I ASKED Marie Ponting and Robert Von Grey, of The Zombie Paparazzi: “For how long have you been fascinated by the past?”

“Since we got the time machine,” Robert dead-panned. Marie just smiled enigmatically.

Well, you never know: there’s a timeless look about them.

Suppose that, on leaving their artefact-crammed base near Kingshill after our interview and photo session, I’d stepped out into 1973 or 1981 or 1894?

I’d have been shocked, obviously... but not completely shocked.

That’s what you might call The Zombie Paparazzi Effect. Like a lot of the more unusual young Swindon companies, this firm offers clients something they’d be hard pushed to find anywhere else.

And that something is the chance to try the nearest thing to time travel that any of us can experience – and have their picture taken when they get there.

For a fee (of course), which is anything from around £50, the company goes along to weddings, parties and other gatherings, or even individuals’ homes, taking along all the equipment, clothing and assorted paraphernalia needed to produce photographs far removed from the ordinary.

Or, as Marie put it: “Like using a time machine, The Zombie Paparazzi likes to leap into the past, then bring it back to the future.”

The Zombie Paparazzi was founded by the firm’s Marie, 32, in October 2009.

She said: “My background is in graphic design, art direction and events promotions, and I studied photography at the University of Bath in Swindon.”

Marie’s work includes striking art direction and graphic design for local band Beatbullyz.

The company is also involved in local youth work, helping young people take their first steps on the skills ladder in fields such as photography and many other aspects of its work.

Robert, 35, was a DJ for many years, as well as having worked as an illustrator and fine artist. He began working in film and television seven years ago.

His projects have included advertising campaigns for, among other clients, the makers of Iron Man.

He was invited by Marie to join The Zombie Paparazzi as producer. The two are backed by a small team with a range of skills from photography to styling.

Clients can be catered for whether they want to be Victorians, Jazz Age partygoers, 1950s rockers, 1980s New Romantics or just about anybody from any period in between those eras.

And if another era doesn’t take their fancy, they can always try a complete alternative reality.

Zombies are a perennial favourite, for example, although the vampire look is also increasingly popular, no doubt thanks to the success of Twilight and its imitators.

For the Adver’s photographs, a sort of Steampunk look was chosen.

For the benefit of the uninitiated, Steampunk is an alternative history movement which imagines that steam power and the Victorian aesthetic never really went away.

It’s all very enjoyable and rather appropriate for Brunel’s old stamping ground.

Robert said: “We have a sense of fun – we get the best out of people. If people feel hassled, it’s not good, so we have a different approach to both formal and fun events.”

Marie added: “Photographers have to know how to solve composition problems in interesting ways. We try to be artists rather than straight technicians.

“You can go to a party and step into our world for a moment.”

The Zombie Paparazzi website is at www.zombiepaparazzi.co.uk or call 07793 754817.