Into The Eclipse

A few months ago, I was approached by a friend.  Her husband writes a very popular blog, Siren Voices and not only had he published an e-book on the back of that blog, he had also written his first fiction novel.  They asked me if I'd consider taking the photograph for the front cover.  Well, it was the first time I'd ever worked like this - usually I take pictures for my own pleasure and hope that people like or respond to them in some way.  This was photographing to order and was an entirely different experience.

As a photographer, I know that before I press the shutter, I have in my mind, some idea of what I'm looking for.  Whether it's a studio shot, or a candid street shot, a portrait or an environmental/landscape shot, there's a fair degree of visualisation involved - anticipation of what the end result should look like.  Sometimes I have to work things for a while until I get the desired shot, and once I do, I feel a little protective of it - this is my vision, my creation and whether other people see it the same way as me or not, I know if it's right, if it has worked, if it says what I want it to say.

Authors presumably, feel about the same.  And so, the front cover, the first impression that people will have of the work, has to be right.

I took a series of shots, all relating to the brief that I'd been given.  It took me a while to get all the elements together,  but eventually I had a batch to submit for approval.  I have to say, I was surprised at the shot chosen - not because I don't like it, but because it wasn't my own personal favourite.  But that taught me a valuable lesson.  There are times when what I like, what speaks to me, isn't relevant.  The author needed it to speak to him.  It needed to represent his words.  I'm just delighted that he found something in my work that did that for his work.

Anyway, I was hugely excited to learn that the book has finally been published and is available for download on Amazon.

And here, to tempt you, is the cover.