Photographer Kristin Gallegos breaks down 5 It girl-starring, Italian cinema-inspired photos from her new book, ‘Eight Dolls for an Autumn Moon’

Kristin Gallegos has long since been enamoured with a bygone era. I have always been obsessed with the 60’s and 70’s,” she says. “The movies, the music, the clothes, the beauty.” In fact, the Los Angeles-based photographer appears to have stepped straight from a French New Wave film with her heavy black curtain bangs and kohl-rimmed eyes. So when she gave up a successful career as a makeup artist to pursue photography, it only made sense to draw inspiration from the aesthetically pleasing past. Now her latest film still-like images, starring her close circle of muses, have been collected into a new book, Eight Dolls for an Autumn Moon.

Published by Copenhagen’s Snap Collective, the book is inspired by Italian giallo films from the 1960s and 1970s – an imagined feature that Gallegos may have directed had she lived in the time from which she draws her inspiration. Every detail of each image is realised by the photographer herself. “I style all of my personal work, including this book, with clothes out of my own closet,” she says (in this case, however, she relinquished hair and makeup duties to another artist). “Everything is from my personal vintage archive. Even my home is very late 1960s, early 1970s space-age design. I am living in this world, and I guess I am my own muse in a lot of ways.”

Cast in Gallegos’ book are model Ashley Smith, actor Paige Elkington, and DJ Alix Brown (among other aesthetically pleasing, recognisable faces). For Gallegos, capturing each image is creative and casual – a matter of friends hanging out and making something beautiful together. “I love it when they have good instincts and can really bring themselves into the story and give me something I didn’t already think of,” she says. “All of the people in this book really brought something special to each of their characters. Most of them are also actors, so that helps a lot with a project like this.”

Given that the book is published in Denmark, a couple of copies will be housed in the Danish Royal Library, an honour for the photographer, even though she’s never visited the country herself. “Now I have a big reason to go,” she says.

Below, Gallegos breaks down five indelible images featuring five stunning muses from Eight Dolls for an Autumn Moon.

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“Paige and I have shot together many times over the years. But it had been a long time since we collaborated, and I really wanted her to be a part of this project. She is not only a great model but a great actress which was pretty vital for this storyline and especially her vignette. I also cast each woman based on my favourite actresses of the Giallo genre, and she most resembles Susan Scott (also known as Nieves Navarro), who starred in many of my favourite Giallo films that inspired this book. In this shot, she is arriving at her building to meet her boyfriend but feels like she is being followed.”

“I met Ashley when she was about 18 years old in NYC when I was still a makeup artist. We have been good friends since then. I have shot her a few times, but I have never had her in one of my big personal projects. And I knew she would be so wonderful as this character and she was amazing! Her character is inspired by Swedish actress Anita Strindberg. We had a jam-packed day of shooting, starting at a photo studio and shooting with another star of the book, Cora Keegan. The two characters had a crossover. And then we packed it all up and ran over to shoot at the brutalist and futuristic Los Angeles hotel The Bonaventure, which is a perfect movie set. In this shot, she is meeting another character and getting ready to blackmail them.”

“Alix is one of my closest friends and earliest muses. I can’t imagine doing this project without her. Out of everyone in this book, she truly already looks like a character from these films. Her character is inspired by the gorgeous Marisa Mell. She reminds me so much of her, so it was a no-brainer. Aside from that, like me, Alix already has a vast knowledge of this genre, the actresses, the music etc. So it was really fun working with her on this. She was one of the few people I would bounce ideas off of, and I really trust her opinion.

We started off by shooting with this incredible 1972 Porsche 914 courtesy of Steven Vartanian. It is the exact model of the car that was used in The Red Queen Kills Seven Times one of the films that inspired this whole project. From there, we shot at the legendary Theme Building at LAX, which was thrilling. I have seen that building my whole life, having grown up in the LA area, but I have never been that close up. In this shot, she is in her car, ready to head to the airport to skip town.”

“Coco is an old friend from New York as well. She is such a lovely person and one of the first people I took photos of when I first started shooting. I hadn’t worked with her in years, and it was important to me to have women in this book who not only inspired me but also had a history with me and were good storytellers, which Coco is. She is also a mom of two! She was pregnant with her son during this shoot. It was really special to reconnect and work together again. She was inspired by Brazilian actress Florinda Bolkan. In this shot, she is reading a newspaper reading about a murder.”

“I met Cora on a shoot in NYC a long time ago when I was a makeup artist. She has become a dear friend and one of the models I have shot most over the years. I also lived with her when I first moved to Los Angeles. She can really transform into any character and is down for anything. She is always so much fun to collaborate with. Her character was inspired by another Giallo icon, Barbara Bouchet, who is the leading lady in this dream Giallo movie of mine. She plays the photographer who is desperately trying to solve the mystery to save the other characters who are models she works with and also her close friends from impending danger. In this shot, she is seen holding a magnifying glass. She had made prints in her darkroom of photos she took of Alix’s character. She is looking for some clues.”

Eight Dolls for an Autumn Moon is now available for pre-order.