By Vladimir Brezina
Last week, the Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge theme was Cover Art. How very timely!
Earlier this year, I was contacted by an author, Carmen de Monteflores, about using one of my photos on the cover of her forthcoming new book. And recently, a copy of the published book arrived in my mailbox. Thanks, Carmen!
¡Jíbara! by AuthorHouse, August 2014
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Unfortunately, I haven’t yet had time to read ¡Jíbara! (which, despite its Spanish title, is written in English) thoroughly. But, skimming it, it looks to be very well written and promises to draw in anyone interested in Puerto Rican culture and history. Here’s a synopsis:
Carmen de Monteflores brings her intimate knowledge of Puerto Rican culture and history to this story of a rural mountain girl-a jibara-struggling to become a teacher during the turbulent changes of the 1930s in the island. After a devastating hurricane, Juanita and her mother, Cisa, to whom she is fiercely attached, are forced to move to San Juan to find work. Like many others arriving from the country, they end up living in a slum. Unexpected circumstances introduce Juanita to Clara. They become close, but their lives take different paths. Juanita enters the university to be tested both by violent politics and her mother’s illness. Clara’s influential relatives introduce her to society life and her husband-to-be. Relationships become strained and lies and secrets explode when Juanita asks for help from a former teacher and from a close friend of Clara’s as Cisa gets sicker and Clara’s marriage collapses.
The finished book illustrates some of the perils of selecting photos for cover art. The book has a portrait format. But the original photo had a landscape format, and consequently most of it had to to be cropped away. And, inevitably, the colors came out differently on the printed cover. Oh well—I did get paid ;-)
Here’s the whole original photo:
More photos from that day in October 2001, high up in the Cordillera Central of Puerto Rico, are here.
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Does that mean we have to revise your bio to read “and professional photographer”?
I’m still waiting for someone to pay for a photo of me so I can add “and professional kayak-model” :-)
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I’m surprised you couldn’t get an outdoor magazine to pay for a picture of you! You’re certainly photogenic enough and have lots of pictures to choose from too. Lots and lots and lots of pictures.
I love how you are such a willing participant in Vlad’s blog. I truly do enjoy it.
Nancy
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We are working on the outdoor magazines… :-)
BTW, a slight correction: It’s not just my blog, but my and Johna’s joint blog :-)
Thanks, Nancy!!
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Yes it is a joint blog! But it seems like Johna is in a lot of those pictures and she’s a good sport about it (that was all my point was). I do love though how when I leave a comment, I hear back from both of you at various times. It’s been fun getting to know both of you.
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Mostly, she writes the stories and I take the pictures. She’s in them when I manage to catch up to her. When she poses, she doesn’t give the photographer much time ;-)
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Congratulations on your photo being chosen for the cover Vlad!
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Thanks, Sue!
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What an honor – congratulations! Beautiful photo. Interesting to learn of the process from photo to cover, too.
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This is a self-published book, so I think there really wasn’t much of a process…
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Despite the heavy cropping and colour alteration it looks good as a book cover. Nice you got paid!
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Well, I do ask for a small fee if it’s a commercial product.
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Beautiful photo, that original… Congratulations, I can well understand their choice!
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Given the contents of the book, I can see why the author wanted that particular photo…
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In the interest of relationship harmony, I think you need to offer something to your kayak model. (Too bad the book cover photo had to be cropped. The original is a stunner.)
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But then the kayak model will really have to pose, not just paddle past me at high speed ;-)
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How exciting! Congratulations to you!
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Thanks!!
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It does make for a great book cover. Congrats, Vlad. :)
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Thanks!! :-)
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love the cover…your original photo was used wisely …
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And it is actually very relevant to the contents…
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How exciting to have your photo on the cover page of a book :)
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It is indeed! Thanks, Colline!
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How cool is that! Despite the perils you mentioned, congratulations on having your photo, or at least some of it, grace the cover of a book! Although it rather raises questions about book covers generally and it makes me wonder how many other book covers are out there with only partial images….
That original click is striking! And being paid is certainly a sweet reward :)
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Probably many with cropped images. But that’s perfectly fine. There’s nothing sacred about the original—rather, it has to be adapted to serve the purposes of the cover…
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Photo phame! Phantastic.
Such good news Vladimir..high time your shots got recognition. Congratulations! As for Johna, many health, nature and adventure magazines would be all the richer for a picture of you
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Working on it! Thanks, Pamela!!
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Congratulations! I love the photo that was cropped for the cover, but now you join the few photographers who grace the cover of a book, even though the cover is just a fraction of your shot. And you got paid:)
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And, most importantly, it provided the perfect response to this Photo Challenge ;-)
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Congratulations on the cover. The original is gorgeous but quite a different mood, I can see why they chose to give it a different treatment for the book – more sombre and foreboding for the tale of a challenging life.
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I am not sure it was a conscious choice. That’s just the way it came out of the printing process… But we can always rationalize :-)
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That is awesome Vlad! When is that calendar coming out — I’m still waiting :)
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You mean the NYC paddling calendar? Working on it :-)
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Congratulations – I wish I would receive a call like that :-)
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I am surprised you haven’t, Scott, given the appeal of your photos. I’ve actually sold a number of my photos for use on commercial websites, in ads, brochures, etc. I think this is the first book. And I’ve allowed many to be used in non-commercial uses. Of course, I am keeping my day job ;-) The key has been to put all the photos on the web in some format (I’ve used Picasa, and of course Wind Against Current) so that people could find them when browsing for likely art…
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Congratulations on turning professional Vlad!! :-)
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Not the first time, actually, although the first book cover (see my answer to Scott, just above).
Thanks, Madhu!!
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That is awesome Vladimir, great image. Good for you :)
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Thanks, Pennie! :-)
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What a great story!
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Thanks!!
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