© Kevin Twomey
After the success of Julianna Baggot’s book PUR, Grand Central Publishing released the second book in the series, Fuse. And, once again, Kevin Twomey had the honor of photographing the cover. And this time, it didn’t feature butterflies. It featured a pelican. When we asked Kevin to share some of his experience with us, here is what he wrote.
“There are times when I become so wrapped up in the technical challenges of an assignment that not until its end do I realize how inspiring it was. The photographing of a pelican’s wing for the cover of Fuse, the second book in Julianna Baggott’s post-apocalyptic trilogy, was just such an assignment.
From the photograph, you can see the impressive 8-foot wingspan of Neptune, the year-old pelican we had the pleasure of showcasing for this assignment. The relationship with his trainer, Joe Krathwohl, was heartwarming; the pelican toddled behind Joe everyplace he went, even waiting outside the bathroom door for him. Joe’s knowledge and passion for his work soon prompted us to bestow upon him the title of “bird whisperer”.
But what really inspired me was the turbulence generated by the powerful flap of his wings. It brought to mind the chaos theory quote about how a bird (or butterfly) flapping its wings can affect the future course of weather halfway around the world. It generates the indescribable feeling of being at the source of something simple yet incredibly powerful, and not yet knowing in which direction it will go.
And how privileged I felt to be able to capture that moment, from our chaotic environment of passion and expertise and inter-species relationships, when the bird flapped his wings.”
