What I thought would be a simple post.....not

post #435
        This blog is also about photography, and yet I realized I had never shown some of the work I have done.  I decided today to share several photos on covers of books, and some author photos. These never pay the bills, but they're very satisfying.  And a good source of stories. And fun. But they may need some explaining.

       This is the first book George Ella Lyon and I did; its part of a series of autobiographies of authors of children's books.  I took some of the inside photos. However, I didn't know her in her younger days, so I used her photos to make a collage cover.  She grew up in Harlan, Kentucky, and I grew up in Stamford, Connecticut, but we both had the same FIVE YEAR DIARIES!!  The one in the cover photo is actually mine, since she burned hers up while in junior high. This is the first time I have told this truth in public.

       

This second book we did uses only my photos, but I didn't decide which exact photos would be used or what the design for the cover would be. That was done by DK Ink, in New York.  Again, each photo has a story. Someday this year I hope to put the photos that are inside the book on this blog. They were slides, and so far I have not digitized all of them.

      I also have taken photos of George Ella which can then turn out to be useful as part of her publicity.  Sometimes they end up on posters, or fliers, or in a magazine.  We find that they work best if it happens to be a good day, with lucky circumstances -- like the ambient light. This image showed up recently on line  for Geroge Ella even though it was made years ago.  I still love the smile she has in this photo.

Wendell Berry is so much fun and such good company. He is known for not using computers, but it's a good thing I already had this image on my laptop -- because it was January when he needed to suggest another photo to his editor for this cover, soon to be printed.  I heard "Do you have anything?" and I could say "yes!" Again and always, a story.

This is actually the first cover photo I did with him; it was for a reprint of this early poetry book of his.  I thought these hay rows looked like lines from a poem!  (His publisher is Counterpoint Press, now in San Francisco.)

Somewhere I have the original photo, in color, but it's quicker today to use the photo from the jacket. I wanted to include this photo of my sister here because she was very strict. She knew exactly what she wanted. I couldn't make a single suggestion.  At least she claims to like the photo. (The title of her book is Flying Close to the Sun.)

Appalachian Heritage has a long and "storied" tradition in Kentucky. It features all kinds of writing and some kinds of art, like photography. This issue has my photos, and George Brosi was the editor at that time. I'm including below a photo of the back of the magazine -- it's not so usual to have a photo on any back, so I thought I'd indulge myself tonight.

George Ella emailed me that if I'm going to show two photos of her that I should at least put in one photo of me at work -- made by her.  So here it is! Thanks, George Ella, and don't you think it's a lovely miracle that we have had so much photo fun over the years?

    This last photo on today's post was made outside the lodge at Kentucky's Natural Bridge State Park, where George Ella had just given a workshop.  Again, for me, it's her smile during this unexpected and unplanned moment that makes it all work. Maybe her love for singing and her guitar helped as well. Who ever knows. She had needed a PR photo around then, so it worked out well.  She has been asking about our doing an updated new one, if we can ever be in the same place at the same time. That helps too! Stay tuned.