If your photos could illustrate a novel, which would you choose?

If I could conquer my seasickness, I'd probably photograph for the books of Patrick O'Brian, Master & Commander, HMS Surprise, that kind of thing. Really any book which would take me all over the world.
 
In my 20s, before I ever earned a penny from photography, I got a month's salary for a short story. Ever since, I've earned my money from writing & taking pictures. For me, fiction and pictures don't really go together, though illustrating non-fiction is another matter. Yes, I've done what I call 'narrative' pictures, but in them, I leave the 'reader' to make up his/her own story/stories: I've attached a couple -- feel free to make up stories around them. But illustrating fiction is pretty much apples and oranges -- or possibly bananas and kangaroos -- as far as I am concerned.

Aviator is based around a map of the Tibetan border: the idea is perhaps a crash landing/Shangri La

Coffee is also a drug -- well, I'm not sure...

Cheers,

R.
 

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As a professor of American Literature and a lover of photography, this thread does my heart good!

I've always wanted to illustrate Ralph Ellison's 1952 masterpiece Invisible Man. Every time I read and/or teach the novel I visualize how I would compose key scenes from it. I suppose many others would have a similar reaction since Ellison himself was an accomplished photographer, and his imagery and composition style illustrate his vision. Hence Gordon Parks's "Emerging Man," which is clearly inspired by the epilogue.

And since this is RFF, Ellison was also a fan of rangefinder cameras. He asked his friend and fellow author Albert Murray to purchase a Leica M3 for him when Murray was serving in Germany in 1954.
 
Those are good, particularly the "Tibet" photo. Very evocative. I would use that if I was an editor. Maybe something similar for a Kipling book. (a bit late for Kipling)




Aviator is based around a map of the Tibetan border: the idea is perhaps a crash landing/Shangri La

Coffee is also a drug -- well, I'm not sure...

Cheers,

R.
 
Boris Stupak said:
Those are good, particularly the "Tibet" photo. Very evocative. I would use that if I was an editor. Maybe something similar for a Kipling book. (a bit late for Kipling)
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Thanks. You know the famous quote about Kipling?

"Do you like Kipling?"

"I don't know. I've never Kippled."

Cheers,

R.
 
I could post some good quotes from "Horatio Alger", "Oliver Optic" and "Tom Swift" but I would run the risk of immediate banning.

I am not offended by "period racism". In most cases it was not regarded as malevolent racism at all, just common perception.

image.axd
 
ok, i misunderstood the first go-around.

i think one of my photos might make a cover for a collection of flannery o'connor short stories ...
 
Steve Bellayr said:
"on the Road" by Jack Kerouac "Last Exit to Brooklyn" by Hubert Selby, Jr. & there are others
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I'm proud to say that my 18-yr old daughter is completely into American literature and is now reading my English copy of On the Road, that I bought 20 years ago when I was in college :cool:

Personally, I'd like to shoot photos that could illustrate Big Sur!
 
Novels... Thousands of books in my library but strangely two come to my mind, which are far from literature classics as most them mentioned here before. In fact, I'm afraid, they are considered cheap scifi by many:

Neal Stephenson "Snow Crash"
Kurt Vonnegut "Mother Night"
 
Interesting choices. Do you guys feel you could illustrate those novels because the photos you take align with your perception of what those books are about?

Is there a parallel between the photo's you take and the book you choose?
 
buzzardkid said:
Interesting choices. Do you guys feel you could illustrate those novels because the photos you take align with your perception of what those books are about?

Is there a parallel between the photo's you take and the book you choose?
Click to expand...

Not for me, my photos are generally pretty generic photos of London, but I want to be taking photos of wild and natural scenes.

My choice was what I want to take pictures of, not what I am right now.
 
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