have many failed attempts?
Thousands. This was very labour-intensive. We shot this over four nights and maybe got four good images a night.

What else have you been working on?
I’ve been working on commercial jobs pretty steadily since we did this, but I really want to try out Water Wigs with female models.

Here at Photography Monthly we’re very excited to see what Tim’s female water wig shots will look like, so stay tuned for more weird and wonderful water wig photography.

To see more of Tim's work click here.

Tim Tadder

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