The Pirates of Prestwick

A few basic cover shots (sans text and series branding) for the Prestwick House Touchstone Classic Edition of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Special thanks to David Nickolson who did an outstanding job as our pirate– enduring a couple of hours of playing dress-up with swords, daggers, skulls, and fake blood. On second thought, not a bad way to spend a Wednesday morning! By the way, those dreds are actually David's. He cut them off for his wedding last year but decided to save them–just in case. 

Photos Copyright 2010, Prestwick House, Inc.

". . . angels in the architecture

...spinning in infinity"–Paul Simon

A Mid-Winter's Tail

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Recently, after spending the good part of the morning shoveling snow off my driveway, I came in to find my dog, Emmy enjoying a rare, mid-morning winter sunbeam which was in the process of making its way (much too quickly for her liking I'm certain) across the corner of the bed. The warm tones of the scene were in stark contrast to what I had been experiencing outside all morning and so I felt compelled to capture it. The sunlight was almost off her face too, so I quickly grabbed the camera and took as many compositions as I could. A short time later, the light spilled onto the floor and her Majesty the Queen promptly rolled over onto her side and with an audible, and somewhat irritated tone, sighed...

Mock up of a fake cover

The Color of Winter

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When composing a photograph I often take several versions of the same image, leaving large areas of space for dropping in text or additional images in the advent it should be used one day for a book cover, magazine spread, poster, etc. 

Once a graphic designer, always a graphic designer...

Delaware Mountain Range

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I love snow and this winter we've had more than our usual share. Still, I'm always fascinated by the patterns and textures snow creates in all of it's states; freshly fallen, frozen, blowing, melting, etc. Recently, conditions presented themselves for creating faux mountain ranges. Plowed snow, blackened by street grime (mostly bus exhaust here), piled high and dusted by an overnight frosting of fine, bright, white "clean" snow all make for a great illusion of majestic mountains. Add a bight blue sky and a few clouds and you have your subject. Finding these elements in a large parking lot (on a weekend with no traffic is even better), allows you to shoot without dealing with background clutter –the less Photoshop work later on the better. Admittedly, it would have been much more fun to have actually taken a photography expedition to a mountain range, but these will do for now, especially as background elements.

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The Cardinal's Sin

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Fictional book cover. I added the blood for drama.

 

 

Needing to take a 15-minute morning break a few weeks ago I decided to go on a quick walk into the surrounding town that borders my office.  On my way back I noticed a bright red object just a few yards into the grass off the sidewalk which borders the large field in front of the business park where I work.  Curious, I flipped it over with the tip of my shoe and was surprised (and saddened) to see a dead cardinal. There was no blood or trauma that I could make out. Large trucks often rumble by from a nearby distribution center so I surmised it may have been struck by one of these and landed where I found it. It was the middle of January and quite cold outside so I suspected this helped preserve it in it's pristine condition.

I have always been intrigued by these magnificent birds. In fact, when I was 7 or 8 I assembled a life-size model kit of one.  I had it for years until it finally succumbed to the rigors of one of the many moves a child of an Air Force family must make.

I decided that if it was still there that afternoon I would bring a bag and pick it up, take it home and take some some photos for my personal archive. It was. On the way home I picked up some white surgical gloves at the drugstore and spent a good 2 hours or so photographing him before having to leave for a previously scheduled appointment. That was the window I allowed for the shoot.

Here are some of the photos I took that night.

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The Road to Helmand

A slideshow video using imagery from the Department of Defense and Wikipedia.

The Road to Helmand
Words and Music Copyright 2010 by Larry Knox

On this mountain
with my band of brothers
the stars above us
they light our way

and when I walk through
this valley of death, dear
I fear no evil
when I think of you

Chorus:
and I
...see your face each night
when I close my eyes and dream?

The road to Helmand
will be long and deadly
but we'll remember
the falling Twins

We keep our focus
out on the horizon
and wait for nightfall
to rest our heads

Chorus:
And then I
...see your face each night
when I close my eyes and dream

Refrain:
Tracers rain
like shooting stars
down on me
and my brothers in arms
were going home
were going home now
were going home
i don't want to go home
now

The night owl
he'll be sleeping
when you wake
at the break of day

And the letter
they deliver
tears the earth
from beneath your feet

just remember
the stars above you
are the same stars
that guided me...

