Gallery
I've been a professional photographer for many years. There are a number of my images scattered around this website, but I thought it would be interesting to collect the original images on which the front and rear covers are based. Annoyingly, the site displays portrait format images cropped to landscape, so you need to click/tap on the thumbnail to see the full image. Clicking on any image shows it larger, and you can then click through from one to the next, which is the best way (IMHO) to view the collection.
To see lots more images (with options to purchase prints, other items, and digital downloads), please visit my photography site. The majority of my work still isn’t online, so if you’re interested in a specific area or subject, feel free to enquire using the contact form on the photography site or by email.
I've been a professional photographer for many years. There are a number of my images scattered around this website, but I thought it would be interesting to collect the original images on which the front and rear covers are based. Annoyingly, the site displays portrait format images cropped to landscape, so you need to click/tap on the thumbnail to see the full image. Clicking on any image shows it larger, and you can then click through from one to the next, which is the best way (IMHO) to view the collection.
To see lots more images (with options to purchase prints, other items, and digital downloads), please visit my photography site. The majority of my work still isn’t online, so if you’re interested in a specific area or subject, feel free to enquire using the contact form on the photography site or by email.
Cover Stories
More on how images like these are turned into the distinctive covers of the Shattered Moon books.
I didn’t launch into self-publishing without doing plenty of research. When it comes to cover design the universal refrain is ‘make your cover fit your genre’. Scroll down a list of SF books on Amazon, or peruse the Romance shelves in Waterstones, and you’ll see this clearly demonstrated. Whether this is a good thing or not, is debatable (here’s one dissenting view—and lots of visual evidence. It’s colourful, at least).
In my own case, identifying 'my genre' is already a big problem, as I’ve noted in an earlier post. We’ll return to this issue below.
Almost equally universal is the advice to ‘use a professional designer’. Obviously this can be an expensive option. I fully support the principle of paying properly for professional work; I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t, having made my living as a professional photographer and non-fiction writer for many years. In the course of which I‘ve worked with many professional designers, and developed great admiration for their skills.
And yet…
Click on the image to read more about the whole process.
In my own case, identifying 'my genre' is already a big problem, as I’ve noted in an earlier post. We’ll return to this issue below.
Almost equally universal is the advice to ‘use a professional designer’. Obviously this can be an expensive option. I fully support the principle of paying properly for professional work; I’d be a hypocrite if I didn’t, having made my living as a professional photographer and non-fiction writer for many years. In the course of which I‘ve worked with many professional designers, and developed great admiration for their skills.
And yet…
Click on the image to read more about the whole process.
