book covers, more spring beauty, and Bonnie's passing

           First, finding the right image for a book cover, either a photo or a painting, can be the work of many minds. As an example, I have wanted to show the book cover that was once chosen for a reprint of Wendell Berry's poems,  Farming: a Handbook.  Wendell asked me if I had any photos that might work, and this was one of them.  The cover design, however, is done by the publisher, in this case Counterpoint Press. I thought it might be of interest here to see the original photo along side the cropped version.  The size of the book and its shape are all part of that design work. The photographer gets paid solely for the image and has to accept whatever design it's now part of.        

        The cover design person and I have our names in small print on the bottom of the back cover. I'm not complaining! It's an honor to be there. And I get to think about Wendell and that book the many times when I drive to town.

        

 

more curves in the land

siblings in the daisy field

 

Last Thursday I went to visit my very ill friend, Bonnie, who was at home, being cared for by family and friends.  I have shown the gravel road to her house in two of the recent blog posts.  She died there late this afternoon, with many of them able to be there with her.  I really appreciated the call to let me know.  I thought I would include here a few photos I took recently, although I'm sorry not to have any of the flowers she loved which her sister had been tending these many weeks for her. She was always an extremely hard worker who loved farming and keeping up the home place and more. And telling truths. I'm so grateful to have known her.

   

 

I was having a long quiet visit and conversation with Bonnie's sister while Bonnie rested. The strawberries came from the garden, and they were delicious.  I ate them slowly, one by one, while we talked.This will be a hard week. Bonnie had just turned 64. She's one of nine siblings.

 

some of her cattle: the greeters

 

note:  I have another video to share, but it is too late to add it now, so I will share it next week. I thank everyone who mentioned to me that they enjoyed the one from a week ago.  I will also hope to share some additional photos I've made over the years at Bonnie's.   Ann

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.