Chorus:
to see your face each night
and then I closed my eyes....

Teaching Robots to Swim

Teaching Robots to Swim
Music and Words © 2010 by Larry Knox

In our hands
we hold the key
of inner peace
serenity

nothing lost
nothing gained
roll the dice
play the game

there is no future
there is no past
here and now
is fading fast

my monkey mind
will never rest
jumbled thoughts
a foregone quest

I'm teaching robots to swim

Gone, gone, gone beyond, Gone altogether beyond

in emptiness there is no form
no sounds
no smell
no tastes
no mind
no death
no decay
no stopping
no going
no suffering
no beginning

no end

Gone, gone, gone beyond, Gone altogether beyond

Synchronicity

My daughter, a sophomore in college, just took her first Philosophy class. The teacher assigned a recently published book entitled The Philosopher and the Wolf: Lessons from the Wild on Love Death, and Happiness. She loved it and thought I would too. Lending me her copy, complete with highlights and margin notes, I must admit she was correct. It's a remarkable story about the bonds between  human beings and beasts, our differences and our similarities.

Discussing the beauty of wolves with my daughter, I reminded her that I had the fortunate experience of photographing a couple of them for a book cover 4 or 5 years ago. It was for the Prestwick House Touchstone Classic Edition of Jack London's classic The Call of the Wild. (I also used a photo from the shoot to create their The Call of the Wild-Spotlight Edition cover).

It wasn't but a few days after our conversation that I learned Warner Bros had requested permission to use the Touchstone cover as a prop in an upcoming Clint Eastwood film starring Matt Damon.

What I remembered most from the photoshoot, besides their beautiful, expressive faces, was the manner in which the wolves would walk back and forth, circling and pacing their immediate area. There seemed to be no perceptible movement of the back or shoulders, as you would have expected from a large dog. Instead, they seemed to almost float above the ground, silently, intently gliding. Was it me? I tend to visually enhance movement and settings in my mind, especially over time, but in this instance it wasn't my imagination. The author of the The Philosopher and the Wolf, Mark Rowlands, describes his pet wolf's movement in a very similar manner. Remarking how struck he was with his wolf's movement when they ran together he goes on to describe the beast as if he was "floating an inch above the ground." Apparently wolves use their ankles and large feet to propel themselves forward when walking or trotting. It's an amazing display of grace and stealth that is as unnerving as it is beautiful.

Not a great shot but it illustrates how the wolf moves so smoothly using their large paws and bending at the "ankles".

Dream of Fire

.CD cover of original demos.
The title is taken from a line written by a co-worker–inspiring the song which in turn inspired this imagery.
Thanks Stephanie P.

"When I close my eyes I dream of fire."


Detail showing the Leaf Totem supported at the bottom by the Aztec frog deity–hands cupped to his ears listening for the Conquistadors.
You may access a larger version by clicking on the image.

Entering the dream, flawed, cracked, broken, but head first...

Making A Break from the Meat Wheel of Conception

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Click on the image to a view a larger version.

The Morning After

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Salem the Sleeping Dragon

Pine Filtered Light

Serenity and Turmoil–Contemplating the Firmament

Light filtering through a row of pines lent itself to this very quick, impromptu set up. Grabbing a ladder and the statue I shoved them into the boughs of a pine row and fired off 15 to 20 shots before the sun fell behind a tree line and the light had moved beyond reach. Fleeting/in the moment/the scent of pine.

Spielbergian Skies

The drama and power of dark storm clouds overhead never ceases to fascinate me. This collection was taken in early August as a front swooped down quickly from the north while I was at work. When the afternoon light grows dark I always grab my camera and run out back to a field with an unobstructed view of the horizon in hopes of capturing a few shots of the ensuing tempest before the first raindrops fall and the lightning flashes. Many of these photos, or pieces of them, end up on book covers or other photo collages.

Just imagine a huge spaceship rolling out of one of these. Now that would be the shot.