descent into the cave of the rabbit

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Karma Bunny

Seeing Friends at the Shore
by Larry Knox ©2013 All Rights Reserved

On the Brink of War
by Larry Knox ©2013 All Rights Reserved

Bad Karma Bunny!
by Larry Knox ©2013 All Rights Reserved

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Insect Life

The Nightly Visitor

How the West Was Undone

The Dream Smoker

The Agony of Rebirth

Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Secret Life of Trees

The Universe and the Void

Living with the Past

Memories of and Empty Sky

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Garden of Dreams

Flowering Vision
©2013 by Larry Knox All rights reserved.

Memories of an Empty Sky

The Infinite Potential of a Rain Drop

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Into the Abyss Willingly

Into the Abyss Willingly

Still Life with Carbon

The Purging of Memories

The Excavating of Residual Neuronetics

The Alchemist's Dream: Through the Heavens and into the Transcendent Realm

Monday, March 25, 2013

The Iliad & The Odyssey Book Covers

Prestwick House, one of the country's premier educational publishers with over 2,500 books in print and customers in every US state and territory, recently rebranded their popular line of classic literature books. Although most of the over 70 titles in the collection will retain their original cover art, a few volumes warrant a fresh approach.

Sold as two separate books, Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey were prime candidates for new cover imagery. It occurred to me that this would be a perfect opportunity to re-design each so when laid side-by-side, they would form one continuous image–a technique I've always wanted to try. Essentially the covers would represent the journey taken by Odysseus from his service in the Trojan War to his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca.

Starting off, I knew I wanted 3 major elements: Helen of Troy, an archer, and a Cyclops.

Hoping to use them on a reprint of The Iliad one day, I took photos of my niece a few years ago when she wore a Grecian-style dress to her high school formal. So, Helen was done.

The Greek archer on the cover of The Iliad would double as Odysseus on the The Odyssey side–evoking the archery competition during which Odysseus out-shoots and slays his wife's unwanted suitors. I had the helmet from a previous photoshoot, but the key for this shot would be finding just the right bow and arrow for the period.

For Cyclops I had to look no further than across my office. Chris, a fortuitously one-eyed graphic designer, agreed to portray the one-eyed Polyphemus and for a mere 20 bucks was persuaded to shave his head for the shoot...well, not really, but he did grow out his beard.

Having never been pleased with the existing cover of The Odyssey, I asked my niece to pose as Helen back in 2009.

Setting up two light sources, each connected to the camera by a transmitter. I took over 75 shots using a 10-second timer, which allowed me to move the front light up or down and left or right.

Three Rivers Archery in Ashley, Indiana, was kind enough to donate the use of a Scythian bow, which is very similar to the ones used by the Greeks during the time of the Trojan War.

The arrow is wood, charred over a candle flame to get the decorative stripped effect.
I tied feathers to one end of the arrow with leather string and in Photoshop placed a public domain image of a Hellenistic era arrowhead on the other.

The helmet had been purchased on the Internet for a previous shoot.

Fellow designer, Chris agreed to model as the Cyclops Polyphemus. The rock weighed over 50 lbs so poses could be held for only a short time. We shot over 50 images.

A close-up photo to use for the Cyclops's eye

Another colleague from Prestwick House, who is an accomplished photographer, graciously allowed me to use this shot he took last fall off the coast of Maine.
Photo by David Zou. ©2013 All rights Reserved

An architectural detail photo I took in Alexandria,Virginia in 2011.

A poseable rubber snake was shot at various angles to depict the seven-headed monster Scylla at the whirlpool Charybdis.

A public domain image of the Trojan horse on display in China, along with numerous other public domain images including a painting of sailors clinging to the remains of ship at sea complete the details.

Once all the elements were either created or gathered, the process of working out the composition began...

descent into the cave of the rabbit

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Sunday, July 19, 2015

Instagram Gallery

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Karma Bunny

Monday, August 12, 2013

Awakening from the Material World into the Realm Spiritual

Sunday, July 28, 2013

Insect Life

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

The Realm of Hungry Ghosts

Monday, July 22, 2013

Memory Lane

Saturday, July 13, 2013

A Prevailing Sense of Loss

Monday, July 08, 2013

The Secret Life of Trees: Deciduosaurus

On the Very Edge of Reason

Friday, July 05, 2013

The Seeker

Tuesday, July 02, 2013

The Messenger

Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Secret Life of Trees

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Garden of Dreams

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

Pirquet's Dream–1906

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Into the Abyss Willingly

Sunday, March 31, 2013

S.D.I.D. Probe • A Day at the Beach

Friday, March 29, 2013

S.D.I.D. Explorer Drone

Stellated Dodecahedron Inter-dimensional Explorer Drone

Monday, March 25, 2013

The Iliad & The Odyssey Book Covers