Sunday, November 18

Well covered: Embracing the Ordinary

Photo © Paul Russell, cover design: Lewis Csizmazia

Photo © Paul Russell

Currently in bookshops is Simon & Schusters’ Embracing the Ordinary by Michael Foley, author of the bestselling The Age of Absurdity. The cover of Foley’s latest book features one of my photos from the Beside the Sea series, and is my first book front cover.

As I remember it, I got the impression that the man next to the supermarket trolley was a foreign tourist who just had to touch the trolley to confirm it was real. Maybe he was thinking “Who would leave a shopping trolley on a sandy beach? Surely it can’t be real. Crazy English.”

Embracing the Ordinary is a witty celebration the quotidian and seemingly mundane, and considers what insights philosophers (particularly James Joyce and Proust), anthropologists, psychologists and neuroscientists have given us. The parallels between the subject matter and street photography, which is often described along the lines of “finding the unusual in the everyday”, is clear.

My photo has a thematic link with the cover photo from Foley’s previous book, The Age of Absurdity - a photo by The Caravan Gallery

© The Caravan Gallery

6 comments:

Connie said...

Congratulation, Paul. This seems to be very interesting and in fact the cover seems to fit perfectly!

All the best from Germany,

Connie

Paul Russell said...

Thanks, Connie

Mox said...

That's great, Paul. As well as being a fab picture it definitely makes a great companion cover to the other volume.

Paul Russell said...

Hi, Moxette. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Congrats indeed Paul, and what a fantastic photo this is. But what a disaster graphic design...

Rob H

Paul Russell said...

Mr Csizmazia will not be pleased, Rob!