There are more stock photos out there than you can count on the head of a nano pin. Most are god awful. It’s no surprise when a designer with a fine eye is scanning the photo banks he or she will inevitably spot the best pic among the dross. The image is just half the solution to a cover design. The other half involves the distinct style of the designer, The Revolver design is special because it sees into and through the photograph being used with that deft use of the semi circle of white. I wouldn’t say this is an example of “homage” except to the photographer’s work but the design language is completely different. These are two different designs linked by a photo. As a photographer I love the way the image is used on the Revolver cover. The photo is a feature of the design where the Berger cover has reduced the picture to background noise.

Funny. Small world.
The photo in question was taken by my friend Eamon Mac Mahon, a great photographer based in Toronto. Over the past 8-9 years I have featured or used Eamon’s work in my magazine Coupe on several occasions. I even used one of his photos on my wedding invitation! In 2004 I designed the cover for Kevin Conolly’s excellent poetry collection Drift. I used an amazing photo by Eamon Mac Mahon. We thought it would be good to use another Eamon pic in the design for Revolver and I imediately thought of this photo — an aerial photo from a series Eamon shot in remote northern Canada locals — which I was familiar with since I had previously published it in Coupe a few yrs prior.
I’m unaware of this photo being available through a stock agency. Maybe the designer of the other book saw it in my magazine and contacted Eamon. Either way I’m glad to see Eamon getting paid!

I think the “stock photography” put-down that’s suggested here is a mistake and a misunderstanding of what photographers do, how little money they make, and how the market treats their supposedly infinitely reproducible visions. My art, such as it is, has benefited greatly from the gift and great taste of Bill Douglas, and from Eamon’s breathtaking photographs. There are people who’ve bought my books, and have not been afraid to tell me so, only because they couldn’t let go of the cover image. To imply (editorially, Woods’ piece is very measured) that this might be some lazy industry rehash is to misread what happened on both covers here. Someone saw an image. It was a striking image. It fit, one way or another, a project they were working on. Both are good covers, I think, but I prefer Bill’s, because it presents all sides of the equation (poems, image, type) as if they were travelling together. And from my point of view, they are. And I’m always in favour of Eamon getting paid.

Kevin