It’s just over a year since I was approached by Dave Winstanley asking me to help with the design of his CD cover. Since buying my DSLR it was my first real attempt at using it in any form of commercial means and I jumped at the chance.
First of all it was the name of the album that inspired me… Follies. What better name for the Rotherham area than Follies, after all the Wentworth Estate is absolutely filled with weird and wonderful architecture, none of which seems to serve any purpose except to show just how much money was wasted at the time.
Dave suggested the theme based around The Hound of the Baskervilles… I agreed and I suggested a visit to Hoober Stand for some of the photos, and perhaps using some local stones – originally positioned to deter people driving in the woods – to act as his suggested hillside.
Dave arrived dressed up in black as I suggested to create that gothic look, and we ventured up to the site and I started taking pictures, and the final result… well, judge for yourself.
The front cover in it’s original format.
The sunlight certainly works well from the oblique angle, and when converted into moonlight using The Gimp and various colouring and filtering techniques as well as a gibbous moon photo I had in my stock photos, I can say I feel pleased with the results.
Aren’t Gibbous moons just soooo spooky?
The front cover – version 1
As a parting shot, I caught a photo of Dave in front of Hoober Stand itself, with the monolithic stand looming overhead… Dave stood on a grassy knoll and I positioned the camera in the quarry (I believe the stone from the stand was actually quarried here, but don’t quote me on that)
Workin’ the leather trousers
Lessons learned:
1. Focus on the face and use manual focus and not auto focus (if you notice, the photo of Dave on the rock is slightly out of focus on his face, but perfectly in on the middle of the frame, which tragically… is his crotch!). Nothing a little unsharp masking can’t sort.
2. When going on site on 4th January… GLOVES! – the tripod was freezing and I kept sticking to it!