25 Celebrity Portraits I Made At Wax Museums

Back in 2016, my wife, daughter, and I were vacationing in Los Angeles. Like many tourists, we were excited to see the Hollywood Walk of Fame. While we were wandering the boulevard, we stumbled across a couple of wax museums. They were eager to go in. Me? Not so much.

As a street and landscape photographer, wax figures just didn’t appeal to me. I was more interested in capturing the actual people outside—the tourists taking selfies, the street performers, the weird little moments that make cities pulse. But after some convincing (pestering), I agreed to go in.

My attitude shifted immediately. I noticed how strange and fascinating the lighting was. The stillness of the figures. The eerie way they mimicked life. I ended up photographing almost every figure in the place—and loving it. I was so into it, my wife and daughter finished the museum and waited for nearly an hour before they had to drag me out.

Since then, wax museums have become a must-do on our travels—not for them, but for me. It turns out, photographing wax figures is the perfect collision of illusion and reality. And photography? Well, it’s always been about that.

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