The Raging Sea

A new song demo I composed this summer.
It's about contradictions and duality, and looking deeply into the essence of all things...
It's also about anything you want it to be.

The Raging Sea
Music and Lyrics Copyright 2010 by Larry Knox



Coming into focus
a struggle to be free
the beauty and the anger
that is the raging sea

Walking on the water
a vision comes to me
She's dressed in silk and linen
I fall down to my knees

She hands to me a pearl
She says it holds the key
To the beauty and the anger
That lives inside of me

"Ah, you have to look deep
my son
past the swirling madness
of a milion suns"

"Ah, you have to look deep
my child
for the grain of kindness
that's in everyone..."

She leaves upon a lotus
swallowed by debris
from a thousand ships all lost
to the raging sea

The Pirates of Prestwick~Part II

More co-workers portrayed as pirates for Prestwick House, Inc.'s upcoming, in-house class photo of 2010. Note that clicking on the photo will open a larger version of the image.

Kathy K., Customer Service Representative– portrayed as the venomous
Katherine the Serpent.

Doug G.–Writer requested a flamin' skull and I was happy to oblige.
The croc is a reference to another famous pirate and his relentless nemesis.

Paul M., Senior Editor–Paul's request was perhaps the strangest. He learned to tie a hangman's noose in grade school and wanted to fashion one out of the rope we provided for the Treasure Island book cover photo shoot–insisting he wanted to be portrayed as a pirate who at long last meets his doom!
I injected a little humor into the morbid scenario by depicting his soul at peace and content when finally released from his mortal coil...
The Albatross, known as the harbinger of death among many superstitious mariner does a low flyby to seal his fate.

The Pirates of Prestwick House!

Samantha C, Warehouse Manager. Insistent on not being portrayed as a helpless wench. Arming her to the teeth–literally–and giving her a minor flesh wound makes her pretty bad ass in my book...

Prestwick House publishers started a fun tradition of few years ago when after an impromptu gathering it was decided to take a quick group photo to mark the occasion. Not content with having everyone standing in a warehouse surrounding by boxes of books, I opted to Photoshop in a background (the iconic Sgt. Pepper's album cover with all of us taking the place of the crowd behind the Fab Four). Strictly for in-house use–it quickly became a fun activity for all involved to look forward to every year. The entire staff has been portrayed as senior citizens (from the 1930's), a 1950's 5th grade class, and included in a ficticious WWII recruitment poster.

The challenge has been to find a group theme to base the photo on. This year, on a suggestion from CEO, Jason Scott, it was decided, after setting up an in-house tropical island set to shoot the Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island book cover, to portray everyone as pirates!

Gathering as many props as possible we photographed 30 employees over the course of a few weeks in all sorts of poses from the serious– to the macabre–even the hilarious –whatever they wanted (within reason), was at least attempted, including our Senior Editor wanting to be "hanged" as pirate who's past had finally caught up to him–and yes, we pulled it off!) Everyone bought into the spirit of the shoot and we had a great time coming up with the different scenarios and photographing them. Of course we knew a lot of the magic was going to take place in our imaginations and eventually realized in Photoshop.

Again, these are for in-house use, only with no absolute deadline (in-between revenue producing projects). In the last 2 months we've begun to enhance each of the portraits with no rules, except one– to have fun! The portal was created by fellow in-house designer, Jen Mendoza.

Once all the portraits have been completed the plan is to assemble them over a nautical background with headline text proclaiming the arrival of "The Pirates of Prestwick!"

I'll be posting more as I finish them along with the final image–hopefully sometime in the fall of 2010.

Dan R, Staff Writer, was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Specialist for the U.S. Air Force before joining the equally dangerous field of writing for the high school English Grammar and Literature markets.

Chrissy M, Customer Service Manager, runs a tight ship but I've never, ever seen her look this bad ass (she is always upbeat and positive–quick with a laugh) so I thought the Golden Mask was fitting...(oh god, not another pun!)


Jason S., It was Jason's idea for the Pirate theme for this year's "Class Picture"
He loves french cuisine and Froot Loops...

Mandee W, Warehouse Specialist, looking waaay too comfortable holding onto her pirate arsenal...and two Sugar Gliders thrown in for good measure.

Dream Garden

Take thy plastic spade,
It is thy pencil; take thy seeds, thy plants,
They are thy colours.
~William Mason, The English Garden, 1782

Pigs On the Wing

Let Him In

Let Him In
Words and Music
Copyright 2010 by Larry Knox

When you fall out
going to hell
you take it with you
never want to tell him
you'd better let him in

you hear him knocking on your door
you'd better
let him in

nothing more to say
I don't want to
nothing can make me
feel this way
but you

tell me what you always knew
nothing more that we can do
there's nothing more to say
there's nothing left to play with
you and me
were gone
were gone
were gone

nothing is ever going to be the same again
it's what we do
it's what we do

take it down
break it down
without a gun
we'll never see the sun
you and me
were finished here
taste the sweat
feel the fear

The Mask of Night

The Mask of Night
Music and Lyrics Copyright 2010 by L. Knox
Verse by Wm. Shakespeare

Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face,
Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek
Romeo & Juliet, II, ii



I've seen you
out of the corner of my eyes
it took some time
for me to realize
that I
I loved you
and you
loved me too
it took some time

they say love
is all you'll ever need
when nothing's lost
there's nothing to concede
so I
stand before you
with my heart in your hands
and yours in mine

There's time to sleep
  there's time to cry
  there's time to live
  and there's time to die
There's time on my furrowed brow
  there's time for one more
  there's time for the sentry
  asleep on the floor
There's a time to remember
  there's time to forget
  there's  time to disassemble
  time for regret

but I have no regrets
for the time I spent
with you...

Repeat first verse

My true love's passion: therefore pardon me,
And not impute this yielding to light love,
Which the dark night hath so discovered.
Romeo & Juliet, II, ii

Treasure Island Book Cover

Off to the printer tomorrow–here is the final cover design, along with the frontispiece art and recurring chapter artwork for the Prestwick House Literary Touchstone Classic edition of Treasure Island. The only part of the collage that is not original is the painting of the British sailing vessel.

In addition to the novels and plays in the popular Touchstone series, Prestwick House has introduced a new Touchstone Teacher's Edition line this year which will undoubtedly become a welcome tool for English teachers who find themselves teaching any of the over 75 classic works of literature currently offered. It also presents me with yet another opportunity to use additional images from the session and in a larger (8.5 X 11) format– in my book–that's as good as gold!

Note: you may see a larger version of the images below by simply clicking on them.

All images Copyright 2010 by Prestwick House, Inc.

Concept collage

Finished back, spine and front cover

Frontispiece

Chapter heading

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".